gerryr
Member
I freely admit that I stole this idea from Anthony when he wasn't looking, but I don't think he'll mind. He knows that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. 
The material is Lucite from Pipe Makers Emporium. There are three different colors here and each one has a different interior color; in this case maroon and metallic blue. Doing this right was a challenge. The first couple I tried, I drilled the lower barrel for a full length tube, then painted the inside of the blank, glued in the tube and turned it down. The problem is that as the Lucite is turned, quite a bit of the opaque part is removed, exposing more of the translucent part and thus more tube. Just like turning wood, you don’t know what’s inside until you get there. More than once I was met with some unpleasant surprises in the form of places where the paint coverage wasn’t good or was scratched when the tube was inserted. On one pen, the epoxy bond came loose and the tube turned inside the hole-that really messed up the paint. I’ve worked those issues out and I’m now pretty satisfied with the results. These are all fountain pens and that’s all I plan to make in this style, at least for now. I fear the metal spring for the rollerball will scratch the paint but, I am working on a fix for that problem. The caramel ripple one will only ever be done with black paint, but the other two can be done with any color a customer might want. The second person besides my wife and son to see the caramel ripple one bought it without hesitation. He agreed to let me keep it in case I don’t get another made for a private show next week. I have two more in the queue so I should have another completed in time.
All the pens are Barons and top to bottom are Gold Ti, Platinum and Black Ti. Thanks for looking.
The material is Lucite from Pipe Makers Emporium. There are three different colors here and each one has a different interior color; in this case maroon and metallic blue. Doing this right was a challenge. The first couple I tried, I drilled the lower barrel for a full length tube, then painted the inside of the blank, glued in the tube and turned it down. The problem is that as the Lucite is turned, quite a bit of the opaque part is removed, exposing more of the translucent part and thus more tube. Just like turning wood, you don’t know what’s inside until you get there. More than once I was met with some unpleasant surprises in the form of places where the paint coverage wasn’t good or was scratched when the tube was inserted. On one pen, the epoxy bond came loose and the tube turned inside the hole-that really messed up the paint. I’ve worked those issues out and I’m now pretty satisfied with the results. These are all fountain pens and that’s all I plan to make in this style, at least for now. I fear the metal spring for the rollerball will scratch the paint but, I am working on a fix for that problem. The caramel ripple one will only ever be done with black paint, but the other two can be done with any color a customer might want. The second person besides my wife and son to see the caramel ripple one bought it without hesitation. He agreed to let me keep it in case I don’t get another made for a private show next week. I have two more in the queue so I should have another completed in time.All the pens are Barons and top to bottom are Gold Ti, Platinum and Black Ti. Thanks for looking.
