Thinking OUTSIDE the WOOD!!!

[Ben]

Here are a couple photots of my most recent work... I've actually been working on it since Wed. night, and finally finished it! It is a 24k gold Slimline pencil, but the really cool thing about it is the blank...

I took a piece of impossibly punky Buckeye Burl and tried what nobody said would work. Here"s the details:

1. I took the piece of burl and wrapped non-stick aluminium foil around it making a square tube-like mold that the burl fit down into. I folded the bottom in like you would when wrapping a gift.

2. I then placed this mold into my Foodsaver 2Qt. vacuum seal canister with the burl piece inside of it.

3. I mixed approx 2 oz. of Polyester Casting Resin in a cup, added the desired color(ALTHOUGH NEXT TIME I WILL DEFINATELY USE OPAQUE COLORS!!!) and then poured the catalyized, colorized resin into the tinfoil mold with the burl piece...

4. I the put the lid on the canister, and VACUUMED ALL OF THE AIR OUT...

5. The next afternoon, I released the vacuum and took the blank out of the mold. I then unwrapped all of the foil off of the blank and let it dry for a couple of days.

Here are the pics of the final results of this "HYBRID" BLANK... It was a little difficult to turn, but the final results were exactly what I wanted to achieve: A sort of island looking piece with the blue resembling water, and the wood resembling land... I was EXTREMELY PLEASED, although next time like I said, I WIILL DEFINATELY USE AN OPAQUE color, hopefully with some pearl, but this stuff I just got down at Ben Frankilns Crafts... I need to get my order in to "Artstuf" and then I can play even more...

The 2 shots of the pencil are of either side of it, and then there is a little detail shot, although the BLUE didn't come through as strong in the photos as it is does when you are holding this little gem.

Comments please, and if anyone else has ever tried this, let me know. I'd love to hear how your results went. The next hing I think I may do like this is some really hole-y lilac burl that is dying for a similar treatment. I already can't wait to see how they turn out! Thanks again everybody for making this such an INCREDIBLE GROUP to belong to!!!Take care,


Ben

 

[wdcav1952]

Sorry Ben,
For me at least, there are no pictures.

 

[Ben]

I UPLOADED THESE FILES SUCESSFULLY 3 DIFFERENT TIMES!!! I DON'T KNOW WHY IT IS THAT WE CAN'T SEE THEM??? I THINK IT IS A CONSPIRACY! [8D]. IF ANYONE AT THE SITE KNOWS HOW TO FIX THIS PLEASE LEMME' KNOW. i REALLY WANT TO SHARE THESE PICS W/ Y'ALL...


BEN

 

[DCBluesman]

Filenames must be letters or numbers only. No spaces, no underlines, no special characters.

 

[Ben]

Originally posted by DCBluesman
<br />Filenames must be letters or numbers only. No spaces, no underlines, no special characters.

that was it! THANKS A BUNCH! I Think I got em' to post now...

 

[Rifleman1776]

Ben, you did say, "comments please". A little honesty here, no intent to hurt feelings. To me it looks like the results of a mistake or an experiment gone bad. You did say the blue does not come through in the photos. Maybe in person it looks O.K., but the photos don't do it for me.

 

[rtjw]

I cant believe I am agreeing with Frank.

 

[wpenm]

It looks like your process has possibilites. The pencil I'm sure looks better in person than it does in the picture. Good luck on future projects and thanks for sharing your findings with us.

 

[Daniel]

From my conversations with Ben. I believe his comments request has more to do with the process of stabalizing with the Acrylic resin. than this particular pen. Ben correct me if I'm wrong.
There was a previaous conversation discussing the possibilities and various theories concerning the outcome.
Byt he way Ben, I know you can do better photos than that. anyone that can capture the fire of Opal is jsut slackin with these[)]

 

[green-eyes]

I like the idea of the process. I have a few pieces of burl that I know I can't turn but, maybe with this process I could save them. I use my foodsaver all of the time just never thought about stabalizing wood with it. I personally like that the pen is unusual. Thanks for sharing the process, I think I will try it and see what happens.

 

[Ben]

I appreciate all of the constructive criticism... I will definately use opaque colors next time!... The fact that you can see the brass tube will definately not appeal to everybody, but in it's (the pencil) defense, it is already sold... The thing that I was really hoping to achieve was to be able to make this process a reality..And although with fairly meager asthetic results, structurally the pen is sound! I can assure you all though, before the pencil left my house, it DID look much BLUER than these pics give it credit for... I just hope that this idea can be used by anyone out there with those impossible, punky, fragments of blanks and burls... I think there is some potential here. I especially like the idea of using opaque colored resin with pearl and swirl in it, and think that the results could be mindblowing! Thanks again everyone for all of your help and guidance


Ben

 

[Ben]

Originally posted by Daniel
<br />From my conversations with Ben. I believe his comments request has more to do with the process of stabalizing with the Acrylic resin. than this particular pen. Ben correct me if I'm wrong.

I wouldn't necessarily say that we're at a point where we can call this process "stabilizing", maybe more like "fortifying"... Toma-toe, To-mato, I know, but it still isn't like the stuff from AS... Still not quite there, only getting closer...

Give up, I must not...

 

[leehljp]

Ben,

My first impression was that the aluminum foil was sucked into the resin mixture during the vacuum process. The "blue" does look like that (Aluminum) in all but the bottom the picture. Once that idea is out of my mind, I liked the process and enjoyed your post.