Two new pen blanks

[ed4copies]

The second pair is a new "substitute for crushed velvet" that we imported. It will never be mistaken for crushed velvet!! But, it is a nice ladies' pen, I think.

The first pair is from our friend, JohnU. He meticulously has arranged pieces of mother of pearl on the tube, then cast in polyresin. The blank was "pre-tubed", so all I did was turn it. I chose to make it on a diplomat4, which allows a little more room than a standard sierra. The actual OD of the end of the blank is 0.502". At this point I was happy to sand and polish.

All comments, questions, etc are encouraged!!

Thanks for looking!

 

[PaulDoug]

Sooo, your job in life is to make pens out of all these beautiful new blanks and show them??!! How the heck does a guy get a job like that!!!!

 

[ed4copies]

Sooo, your job in life is to make pens out of all these beautiful new blanks and show them??!! How the heck does a guy get a job like that!!!!

You live a good clean life, exemplary to all around you and you get your reward

OR you have lots of neat friends who make cool blanks that trust you to "promote" them!!!:biggrin::biggrin:

GUESS which way I did it!!!

 

[dgscott]

I like the Mother of Pearl a lot!
Doug

 

[ed4copies]

I like the crushed velvet a lot!
Doug

Thanks Doug!!

It's a little tempermental---don't drill through it.
Stop short and cut off the end. Blew up three, trying to go through. (Yes, I try these things with new materials, just so I can answer questions).

 

[lazyguy]

Very nice, good for the ladies.

 

[Mark]

Second the Mother of Pearl. That looks very tempting.

I've been doing a ton of Divas recently, that would be a great blank to go with the clear crystal version.

Very nice.

 

[ed4copies]

Mark,

I'm not familiar with the Diva style.

When doing blanks like this, the "thickness" of the material is critical. Measure the OD of the brass tube and the OD of the hardware it has to "mate" with. If the difference is one hundredth of an inch (0.010") or more, the blank could be made. Now, just convince JohnU that he wants to take an hour or so to make one!! These things are VERY time consuming---Dawn has made a couple designs for me, I understand when John says, "May be more work than they are worth".

At the pen shows, you will see quite a few Mother of Pearl antique pens, so it is not a NEW idea, just a pretty one!!

 

[Mark]

The Diva is a 3/8" tube. I'll measure the O.D. Thx...

 

[ed4copies]

The Diva is a 3/8" tube. I'll measure the O.D. Thx...

Mark,

This is going to sound picky, I don't mean it that way.

3/8 is the size of the hole, we need the actual OD of the brass. Then the real OD of the mating part (pen part-both--or all four--ends--the smallest one determines the feasibility of the embedded objects).

This is the "technical" aspect of "blank-making". It's also the major reason dichroic glass blanks never really got started--too fat!!

 

[Mark]

Okay. I'll get the measurements and be in touch.. Thx much..

 

[Ligget]

Those are great blanks Ed, the pens look fantastic!

 

[Toni]

LOVE the Pink!!

 

[Dudley Young]

Very nice. I do some mesa's and some diva's also.

 

[workinforwood]

Those look really great Ed!

 

[johncrane]

They look really cool ED!!

 

[Bree]

Cool! Excellent work!
:biggrin::biggrin::biggrin:

 

[Pioneerpens]

very nice! love them both!