Visconti Inspired

[budnder]

I was struck by a recent Visconti Metropolitan I saw and it got the design juices flowing thinking about how that style could be done with humble basement pen turning equipment... I guess you could call this a prototype in that there were too many unknowns to expect it to work out on first attempt. It's got some issues, the biggest of which is one of the metal strips pulled away and I backfilled with some mica just to finish to see what it would look like. I think I'll try one more round of refinements to my approach and try another to see if I can get one closer to perfect.

I'll post a pic of the Visconti Metropolitan so you can see what inspired me, and a few pix of the casting steps. In the last pic you can see the catch I had that pulled out the metal and the fill I put in.

Being inspired by brand name pens came up recently in this thread, if you're interested:

http://www.penturners.org/forum/f18/brand-name-pens-143760/

 

[magpens]

Well done !!! . That is a very interesting project. . Valiant attempt !!!! . What kind of wire did you use for the spirals ?

 

[budnder]

12 gauge aluminum (about 2mm wide)

 

[SteveG]

I can just visualize the challenge of keeping the 12 ga wire at a uniform, and specific level above the blue core. You had a lot of issues to address as you worked through this prototype. Well done!

I am curious...what is your blue core material? The Visconti looks as if they wound a spiral of thin wire over a green backdrop to get that visual effect.

 

[budnder]

The background is just a graphic design printed on label paper. I tinted the Alumilte with a little blue mica, which I would do again - it adds just a little sparkle and depth.

I did the math and needed to raise the wire 1mm around the center, so a bit of 1mm copper wire as a "center band" in the blank did the trick.

 

[jttheclockman]

I like it Roy. This is one that I had mentioned I have sitting on my desk from 3 years ago but never finished. My thoughts are somewhat different than yours. You said you had to raise the wire, could you not choose a different kit where you can just lay the wire on the tube and glue it to the tube with CA??? Not sure what it would do with the overall look.

What tool did you use to spin it down??? When did the wire grab??? That is one of the challenges is because of the angles of the aluminum. That is why mine exploded along with some other issues that I may try to correct. I will be watching this one for sure. Good luck.

 

[thewishman]

Great job! Thank you for the process pics - they really help in understanding how you made the blanks. I'd say you made a beautiful pen that pays honor to the original inspiration.

 

[Marko50]

Very nice. Well done!

 

[stuckinohio]

Wow. That is awesome! Actually, when I saw the blue line, I thought it looked kinda cool, almost on purpose.

 

[mark james]

This is a project that has sat on my desk for 2 years now. Since I have too many projects and may never get back to this, maybe you can run with it. I was working on this right before the "fishing rod" weaves started to appear, and since they are so beautiful, I shifted to other projects.

Use different combination "end caps" to get different designs.

I love your pen BTW!!!

 

[budnder]

...
You said you had to raise the wire, could you not choose a different kit where you can just lay the wire on the tube and glue it to the tube with CA?
...
What tool did you use to spin it down?
...
When did the wire grab?

John - Yeah, I thought about just doing something with a straight profile that didn't need the wire to raise, but thought the curve in the profile might be a more interesting look if I could manage it. The 12 gauge wire is a bit tough to bend and keep straight and smooth - I "pulled/stretched" it a bit to try and get it to lay the way I wanted, so not sure CA anchoring could withstand that, and since my body was label wrapped, I was concerned about getting some CA on the label. Raising the wire up in the middle with a little loop of 1mm copper wire really was no big deal. It looked a bit rag tag/wonky before I cast it, but turned it was much more forgiving to the eye.

I used a skew to turn it, sharpening a couple of times. The top barrel went without incident and I think I might have got a little too confident, too aggressive on the bottom side - that was where my catch was. It was about 1/4 of the way down from the fat end of the bottom tube. The wire didn't come all the way out - just that top 1/4 pulled up. I tried pushing it back in, but it was a bit mangled, so just decided to go ahead and pull it the rest of the way out down to the nib end. Next time I'll just keep reminding myself to take light cuts and sharpen maybe 3 times for each barrel. The catch aside, it really turned pretty easy.

 

[jttheclockman]

I like what you are attempting Roy and that is what gives me the most pleasure in doing pens these days. Thinking outside the box. I believe we all need that special pen to work on. Anyone can spin a piece of wood or plastic round and press some fittings in. But to create things is the challenge. That is why I posted that thread about looking at some of the top designers pens and getting ideas and using basic tools in the shop try to replicate something along the lines of what they do. Of course they have all these machines that produce their exquisite pens.

At the first of the year I will be all caught up on my craft shows and all the inventory I have been working on for them so I will have more time to dedicate towards many designs of pens and other things. I like that part.

By the way Mark that is a cool design. Just to let you know they sell wire weaving like that which comes in sleeve form. I say that because you can stretch and clump up many different ways to give the effect you are looking for. I had seen that stuff in one of the craft stores years ago. Some times I just take a walk through those stores and checking things out to file away for future projects. But getting older, my internal filing system is breaking.

Keep it up guys. I love this stuff.

 

[bpgoldo]

Roy, in the simplest and most accurate word....brilliant.

 

[leehljp]

Beautiful work. Innovative too, even if you are inspired by someone else. I love metal wire work in pens. Tricky and sometimes unpredictable but worth it when it turns out.

Thanks for posting this.