Crushed Seashells and Sand

[TonyL]

My last day at the beach. I was going to collect some very small shells or just a bunch of shells, crush them, and see how well they cast in PR. I will probably have to crush them, which is fine. Has anyone tried to mix crushed sea shells and clear PR, and turned it?

Thanks for reading and sharing your experience.

 

[mark james]

Last year I experimented with rolling a tube with thick CA on a tray of sand. Worked fine. I then also glued a stamp with fish on it (CA also). Then I applied more thick CA and sprinkled the sand over the blank, leaving a "window" for the stamp. I build up more CA layers to get to the bushing diameter.

This worked for me. I can't work with PR, and didn't trust Alumilite, although that should be fine.

Good Luck.

 

[TonyL]

Thank you...good alternative.

 

[JohnU]

I've tried both crushed shells and sand in PR, thinking it would look like the beach. Reality set in when I tried to turn them. They were like turning cement! I would not recommend mixing them with the PR, instead paint your tubes a color similar to your sand or shells and glue them to the tube with medium CA and then cast clear giving them a day or two to degas. Good luck!

 

[low_48]

Not an alternative, it's the only way to do it. Unless you have a diamond tool that could turn a material that is the same as a grinding wheel.

 

[TonyL]

Thanks all. I thought of the same thing as I was collecting shells. I selected some very, very same ones. I will try gluing them whole to the tube and pouring the PR over them. Thanks for sparing me the trial and mostly error

 

[Charlie_W]

Tony, With the shells, you might want to sand a concave radius on the back side so they lay down on the pen tube better. A knock out punch in a smaller diameter with double stick tape and sandpaper to equal the diameter of the actual tube should work.

 

[low_48]

Tony, With the shells, you might want to sand a concave radius on the back side so they lay down on the pen tube better. A knock out punch in a smaller diameter with double stick tape and sandpaper to equal the diameter of the actual tube should work.

Protect yourself from breathing sea shell dust. Too long of exposure can cause serious lung problems.

 

[TonyL]

Thank you - excellent advice. I am going to return the shells to where nature left deposited them.

 

[Monty]

Seashells can be cast in in PR and turned with a carbide tool. Here is one of two bottle stoppers I made about a year ago. As I turned, I filled any voids in the shells with CA.



Don't know how well a pen blank would hold up being so thin.

 

[JohnU]

Here's one I did a while back with Shell pieces glued to the tube and clear cast in silmar.

 

[TonyL]

Wow!

 

[79spitfire]

I did a set of pens with Black Clam shell chips. They were intended for decorating fingernails. I painted the tubes black then epoxied the chips (approx. 1mm size) to the tubes, cast in PR and turned them. The effect is stunning, the PR acts as a magnifying glass and brought out hidden colors in the sea shells. One or two "poked" out of the PR and made no difference, I touched them with a bit of CA and polished the pens as normal. Carbide tools recommended, I used a carbide tipped skew.

 

[TonyL]

Very nice idea. Thank you.