Oldmanwheeler
Member
It's been a good week! On Wednesday I went to the Doctor who did my shoulder replacement 6 weeks ago and got a relatively good report. When we got home the next day I decided to attempt making my first acrylic blank with the materials I ordered during my recuperation. I opted to go with the Mystical Molds and in this case I used the Atlas mold. Much to my amazement my first attempt went well.
I wanted to make a pen for a friend of ours who is Iowa States Woman's Volleyball Head Coach. I choose to mix a dark red and yellow / Dark gold to simulate ISU's Cardinal and Gold colors. About 18 hours later I decided to test one of the blanks on the lathe and was very pleased at how it turned. Unfortunately, there was one small spot where there was an air bubble and it left a hole exposing the tube. I decided to turn the second blank and it came out near perfect. I sanded it to 12,000 grit, used Meguiar's Plastic Cleaner followed by Meguiar's Mirror Glaze Clear Plastic Polish and ended up with a brilliant finish.
It felt good to finally be able to get back to making pens after a six week hiatus. It felt even better to make my own blank and turn it successfully into a pen. While I was recuperating I spent time experimenting and learning how to take pictures of the pens I've turned. I want to keep a photographic journal of the pens I make. The attached picture was taking using a Nikon D5000 and a light box I bought off of Amazon.com. So after what seemed like forever of not being able to do much of anything, I went hog wild and did about everything in one day.
Later today, I'm going to go to the coaches office and give her the pen. GO CYCLONES!
I wanted to make a pen for a friend of ours who is Iowa States Woman's Volleyball Head Coach. I choose to mix a dark red and yellow / Dark gold to simulate ISU's Cardinal and Gold colors. About 18 hours later I decided to test one of the blanks on the lathe and was very pleased at how it turned. Unfortunately, there was one small spot where there was an air bubble and it left a hole exposing the tube. I decided to turn the second blank and it came out near perfect. I sanded it to 12,000 grit, used Meguiar's Plastic Cleaner followed by Meguiar's Mirror Glaze Clear Plastic Polish and ended up with a brilliant finish.
It felt good to finally be able to get back to making pens after a six week hiatus. It felt even better to make my own blank and turn it successfully into a pen. While I was recuperating I spent time experimenting and learning how to take pictures of the pens I've turned. I want to keep a photographic journal of the pens I make. The attached picture was taking using a Nikon D5000 and a light box I bought off of Amazon.com. So after what seemed like forever of not being able to do much of anything, I went hog wild and did about everything in one day.
Later today, I'm going to go to the coaches office and give her the pen. GO CYCLONES!
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