What'd I miss?? PLEASE comment

[ed4copies]

I have a very good customer. He likes collecting unusual pens. He has adopted me as his "pen maker of choice" because I offer unusual materials.

So far, he has purchased Glimmerz' cobra, python and other skins, as well as mother of pearl and abalone and antler.

I NEED IDEAS!!!

The imported resins, unusual woods, etc have not "tripped his trigger". I want to have some choices for him at the Spring shows. Any ideas of materials I have overlooked??????

As Eagle would say, "I don't care if it's POSSIBLE, just give me the IDEA, I'll try to FIGURE OUT how to make it!!!"

Thanks for any contributions!!!!!

 

[Proud_Poppa_of_2]

Ed -

You didn't mention the M3, mokume gane and Damascus blanks. Those are new since last year. Would they interest your guy?

 

[IPD_Mrs]

You could always cast kitty litter!

Actually on a more serious note, one of our members casts feathers. That would be unusual and fits in with the skins he has bought. Also you could cast small animal teeth in a clear resin. If you get yourself an opposum you should have enough teeth to last a year or so.

What about a stained glass look? Using scraps and chips from Dawns projects. Maybe cast or even applied. You could sand smooth with emory cloth and seal in CA.

Anyway this is just off the top of my sick and twisted head![]

Mike

 

[ed4copies]

It's a thought, Michael - thank you!!!

Keep em coming!!

 

[bybill]

I just did a pen in alowood. It's plantation grown Radiata Pine that's dyed and 'hardened'. There are about eight colors available, all natural looking not bright. The wood is pretty plain, but it turns and finishes great. The dye goes all the way through. The stuff is available from Rockler and at $4 per linear foot for a 1x6 it's pretty cheap.

Bill Ingram

 

[ed4copies]

Mike,

Stained glass is always in our thoughts. He saw dichroic glass last year at Christmas - didn't bite, but might be an avenue for development - thanks!!!

 

[ed4copies]

Originally posted by bybill

I just did a pen in alowood. It's plantation grown Radiata Pine that's dyed and 'hardened'. There are about eight colors available, all natural looking not bright. The wood is pretty plain, but it turns and finishes great. The dye goes all the way through. The stuff is available from Rockler and at $4 per linear foot for a 1x6 it's pretty cheap.

Bill Ingram

Thanks Bill!!

I'll take a look next time I am at Rockler (on my Milwaukee Woodcraft visit)

 

[rlharding]

Ed, there is always bone, does his dislike of resin include bowling balls? What about corncob or your spice pens? What does he do, is there anything around his job or what you know of his life that would connect to a substance?

 

[ed4copies]

Ruth,

IF someone else is doing it, like corncobs, shell casings, straw, hay bales - you know, the "everybody does it stuff" - generally he is not interested.

The job connection IS interesting as I really have never asked what he does - I usually figure if it doesn't come up in conversation, don't ask. BUT, with this customer, I COULD ask for a business card for shipping, e-mail etc. (I will pursue that, thanks)

Spice pens are "girly things!!!", Ruth!!!

Keep em coming!!!

 

[OKLAHOMAN]

Prickly Pear Cactus,Snowmans Gator jawbone,Shreaded money,Curtis's worthless wood are a few I can think of.

 

[IPD_Mrs]

Is there a way to cast a liquid within the cast? Some how creating a pocket that holds a liquid? If you could come up with a working way to do that you would have several different things you could do with it. The first that comes to mind is you could say the liquid was Brady tears!

Mike

 

[DCBluesman]

The second would be Roger Clemens drug test! [8D]

 

[gerryr]

I can send you some buffalo chips.[}]

How about oosik?

 

[ed4copies]

Originally posted by gerryr

I can send you some buffalo chips.[}]

How about oosik?

Gotta hand it to you, Gerry.

Neither of these is "Girly things!!!"[:0][:0][:0]

 

[ed4copies]

Thanks Roy.

I HAVE pens of prickly pear, I don't THINK I have shown him one - oOOPPPsss!
That could be a keeper!!! And gator jaw is in the basement, waiting for my shoulder to heal.

 

[rherrell]

Originally posted by ed4copies

Originally posted by gerryr

I can send you some buffalo chips.[}]

How about oosik?

Gotta hand it to you, Gerry.

Neither of these are things that would be admired by a girl!!!"[:0][:0][:0]

Careful Ed.

 

[ed4copies]

Don't CHANGE my words, Rick.[:0][:0][:0][:0]

When I am this close to the edge, I tread VERY carefully!!!! Every word is analyzed in advance of posting as well as the potential responses (to the best of my ability to anticipate)!!!

And, I expected the response to come from Ruth (my mother's name, BTW). Possibly embracing the oosik suggestion,..................... or not!!!

 

[R2]

Cane toad skin, wolffish skin, Shark skin, fish skin, other skins?
Small spiders, insects or scorpions set in resin?

 

[Chasper]

Being just back from Tucson and the rock and gem shows I have a few ideas:
1. Real malachite, not truestone. I bought a few pieces. Any soft stone with a mohs number between 2.5 and 5 would work.
2. Fossils, Moroccan orthoceras looks promising. How about small fossilized shark teeth in resin?
3. Several softer stones could work out: selenite, multiple colors of soapstone, pipestone, onyx, chalk, pumice, tufa. Segmented stone, maybe segmented with antler. Multiple colors of opal for a segmented pen? Try jet, it is a black mineral, a variety of coal, light and hard, it doesn't chip easy, would be great for segmenting, I've turned a few as desk pen stands.
4. I'm not having much success, but I've been working on flint knapping a pen, I want to leave the flake scars exposed.
5. I looked over a stone lathe and thought about turning a pen from any of the many colorful agates available, marble would work, ruby in zoisite, gold ore in quartz, copper ore, real jade, the list goes on and on if you were set up for hard stone.
6. Lab grown ruby, identical propoerties to the real thing, it takes a good idea to distinguish, almost as expensive too.
7. Real amber with some bugs still inside? Or real insects in resin...a black widow spider for the woman celebrating her second divorce?

I could go on and on....just did, didn't I

 

[rlharding]

Ed, seeing the aluminium pen that's posted today, what about a metal? In the library there is a tutorial for a mixed solder and copper pen. Is there a special date around the day of your show? Some holiday or celebration day that's related to your State or the Nation?

As for the other, I have said what I needed to say and I understand you can drag a horse to water but you can't make it drink. Personally, I have not made any distinction between what a man would like and what a women would like. I have a brother (Cop, married, 3 kids, big guy) who LOVES pink. He has several pink shirts and sweaters. I am not one for the pens that are called 'girly'. I like nice dark figured wood and a pen that feels like it can do something. Nothing to do with gender, just difference. yada, yada, yada. Unless something is blatantly sexist I won't touch the subject again....even when baited!

 

[great12b4ever]

What about some of the extreme segmented works, aka eagle style? Or the spider pen.

 

[skiprat]

I could send you some fine copper braid that Dawn could clear cast if you want it. Got tons of the stuff. It will fit on any tube, but works best on pens that the blanks don't become too thin.
It will fit on any pen that Dichro could.

 

[Proud_Poppa_of_2]

Originally posted by rlharding

As for the other, I have said what I needed to say and I understand you can drag a horse to water but you can't make it drink. Personally, I have not made any distinction between what a man would like and what a women would like. I have a brother (Cop, married, 3 kids, big guy) who LOVES pink. He has several pink shirts and sweaters. I am not one for the pens that are called 'girly'. I like nice dark figured wood and a pen that feels like it can do something. Nothing to do with gender, just difference. yada, yada, yada. Unless something is blatantly sexist I won't touch the subject again....even when baited!

I'm with Ruth on the pink thing, Ed. It's one of my colors and it doesn't threaten my masculinity. People can joke all they want, but they tend to do it only once. Not because of my reaction, but because of my non-reaction. They get no rise from me, so they don't do it anymore, and I just go on enjoying my pink things, including pink ivory pens, among others.

 

[ed4copies]

This is fun.

Thanks to one and all and keep em coming!!!

Skippy, I imagine we can find copper braid and avoid shipping transocean. But I do thank you for the idea and Dawn MAY be pm-ing you as I type (I never know these things until days later!!)

Ruth - I don't think you sounded offended - but, just in case, no offense meant by my "girly" comments (or others). Oh, I have and wear SEVERAL pink shirts, too. As far as metal goes, I've not tried that - another whole universe opened!!!

Gerry - I understand "stone" and I understand "hard", after that I am pretty much lost. Is there such a thing as a stone lathe??? Do you actually turn pens on such a beast??? Are you pulling my leg??? The shark tooth fossil sounds interesting and also opens a whole new area (embedded in resin).

Rob - as you probably know I am fortunate to be among the "Eagle insiders", so this customer has seen a couple Eagle pens. I will be doing more before the Spring shows - that certainly is a possible sale.

R2 - You have listed the materials that I have done from Glimmerz N More. He has seen them all and purchased a couple. He does NOT want skins that are dyed. If you have access to some of those skins in their natural colors, I would like to know about it - there may be a trade (or outright sale, if you prefer) available. I can make the blanks, just need the skins. Is a scorpion skin large enough for a pen??? Haven't seen that. The small "critters" are also an interesting idea, but we have SOME of those here in the USA!

Again, I find this very informative, as well as the few PM's I have gotten. Thanks to all and keep 'em coming. On this forum, I am sure there are others saying, "Yeah, I could do that!!!"

 

[Dan_F]

Re: Stone---I have seen pics of bowls turned from soapstone, done on a wood lathe. I wonder how durable a pen would be though, if it would crack or chip if dropped. Alabaster might be another possibility. Both would genereate lots of dust, not much in the way of ribbons.

Dan

 

[joseph10s]

Have you considered carbon fiber or fiberglass weave? The carbon fiber looks really neat when light hits it. I know a guy in your area that makes pen blanks from the stuff. If your interested let me know.

 

[ed4copies]

Dan,

Alabaster has been done by several of our members. Apparently it cracks very easily while it is being "produced" and assembled. SOME continue to make and sell pens from alabaster, informing the customer that the cracks are to be expected. This is not my cup of tea, but I am making this long explanation to let you know if YOU want to make them, Richard at RandB crafts has the material and the expertise to guide your efforts. GO FOR IT!!!!

Edited hoping to get the name right (90% sure it's Richard)

 

[Woodlvr]

I see that there is a Sierra Mammoth Ivory on Ebay for a Buy It Now price of $650, how about Ivory Ed? I have been looking and I see that it is expensive but I am sure you could make the cost back very easily.


Mike

 

[ed4copies]

Mike,

I have some Mammoth Ivory - trying to figure where and how to use it. Too many ridges to make a pen, but as inlays...... or embedded in resin,..... then turned to expose a portion or ............. you get the picture.

Oh, and I did NOT spend $600 for it. (Picked the RIGHT auction)

 

[ed4copies]

Originally posted by joseph10s

Have you considered carbon fiber or fiberglass weave? The carbon fiber looks really neat when light hits it. I know a guy in your area that makes pen blanks from the stuff. If your interested let me know.

Thanks for the suggestion. If you have a pic and can e-mail it to me, (or post here)[][] I would like to see what it looks like.

 

[Chasper]

Gerry - I understand "stone" and I understand "hard", after that I am pretty much lost. Is there such a thing as a stone lathe??? Do you actually turn pens on such a beast??? Are you pulling my leg??? The shark tooth fossil sounds interesting and also opens a whole new area (embedded in resin).

No leg pulling going on: Here is one http://www.diamondpacific.net/lathe.html
and another http://www.mini-lathe.com/Default.htm

Search for a taig lathe. Harder stone needs water to keep tools cool and to keep the dust down.

 

[avbill]

Ed i have some lignum vitae what was used as a shaft lubricate on the USS Mariposa, The Matson Line The wood was taken off the ship in 1968, by my father.

Bill Daniels

 

[fiferb]

I was working on a pine cone just a little while ago. Think your customer would like one of those?

 

[THarvey]

Originally posted by skiprat

I could send you some fine copper braid that Dawn could clear cast if you want it. Got tons of the stuff. It will fit on any tube, but works best on pens that the blanks don't become too thin.
It will fit on any pen that Dichro could.

How about trying to get some of Skiprat's special custom styled pens in kit form? Sure thing, he won't find those anywhere else. []

 

[Texatdurango]

As far as I'm concerned some of the more unique blanks come from Curtis' "Worthless wood" collection. They have the beauty of natural wood AND the lustre and shimmer of acrylics.

I got many comments on my Algarita root worthless pens and decided not to sell the last one. I did however make the mistake of showing my nephew my pen cases at Christmas and saying "Take your pick". So much for the Algarita root pen!

 

[hughbie]

IMHO, i love the idea of shredded money blanks. (note to self, need a couple of those for myself)
of course, one way of making one that is TOTALLY unique it to use your cutoffs for a blank.....

 

[Scott-n-KY]

If you use gerryr's "buffalo chips" you could have Ed's "Poo Poo Pen" ... But no matter how much work you put into it, it will still probably look like crap.


.

 

[jtate]

Ed,

I still have that hornet's nest - a great big old thing. All it needs is to be cut into pieces and cast. It's easily cut with a slightly serated knife since it's just essentially paper made by hornets who've chewed up trees. All I'd need is a couple of blanks from it once it's been cast. I'll ship you and Dawn the whole thing. It even still has some dead hornets in it. Yummy!

Julia

 

[jtate]

Ed,

What about the hickory nut put I made for one of the pen swaps we had?

It's hickory nuts sanded flat on parallel sides, drilled and turned. I haven't heard from the fellow I sent it to about how it's holding up. The one I made for myself is holding up quite nicely.

And, of course, there are corncob pens.

Julia

 

[jtate]

Ah Here's the one I've been using myself. Not much to look at, design-wise, but it was a prototype to test the material and the finish. It's just fine a year later.