Dalmation Pen with Acrylic Cap

[igran7]

Hi all. I wanted to share a pen I made this morning. It is a Dalmation Acrylic Closed-End Gentlemen's pen with turned Acrylic Cap finial. This is the first one I've ever done like this, I think i like it! All comments welcome, Good, Bad or Ugly.

 

[workinforwood]

Very nice. You popped out the gold piece and put in a matching acrylic piece right? I think that's what I see, but it's a bit tough in the pic, perhaps the shot is too close up. Beautiful pen.

 

[igran7]

Originally posted by workinforwood

You popped out the gold piece and put in a matching acrylic piece right?

Thanks for your kind words Jeff. I still need to work on my picture taking skills. Yes I popped out the the gold metal piece and turned a small acrylic piece and inserted it.

 

[kirkfranks]

Nice job on the finial.
It looks like you changed up the centerband treatment a little to. I like it.

 

[R2]

Wonderful!![8D][^]

 

[Firefyter-emt]

That cap jewel does look nice on that pen. Sometimes it works, sometimes it does not. Looks like you added a bit of a dimple on the body too, very nice touch!

 

[LEAP]

Very nicely done, Have you thought about drilling a bit deeper and painting the inside of the hole to avoid the color change?

 

[B727phixer]

Looks really good! Great Job!

 

[igran7]

Originally posted by LEAP

Have you thought about drilling a bit deeper and painting the inside of the hole to avoid the color change?

The hole is actually drilled deeper. In fact is is drilled to about 3/16" shy of the bottom of the pen. Problem is the painted tubes stop way short of that point, thus the darker looking end. I drilled the longer portion with a 1/4' bit to accomidate the fountain ink converter, so there is a thicker wall. I was afraid if I drilled it with a larger bit it would limit me to a much wider shape on the end piece. I'm not sure how to combat this problem. I am open to any suggestions.

 

[LEAP]

Mind you I have not tried this but was thinking some white paint on the inside of the drilled hole might do the trick. Let us know if you give it a try.

 

[VisExp]

Very nice work on the cap. The thing that jumps out at me is when the pen is capped the transition between the two pieces is very abrupt at the center band. I hope I'm explaining myself correctly. Looking at the top picture, the black on the body of the pen does not flow through to the cap, after the center band it is suddenly white.

 

[igran7]

Originally posted by VisExp

The thing that jumps out at me is when the pen is capped the transition between the two pieces is very abrupt at the center band. I hope I'm explaining myself correctly. Looking at the top picture, the black on the body of the pen does not flow through to the cap, after the center band it is suddenly white.

You are correct. Because it it a closed end pen I had to use two different blanks. The acrylic blanks I had were 3/4" X 3/4" X 5" The bottom blank is 3 1/4" long and the top blank was cut at 2 1/4" so no matter what I did the blank patterns will not line up. There is a portion of the pen that does line up much better, but I had to put the clip in that particular spot because of a defect at the very top of the cap. (The paint came off slightly and the brass tube peeked through)[xx(]

 

[Ligget]

Looks great, good work Joe![]

 

[VisExp]

Joe

Thanks for the explanation. Not having done many closed end pens I did not think about the lengths of the two parts and the fact that two blanks may have been used.

Also thank you for taking the critique in the spirit that it was offered.

 

[Tanner]

Looks great! You changed a few things for the better!

 

[johncrane]

Very nice Joe![]

 

[louisbry]

Beautifully made, Joe. I like your design and I am sure that all the imperfections noted in this post can be cured by repeating with a different blank that isn't so translucent.