Lemon Punch!

[PenAffair]

Another Polymer Clay trial. This is just an early experiment in producing repeatable patterns. I'm working towards a honeycomb design for a bee lover.

Russell.

 

[Ligget]

Russell that looks excellent, reminds me of a rash I once had! :doctor: LOL

 

[rjwolfe3]

Very nice!

 

[jbostian]

Very cool! I look forward to seeing the honeycomb design.

Jamie

 

[Mrs Rojo22]

Nice!

Robin

 

[creativewriting]

Russell,

Another great pen. I made one similar for a wedding present with smaller circles. It took me a while to get everything to stay symetrical. I ended up wrapping the tube with a thickness just above the bushings. I laid out where I wanted my dots and using a large ball stylus (anything that makes a round hole) I punched the circles. Then I cured the tube. Once it cooled I came back with another color and filled in the holes with uncured clay. This helped keep things round. Once I baked it again I skewed it round on the lathe and finished.

Great job!

 

[johncrane]

Russell
your pen looks great!

 

[mrcook4570]

Very nice work.

 

[Smokey7385]

PM sent with link for Faux Honeycomb/

 

[PenAffair]

Russell,

Another great pen. I made one similar for a wedding present with smaller circles. It took me a while to get everything to stay symetrical. I ended up wrapping the tube with a thickness just above the bushings. I laid out where I wanted my dots and using a large ball stylus (anything that makes a round hole) I punched the circles. Then I cured the tube. Once it cooled I came back with another color and filled in the holes with uncured clay. This helped keep things round. Once I baked it again I skewed it round on the lathe and finished.

Great job!

I did mine opposite. Put the circles on first and baked, then filled around. I actually popped off most of the dots pushing the orange fill in, so had to CA them all back in. The problem doing it that way was, pushing the dots onto the tube rounded the edges, so I had to be careful I still had enough thickness so they stayed round when turned.

Did you manage to cut out the shapes and remove the excess clay without distorting the sheet too much? I did try it that way originally, but I guess as my circles were rather large it made it a bit hard cutting on a curved surface. Smaller circles would be a little easier to cut. Still, if the space between the circles was small, the shet would distort easily.

Russell.

 

[creativewriting]

Did you manage to cut out the shapes and remove the excess clay without distorting the sheet too much?

I didn't cut the shapes which saved me time and heartache. The tool I used was much like a dapping punch (silver ball on stick). The excess clay that was displaced was removed with a skew at the end (after curing). I guess you could turn the piece when you cure it the first time, but I didn't have any issue waiting till the end. When you fill the holes and bake it the second time the blank looks like a big crazy mess. Once you square and turn it everything works itself out.

 

[PenAffair]

I didn't cut the shapes which saved me time and heartache. The tool I used was much like a dapping punch (silver ball on stick). The excess clay that was displaced was removed with a skew at the end (after curing). I guess you could turn the piece when you cure it the first time, but I didn't have any issue waiting till the end. When you fill the holes and bake it the second time the blank looks like a big crazy mess. Once you square and turn it everything works itself out.

Oh right. Yeah I tried that first using a hex head bolt as my texture tool, but as I need large hexes with a thin lattice between them, there was too much distortion as I moved around. My main issue is trying to get a well defined symmetrical lattice.

I have a texture sheet on the way that I'll try and another technique as well, as see how that does.

Russell.

 

[creativewriting]

Russel,

The Texture sheets are great, but the seams play with your head. It is almost impossible to get the two sides to match up as you role it.

Good luck!