I made these Princess pens for my granddaughter. Her 6th birthday is on the 21st and I wanted to make her a princess pen before she outgrows this stage.
Lots of firsts for me here - first one-piece pens, first decal/sticker project, first CA finish, and first "save". They are far from perfect and I know where every blemish & flaw are and what to do in the future, but it was a great learning experience and lots of fun. My wife & daughter really like the pens and I can't wait to give them to my granddaughter.
The wood is sycamore - I wanted a light wood with a little grain but not too pronounced. I got the stickers at Hobby Lobby & used 3 coats of decoupage glue over the stickers with a little glitter glue brushed into the first layer of glue. Then a few layers of thin CA followed by 20-30 layers of medium CA. Finish is one-step satin followed by one-step gloss then ren wax - buffing was simply done with a wad of blue shop towel.
Since I was trying so many new techniques, I decided to make 2 pens at once in case I messed one up. For the most part, all went well until the final finishing. I forgot to put a protective tube in the bottom part of the top pen and even though I didn't tighten the tail stock very much, I cracked the wood and the CA finish. I was sickened since all the hard work was already done, but after thinking about it a few days, I cut off about an inch of the bottom part of the pen to get past the damaged part and fashioned a piece of acrylic to replace the damaged part & serve as an extension of the nib.
Ed
Lots of firsts for me here - first one-piece pens, first decal/sticker project, first CA finish, and first "save". They are far from perfect and I know where every blemish & flaw are and what to do in the future, but it was a great learning experience and lots of fun. My wife & daughter really like the pens and I can't wait to give them to my granddaughter.
The wood is sycamore - I wanted a light wood with a little grain but not too pronounced. I got the stickers at Hobby Lobby & used 3 coats of decoupage glue over the stickers with a little glitter glue brushed into the first layer of glue. Then a few layers of thin CA followed by 20-30 layers of medium CA. Finish is one-step satin followed by one-step gloss then ren wax - buffing was simply done with a wad of blue shop towel.
Since I was trying so many new techniques, I decided to make 2 pens at once in case I messed one up. For the most part, all went well until the final finishing. I forgot to put a protective tube in the bottom part of the top pen and even though I didn't tighten the tail stock very much, I cracked the wood and the CA finish. I was sickened since all the hard work was already done, but after thinking about it a few days, I cut off about an inch of the bottom part of the pen to get past the damaged part and fashioned a piece of acrylic to replace the damaged part & serve as an extension of the nib.
Ed
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