mark james
IAP Collection, Curator
CHEERS!!! After Thanksgiving I had made 35 mini birdhouses as party favors/Christmas Tree decorations for my family. By far the most popular were those that had holes and inclusions.. Some of the nicest were from Eucalyptus Burl; Red and Brown Mallee, and others native in Australia...
So a lenghty conversation with George (Robutacion) and I placed an order for mostly 2" x 2" x 6-12" blanks with as many reasonable holes as possible. Some I would leave, some I wanted to experiment with inlays.
The remainder of the available space would be a variety of pen blanks. I gave some species requests, but basically I said "Have fun - give me a variety of what you think would work."
George promised an impressive display and I was stunned with what I got. The blanks are incredible castings with very unique fillings - It will certainly be a challenge for me. So far, I am please with how I'm doing. I'm viewing these first blanks my training period with a nice amount of good pens. I will absolutely order more in the later part of the year, and by then I hope to have a more consistent technique!
Note on price: Shipping is horribly expensive from Australia to Ohio; but... George's price were so low that with the shipping it was a wash or slightly higher - something I have no problem with considering I was getting had picked items, and the order is within IAP... Over a few clarifying e-mails, the wood was "in the mail."
Extremely nice to order from; excellent interest to please his customers; and some objects are simply one-of-a-kind castings (yes there are many others ava in IAP). Hopefully I will try my skill level with others I would like to support and make something unique!
Check it out. Cheers George!
So a lenghty conversation with George (Robutacion) and I placed an order for mostly 2" x 2" x 6-12" blanks with as many reasonable holes as possible. Some I would leave, some I wanted to experiment with inlays.
The remainder of the available space would be a variety of pen blanks. I gave some species requests, but basically I said "Have fun - give me a variety of what you think would work."
George promised an impressive display and I was stunned with what I got. The blanks are incredible castings with very unique fillings - It will certainly be a challenge for me. So far, I am please with how I'm doing. I'm viewing these first blanks my training period with a nice amount of good pens. I will absolutely order more in the later part of the year, and by then I hope to have a more consistent technique!
Note on price: Shipping is horribly expensive from Australia to Ohio; but... George's price were so low that with the shipping it was a wash or slightly higher - something I have no problem with considering I was getting had picked items, and the order is within IAP... Over a few clarifying e-mails, the wood was "in the mail."
Extremely nice to order from; excellent interest to please his customers; and some objects are simply one-of-a-kind castings (yes there are many others ava in IAP). Hopefully I will try my skill level with others I would like to support and make something unique!
Check it out. Cheers George!
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