Welcome to the Advanced Beautiful Pen Contest sponsored by Exotic Blanks

[mredburn]

Good Morning IAP Have a great breakfast, say a few kind words to the family and disappear into the shop until that pen is done. No Excuses, nothing but you and the pen!

If you have procrastinated making your pen up to this time, it might be a good thing to go get started.

 

[firewhatfire]

after i get done working another 8 1/2 hours today, I dont think so. Maybe tomorrow

 

[hard hat]

I may have to smash something out just to have an entry. I don't feel I'm on par of the advanced all the way but have ventured too far to be ok entering in intermediate. Bah... I don't like these fights in my head

 

[mredburn]

Just entering a pen will elevate you to a level far above mortal pen makers. Young Women will swoon as you pass. Men will doff their hats and step aside. Nuns will offer up their seat on the bus to you..:biggrin: Ed will ask your advise on making pens..............................:biggrin::biggrin:

 

[Hendu3270]

I may have to smash something out just to have an entry. I don't feel I'm on par of the advanced all the way but have ventured too far to be ok entering in intermediate. Bah... I don't like these fights in my head

Yeah I don't feel comfortable entering the Intermediate contest again, but I just don't see how a kit pen stands a chance against a kitless pen. Maybe to a non-pen turner, but we pen turners know just how much effort goes into those. That being said, I'm still entering one in this contest :wink:

Thinking maybe a separate contest for kitless only pens might be agood idea for next year.

 

[D.Oliver]

Just entering a pen will elevate you to a level far above mortal pen makers. Young Women will swoon as you pass. Men will doff their hats and step aside. Nuns will offer up their seat on the bus to you..:biggrin: Ed will ask your advise on making pens..............................:biggrin::biggrin:

I know Exotic Blanks are the official sponsor but I'm thinking that maybe Muck Boots might want to sigh on as a sponsor too!

 

[hard hat]

Just entering a pen will elevate you to a level far above mortal pen makers. Young Women will swoon as you pass. Men will doff their hats and step aside. Nuns will offer up their seat on the bus to you..:biggrin: Ed will ask your advise on making pens..............................:biggrin::biggrin:

Those things already happen, but that's because of the truck I drive

 

[Ed McDonnell]

The good news is that I just finished the step in my pen making where a couple of days worth of work is finally revealed and I can see what I've created for the first time.

Normally I would polish up what I've got and move on to the next step. But i'm looking at what I've created and saying to myself "did you forget what colors you were supposed to be using in this thing? What were you thinking and what did you do". Ugly doesn't even begin to describe it.

Into the bucket of busted dreams it goes.

I'm going to bed. Maybe I'll feel better after a good nights sleep and start from scratch tomorrow with a newer and better idea.

Ed

 

[mredburn]

Why Derek do you think the chips are getting a little deep in here? :biggrin:

 

[mredburn]

I know last year I ended up with the butt ugliest color on my pen and had to grind it all out and redo it totally.

 

[D.Oliver]

The good news is that I just finished the step in my pen making where a couple of days worth of work is finally revealed and I can see what I've created for the first time.

Normally I would polish up what I've got and move on to the next step. But i'm looking at what I've created and saying to myself "did you forget what colors you were supposed to be using in this thing? What were you thinking and what did you do". Ugly doesn't even begin to describe it.

Into the bucket of busted dreams it goes.

I'm going to bed. Maybe I'll feel better after a good nights sleep and start from scratch tomorrow with a newer and better idea.

Ed

So you've finally come around huh? Glad to here you'll be joining us in the Trivia Contest tomorrow!

P.S. Please wipe your feet (or better yet change your shoes) when you get over to our thread! You probably stepped in something strolling around in this thread at about post 124

 

[mredburn]

There is a small light of the coming Dawn, your shop awaits your awakening. You grab your first cup of coffee and head to the shop to finish your pen. It has been Haunting you all through the week. Doubts arise and you assure yourself, The fit is perfect, leave it alone. You have sanded it down to 50,0000 micro diamond polish, the luster and depth are unbelievable. It gleams in the dawning light calling to you in your dreams. You start to take the pictures and you realize you have achieved a level you had not thought possible.
Reflecting on the trials of the last week or two, the tension and stress, the rewards of completion, you take another sip of coffee and head to the computer to submit your ultimate pen to the contest and the final test........

 

[mredburn]

Oh and take that trivia contest entry stealing varmint and just say NO!

 

[edstreet]

So my pen entry. If the NSA saw it and passed it around their shop and 5,000 employee's saw it (more than would on IAP) does that mean my entry is not qualified?

 

[Dan Masshardt]

So my pen entry. If the NSA saw it and passed it around their shop and 5,000 employee's saw it (more than would on IAP) does that mean my entry is not qualified?

The good news is that they've qualified you for an all expense paid vacation to Guantanamo bay for suspected terrorist pen making.

 

[edstreet]

So my pen entry. If the NSA saw it and passed it around their shop and 5,000 employee's saw it (more than would on IAP) does that mean my entry is not qualified?

The good news is that they've qualified you for an all expense paid vacation to Guantanamo bay for suspected terrorist pen making.

Oh dear, that means I will get more junk mail like the pre-approved credit cards, the pre-qualified home loans, the keys to the clunker.

 

[mredburn]

In a decision handed down by the Supreme Court of Pen Making: Honorable judge, jury and executioner, MRedburn Presiding.
IN Brown vs Broberg it was ruled.
As it has been xrayed,chemically tested, sniffed, tasted and probably even wrote with. Your entry would still qualify if they havent put it on a wanted poster at the post office or on "Americas most Wanted Fugitives"
Your ugly mug can be posted just not a picture of the pen.
Your Pen is still eligible.:biggrin:

 

[mredburn]

As a short side note, I was standing in line at the Post Office in the late 90s and looked down at the FBI's most wanted fliers and realized I had dinner 2 weeks earlier with the guy on the poster, and his wife, who was wanted also.

 

[edstreet]

that Brown guy sure gets around.

First it was brown vs texas, brown vs mississippi, brown vs brown, brown vs topeka, brown vs white rice, brown vs board of education, brown vs buhman, now we see 'what can brown do for you' ad's.

 

[mredburn]

At least it wasnt Mr. Green Jeans or Colonel Mustard!

 

[JohnGreco]

As a short side note, I was standing in line at the Post Office in the late 90s and looked down at the FBI's most wanted fliers and realized I had dinner 2 weeks earlier with the guy on the poster, and his wife, who was wanted also.

Are you serious? What were they wanted for, and how did you escape? :biggrin:

 

[mredburn]

Yes im serious. They were wanted for embezzlement across state lines and Suspected of Murder. It turned out that they were running investment schemes and taking the money to vegas trying to beat the system. She turned out to be the one that they wanted in connection with the death of one of her husbands. Turns out she poisened him. She remarried to change her name. She is still in prision, he is now out, He testified against her and was given a reduced sentence on the embezzling counts. He wasnt too bright to start with.

 

[Hendu3270]

So my pen entry. If the NSA saw it and passed it around their shop and 5,000 employee's saw it (more than would on IAP) does that mean my entry is not qualified?

Yep, that's what it means...

 

[Hendu3270]

Yes im serious. They were wanted for embezzlement across state lines and Suspected of Murder. It turned out that they were running investment schemes and taking the money to vegas trying to beat the system. She turned out to be the one that they wanted in connection with the death of one of her husbands. Turns out she poisened him. She remarried to change her name. She is still in prision, he is now out, He testified against her and was given a reduced sentence on the embezzling counts. He wasnt too bright to start with.

What's really scary, is those types are out there breeding!!

 

[Ed McDonnell]

I'm awake (sort of). I'm energized. I've reset my goals at a lower, but more realistic (and hopefully still adequate) level.

I've decided to engage in the lightning Chess version of pen making. Starting with a can of resin, some pigments and some pen parts, can I get beat the deadline?

Stay tuned. It's bound to be a car wreck and nobody can resist looking at a car wreck.

Ed

 

[mredburn]

Calling all ambulance chasers! ED is about to have a train wreck! see the destruction!:question: Pickup the flying pieces as it explodes into a million little pieces.:biggrin: Chant as he attempts to make his pen! TURN TURN TURN!:biggrin:

Oh and good luck ED!

 

[Ed McDonnell]

Resin for the blanks is mixed, poured in the molds and in the oven curing.

My primary color looks gorgeous. Just like I planned. (Can't say too much, have to maintain anonymity.)

My secondary color is close, but it isn't exactly what I imagined I would get from the formula I calculated, but it might actually be better. :biggrin:

My tertiary color isn't like anything that was in my game plan. When engaged in lightning pen making, sometimes you grab the wrong bottle of color and find out that things that look pretty close in the color bottle do very different things when combined with whatever else they are being combined with. At this point, I'm just going to have to love it.

While casting, the LOML came out to the shop to tell me that her niece just went into the hospital with heart problems. I didn't give her a chance to tell me that before I chased her out of the shop so I could finish casting. She told me when I came in the house. Things are a bit frosty in South Florida today. This is going to cost me.

Ed

 

[D.Oliver]

As a short side note, I was standing in line at the Post Office in the late 90s and looked down at the FBI's most wanted fliers and realized I had dinner 2 weeks earlier with the guy on the poster, and his wife, who was wanted also.

Folks, I just want you to know that nobody over at the Trivia Contest associates with anyone on the FBI most wanted posters! We're all about work, church and volunteer work over there. So come on over.....after all you're judged by the company you keep.

 

[mredburn]

Why you entry stealing, chip slinging, low down, good for something but not much varmint, get away from my entrants!:at-wits-end::biggrin:

 

[mredburn]

What was that about muck boots being needed to wade through all the chips its getting so deep? Was that this thread or the Russ Fairfield thread? Im not sure but we can sure pile em high!

 

[Ed McDonnell]

Resins are cured and ready to go. More importantly the LOML is again smiling and all is right with the world.

I'm off to the shop to slice, dice, turn and burn. After I do all that, I'll see if I can find some time to work on my pen. :biggrin:

Ed

 

[mredburn]

Good luck Ed .......

 

[firewhatfire]

advanced explosion number 2 officially in the books....maybe I should go play trivia

 

[mredburn]

Bite your tongue and get back in there and fight for that pen. Havent you read all those motivational posts in this thread? Bad enough to even think about giving up but TRIVIA? Anything but that!:biggrin:

 

[The Penguin]

advanced explosion number 2 officially in the books....maybe I should go play trivia

better odds of winning something here.

 

[firewhatfire]

wish that I wasn't one the last stops for my postal carrier. I have a package on the way tomorrow (when its not a holiday) that I really would like to use for this contest.

sadly it was due 2 days ago on Saturday

I think I may have a better chance identifying wood, and I missed all of those last year.

 

[D.Oliver]

advanced explosion number 2 officially in the books....maybe I should go play trivia

And the house of cards begins to fall...........(insert evil laugh here and one of those Dr. Evil pinky expressions!):biggrin:

 

[firewhatfire]

Gonna call number 3 a fail also. Somehow I a have a bunch of crooked lines.

 

[Ed McDonnell]

Gonna call number 3 a fail also. Somehow I a have a bunch of crooked lines.

No wonder, with that Oliver guy above you giving you the evil eye. That would make anybody's lines crooked.

On a happier note (for me anyway), today was a very productive day and it will likely continue (productively as well I hope) until late tonight. I'm cautiously optimistic that I'll have something to enter before the deadline.

Ed

 

[mredburn]

And here we are ladys and gentlemen at the IAP Advanced Beautiful Pen contest sponsered by Exotic Blanks. Its been a tough race and competitors are rounding the back corner and heading into the last turn. We have less than 2 days and 5 hours remaining to get your pen in and its going to be close. There are plenty of pens out there waiting to be turned in and its going to come down to the wire. I expect a photo finish for this race. In fact with out a photo you wont even be in the running!:biggrin: Will a dark horse win? Only if its a decal on a pen.............