Awkward adolescence

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Cwalker935

Cwalker935

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May 18, 2014
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Is it just me or is there an awkward adolescence stage in penturning? I am going through an ugly stage. Overturning, poor color selection, bonehead mistakes, etc. I might be trying too many new things at once. A lot of my recent attempts show promise but do not quite make it. This is a result of my first attempt at worthless wood casting. Strange colors, perhaps I should first focus on blank casting to get better at mixing colors. Fortunately, I was at least smart enough to experiment on a slimline.

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Over all, not bad Cody. Your thought of to many things at once brings up a though I always tell my students when we make changes to ventilators in ICU...never change more than one thing at a time...you'll never know what worked!
Blanks colors were cool. You paint the tubes...didn't look like it, but I have new glasses! Trim the shape down a bit...slim lines for a reason. Again...it's a good lookin' pen over all.
 
The beauty of a small object like a pen is there isn't much material wasted.
One of the things I learned early on is you don't have to assemble the pen just because you turned the blanks.
You can easily turn the material off and turn another blank.
Practice one or two things until you don't criticize yourself anymore.

I should add--I didn't study your pen or look for mistakes. I commented on the statements you made not the photo.
 
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Cwalker935 said:
I did not paint the tube. I am thinking that back painting with silver might have helped.
Click to expand...

Silver is my Go-to color...but not always the best!! Black, White and the primary color of the blank can also be good. White can wash out a color, where as black has the total opposite effect. Keep a few spare tubes around painted in colors you may use...after you drill, slide the colored tube in and see what you think; it may not be a prefect representation, but it will give you an idea.
 
I always buy extra tubes. That way, if a blank doesn't work quite how I hoped, I just turn another. I wait to assemble pens until I complete barrels I really like. Boring blanks go in a reject bin.
 
If you use silver, use a medium silver, not a bright shiny silver. Shiny silver will have almost the same effect as white on some colors. Think primer gray. There is a reason cars are primed with that color. Normally I paint the blank the same color as my most translucent color. I use gray when there are 2 or more translucent colors. If I have transparent colors, then that is a different story altogether.

I think we all have our adolescent stages in penturning. I think it comes with wanting to get more advanced. Every step we take in that direction involves some learning. Much of it by trial and error, and sometimes . . . . . . .well . . . . . . . . kinda ugly. My questions about your worthless wood blank would be. Does it have good penetration into the wood? Did it separate at all? If you had good penetration (no voids), and it didn't release from the wood, then you are doing something right. Getting colors to come out looking right also involves some testing. So have fun, and don't worry about a few duds. I know I've my share. I even had one last week. None this week though. (but I haven't made anything this week):rolleyes:
 
You can also paint different color stripes on a dowel. After drilling the blank slide the dowel into the tubeless blank to see which color best suits the blank you are using. You can then determine which to use for that particular blank and not waste one with a poor color selection.
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Everyday I'm vertical is a great day
 
I had great penetration into the wood (that sounds vaguely obscene doesn't it). So much so that it made the wood much darker. My main complaint is the color that I mixed.
 
I like what you have there. Remember that the final choice belongs to the person that is going to own that pen. Thankfully, not everyone likes the same thing all the time. Life would be bore-ing.
Look at this as a learning experience and remember that we need to keep on learning to grow.
 
I think this stage exists. I started out making great pens then hit a wall. I screwed everything up I touched. I stopped for a while. When I came back things worked a lot better. I didn't make a pen all last winter. I've made a few and only screwed up one this summer. Maybe you just need a break while you go through pen puberty.
 
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