Back at it

[Fred Bruche]

After months of life getting in the way and low motivation, shorter daylight makes me retrieve in my shop more often these days.
First out of there is this fountain pen, experimenting with adding a clip and trying to be original at making one. No fancy material, birdseye maple, turquoise-colored liquid diamonds epoxy resin, and a bit of elbow grease.
C&C welcome.

 

[KMCloonan]

That's really cool! I like the turquoise paired with the Maple burl. The clip matching the section and the liner for the cap is awesome. Really nice pen. Thanks for sharing.

 

[GFHWoodWerks]

I love the combination, very nice pen. Good that you are back in your shop as well.

 

[mark james]

Very nice to see your work again. I love the Maple and the finial, but am undecided on the Turquoise. However, the pen is wonderful.

 

[johncrane]

very nice work Fred,

 

[sorcerertd]

It's great to see your work again Fred! That's a beauty! Great work on the clip, I just wonder how well it will hold up Hopefully, nobody would be rough on a pen that nice, though.

 

[Penultimate]

Nice, I like the turquoise. How did you make the clip?

 

[Fred Bruche]

It's great to see your work again Fred! That's a beauty! Great work on the clip, I just wonder how well it will hold up Hopefully, nobody would be rough on a pen that nice, though.

Thanks! The resin is not very stiff and allows a bit of flexibility, so I don't have immediate concerns about the clip breaking with normal manipulation. But sure, rough is going to cause damage but it would even for a metal clip.

 

[Fred Bruche]

Nice, I like the turquoise. How did you make the clip?

The process is a bit tedious and I'm hoping to make improvements. I start with a piece of thin stainless steel sheet cut to the width and length of the future clip, with a 90˚ bent bit at the end. Onto that I built up thickness with Solarez doming resin and shape it with sandpaper to the final appearance. I then create a mold of that using mold putty, with the idea of being able to create multiple copies of that clip. Pour liquid diamonds epoxy resin to make the clip, then polish it to its final appearance. I made several versions and that one seemed to work the best. The clip is then attached to the cap by gluing it in place in a mortise I created in the cap. Did I mention the process is a bit tedious?

 

[SteveJ]

Beautiful pen as usual!

 

[woodwzrd]

I like this pen a lot. The maple and turquoise pair really well in my opinion.