Diva Charm Aqua

[qquake]

This is a PSI Diva Charm pen, in titanium gold and rhodium. It has a series of Swarovski crystals around the cap band, and a larger charm crystal, also Swarovski. The blank is a Woodturningz inlace acrylester called Aqua, that I got at Rockler. I didn't know if the blue crystals would clash with the aqua blank, but I really like the contrast. Very, very pretty pen.

 

[qquake]

I don't know that it was necessary, but I painted the blank and tube, and colored the epoxy. If anything, it *might* have darkened the blank a bit.

 

[jrista]

Looks great, Jim! Were you trying to get a contrasting effect with the black paint inside? Looks like you did get a little bit...some of the photos show some darkness behind some of the blue streaks in the blank.

I've taken to spray painting the inside of my holes like this, after seeing you do it a few times in prior threads. I don't always paint the tube, I sometimes mix acrylic into the epoxy. Painting the holes seems to do a better job than just paining the tubes. With painting the tubes, if the blank is transparent enough when turned down you can see the glue, which is unsightly. I don't know how transparent Krylon is, but so far I haven't felt the need to do more than paint or maybe paint and tint the glue. Seems to make things pretty darn opaque.

 

[qquake]

I don't always paint acrylic blanks, but do in cases where I know it's translucent, or if I'm not sure. And you're right, painting the hole does tend to hide more, especially the glue. If I want to make sure, I do all three.