Jeff
Great work as usual, both scrolling and turning. In the future I hope to add my scrolling skils to my turning.
Not to steal anything away from your post but I noticed you mentioned using colors in your alumilite. I have a discussion going on in another thread where I want to make a pure white pearlescent blank. I asked if I could use white alumilite and just add pearlX??? How did you get the white??? Did you start with clear alumilite and add white coloring and then gold and then pearlX??/ do you have any kind of ratio factor for using the pearl X and where did you get your material??? If you want to PM me that is good too.
Sometimes I do this stuff privately but sometimes I get emails saying that others want to know also so I posted it here if you do not mind. Thanks.
First thing to remember is that white alumilite yellows over time, and the clear doe not because it has a UV protectant in it. Next, pearlex does not give a solid color, it is translucent in color with a pearl effect. I love to use just pearlex alone because it allows you to see the side walls of a scrolling, but has a negative in that you need your tubes painted really well and can't have a scratch on the tube when it enters or you are toast! I used a clear alumilite. I used about 3.5 ounces part A, with about 15 drops of solid white nail polish and half a bottle of pearlex. A small pile of white pealex about the 1/4 the size of an eraser head would have been plenty but I accidently dropped the entire bottle in...oops:embarrassed:, but it doesn't ruin the pour. The gold was about 1 ouce part A, clear with about 5 drops of gold testors paint and a sprinkle of gold pearlex. Mix them up then add part B and mixed them up really good. Poured both cups of color into mold at basically the same time in a swirling motion. If I hadn't added the gold pour, it would just be white with pearl effect. Paint tubes white no matter what. This pen really does have an ivory type look to it, but that's not planned, just what it is and it looks great.
I pick up alumilite in Kalamazoo direct from the manufacturer because it is near by, lucky me. Pearlex is bought from Micheals with a coupon. Nail polish is bough at CVS by wife, the coupon queen..so the nail polish is always free. Testors is cheap at micheals or wherever. Do not use water based paints in alumilite.