CycleTurner
Member
As Forth of July is quickly approaching, I experimented on a few Stars and Stripes pens. Not all of them came out well, but they help me learn a few things along the way.
From left to right:
A reverse Longwood modification of a Slimline.
Center band is made with red, white, and blue plastic plates.
The red stripes are inlay with red 3D paint. Tried to add wiggles to the stripes.
The blue top is painted with acrylic paint.
Stars are nail art glitter.
The finish is a brush on Minwax Polycrylic clear gloss.
Wood is Cottonwood.
Everything same except,
The red stripes is painted with acrylic paint - straight stripes.
Stars are nail art rhinestones.
Wood is White Ash.
The next two cigars are the same except the left one is Cottonwood and the right one is Maple.
The red stripes is painted with acrylic paint - straight stripes.
The blue top is painted with acrylic paint.
Stars are inlay with white acrylic paint.
The finish is a brush on Minwax Polycrylic Clear gloss.
The cigar on the far right is Maple.
The red stripes is painted with acrylic paint - wiggled stripes.
The blue top is painted with acrylic paint.
Stars are painted with white acrylic paint.
The finish is a brush on Minwax Polycrylic clear gloss.
What I've learned doing these experiments:
Cottonwood is very white in color but it doesn't paint as well as Maple.
White Ash is not white enough.
Cutting inlay into the wood is very hard to do and painting is much easier.
Minwax Polycrylic has a rubber feel to it.
Using things like nail art glitter or rhinestones makes the pen almost unusable due to fear of knocking off the starts.
Using Scotch tape and cutting out the shapes to be painted makes the edges much cleaner.
From these experiments, I'm hoping I can make my next Starts and Stripes pen much better.
-CT
From left to right:
A reverse Longwood modification of a Slimline.
Center band is made with red, white, and blue plastic plates.
The red stripes are inlay with red 3D paint. Tried to add wiggles to the stripes.
The blue top is painted with acrylic paint.
Stars are nail art glitter.
The finish is a brush on Minwax Polycrylic clear gloss.
Wood is Cottonwood.
Everything same except,
The red stripes is painted with acrylic paint - straight stripes.
Stars are nail art rhinestones.
Wood is White Ash.
The next two cigars are the same except the left one is Cottonwood and the right one is Maple.
The red stripes is painted with acrylic paint - straight stripes.
The blue top is painted with acrylic paint.
Stars are inlay with white acrylic paint.
The finish is a brush on Minwax Polycrylic Clear gloss.
The cigar on the far right is Maple.
The red stripes is painted with acrylic paint - wiggled stripes.
The blue top is painted with acrylic paint.
Stars are painted with white acrylic paint.
The finish is a brush on Minwax Polycrylic clear gloss.
What I've learned doing these experiments:
Cottonwood is very white in color but it doesn't paint as well as Maple.
White Ash is not white enough.
Cutting inlay into the wood is very hard to do and painting is much easier.
Minwax Polycrylic has a rubber feel to it.
Using things like nail art glitter or rhinestones makes the pen almost unusable due to fear of knocking off the starts.
Using Scotch tape and cutting out the shapes to be painted makes the edges much cleaner.
From these experiments, I'm hoping I can make my next Starts and Stripes pen much better.
-CT