Do you make a blank that you can drill and tube, or do you form the clay around the tube? Do you do that, whatever that is, before or after curing/baking/hardening?
Or do you do a wrap-around after you've put the pattern on? Do you paint the flowers (or whatever) on? When do you do that?
Can you put a CA finish on it, or even cast it in PR?
If it comes to painting, it'll still be a matter of how much talent you have for that.
Stuff like that is what I am asking. How is it done in relation to pen turning?
Kaspar there is no easy answer to your questions, but let's see if we can help some.
Most polymer clay artists wrap the tubes with the uncured clay. Penturners that use clay are more apt to make a "sausage" and drill. So it depends on where you started.
As for painting there is
none on Toni's pens. Those are all hand-built canes that are applied to the tubes. First you wrap the tube with a neutral color or a background color. Then you apply thin slices of the canes you want to use. A cane can be very simple or very detailed like Toni's canes. All of this is done before baking. Once the cane slices are laminated to the background color the blank is carefully smoothed so there are no transition lines due to the slices. The tubes are finished to size, then baked, wet sanded, and finished.
You can CA polymer clay, but most polymer artist aren't familar with this technique due to the fact they aren't using a lathe. Polymer clay is usually finished with a clear coat of some sort (floor polish, water based
polyurethane, etc.)and buffed.
I hope this helped! Toni can jump in and correct me on some of the details as I know she will (and will enjoy):wink:!