JohnU
Member
This group began as a request from Ed at Exotic blanks. I was invited to participate in a live "Zoom" demo that Exotic Blanks presents every month on line for free. Last Thursday's topic was kitless and custom alterations in pen making. It's always a great time visiting and hanging out with Ed and Dawn Exotic Blanks. These are my contributions...
The first is a new pen component set at Exotic Blanks "not yet available". It's a stainless steel rollerball. Ed sent me a couple to play with prior to the demo. My first thought was Abalone will look great with that stainless steel color! I constructed a custom finial and center band along with the blank, abalone shell clear cast in silmar polyester resin. This will definitely be one of my "go to" component sets!
Second is a custom Sierra with a "left over resin" blue and black mica pearl blank I poured. replaced and added a custom band to the front and back of the pen. Sometimes I like to see if I can disassemble sets to make custom parts.
The third pen is a new "Tan Plaid" blank I'm making. I wanted to show how you could make "kitless or custom" pens from pretubed clear cast blanks. By using the original parts for internal measurements, I constructed new "Chechen wood" parts. Making tenons gave them strength and allowed me to keep the pieces in place. I left these pieces loose so I could disassemble the parts for the demo. If I were making a pen to use, I would have epoxied them all in place during the turning. I used the jr nib and threads in the cap.
The last picture is the group of pens I took. The cigar replica and feather pen were from past turnings. My regret in the cigar pen was that I didn't cover the metal center piece with the label. I assembled the pen after gluing the label and couldn't move it. The feather pen is feather on a wood maple background with Jutoba wood lower and top finials and center band middle ring.
All comments welcome,
Thanks!
The first is a new pen component set at Exotic Blanks "not yet available". It's a stainless steel rollerball. Ed sent me a couple to play with prior to the demo. My first thought was Abalone will look great with that stainless steel color! I constructed a custom finial and center band along with the blank, abalone shell clear cast in silmar polyester resin. This will definitely be one of my "go to" component sets!
Second is a custom Sierra with a "left over resin" blue and black mica pearl blank I poured. replaced and added a custom band to the front and back of the pen. Sometimes I like to see if I can disassemble sets to make custom parts.
The third pen is a new "Tan Plaid" blank I'm making. I wanted to show how you could make "kitless or custom" pens from pretubed clear cast blanks. By using the original parts for internal measurements, I constructed new "Chechen wood" parts. Making tenons gave them strength and allowed me to keep the pieces in place. I left these pieces loose so I could disassemble the parts for the demo. If I were making a pen to use, I would have epoxied them all in place during the turning. I used the jr nib and threads in the cap.
The last picture is the group of pens I took. The cigar replica and feather pen were from past turnings. My regret in the cigar pen was that I didn't cover the metal center piece with the label. I assembled the pen after gluing the label and couldn't move it. The feather pen is feather on a wood maple background with Jutoba wood lower and top finials and center band middle ring.
All comments welcome,
Thanks!
