Not sure about this one.

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WoodChucker

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I need your opinions on this one, I'm really not sure if I like it or not. My wife said she loves it, but you gotta consider the source. :D It's a Cigar pen made from Jarrah and dyed yellow BEB. Did I use to much of the BEB or does it look alright? Also, do the colors seem to work together? Thanks for looking!
CigarPenJarrah%20.jpg


R.T.
 
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How do YOU like it? As the creator you must have had a reason for making choices in the design process.
(Either that is a VERI BIG pen or you have awfully small stairs)
 
Eagle, as the creator my goal was to make something a little different then I had been making. So in that respect I achieved my goal. [:D] I don't make pens for myself so I don't think it's important that I liked them. It wouldn't be the pen I'd pick for me, but I need others input to see if I will make any more like it. If everyone thinks it's ugly, then I wouldn't bother and try something else. So, now that I've answered your question, you can answer mine, do you like the dang thing or not? [:D] J/K

I had to think about your last comment, lol. But I got it![:D]

R.T.
 
RT, I stared at it quite awhile, I think I was just to tired to press any keys. (just put in 12 hours in the shop) [:)]

Seeing a photo and seeing it first hand is pretty different, but I don't like the color combo and two realy differnet woods.

But if you made it, it can't be all bad [:D]

Anthony
 
Ir will work for some folks, R.T. , after all the wife liked it, and you know that opinion is important!
 
I'm not so sure about the contrasting woods. They are a little much for my taste. I prefer a more subtle contrast.Maybe the black chrome has something to do with it also. But I understand wanting to do the different. Just my opionion.
 
Thanks everyone, like I said, it wouldn't be a pen I'd pick either. I think it's the colors more then anything. Oh well, back to the drawing board. [:D] Thanks again, I appreciate the input, even yours, Anthony. [:p]

R.T.
 
The color combo might have worked better with thinner bands - in my opinion. The yellow BEB is a bit powerful against the dark grained wood. Still - it is a nice pen.
 
RT,
Wouldn't be my first choice, but a lot of things I like others don't , so my taste is usually in question!
How about thinner bands and cut on a diagonal??
 
Originally posted by dougle40
<br />I like the wood combo but I think gold would have been a better choise for the kit.
Click to expand...

For me that is sometimes the hardest part...deciding what kit goes best with the wood I want to turn.
 
[xx(]Just my honest humble opinion. No offense intended. I have a whole pile of woodturnings my wife says stink but others love and vice versa. Someone will like it, just not me.[:)]
 
I think the light color contrasts with the black accents well. I may have made them a bit smaller, perhaps by 1/2 and added the same band on the top and bottom of the c.b. to create the same contrast there. All in all, I like the look and the contrast. You never know just what will appeal the the potential owner.
Glenn
 
Thanks everyone, I appreciate your opinions and your honesty. At first I wasn't sure if I liked it, then the more I looked at it the less I liked it, and now when I look at it my only thought is "What the heck was I thinking". [:D] Well at least I now have an entry for the next ugly pen contest, lol. Thanks for looking, I know it had to hurt. [:D]

R.T.
 
Originally posted by WoodChucker
<br />Eagle, as the creator my goal was to make something a little different then I had been making. So in that respect I achieved my goal. [:D] I don't make pens for myself so I don't think it's important that I liked them. It wouldn't be the pen I'd pick for me, but I need others input to see if I will make any more like it. If everyone thinks it's ugly, then I wouldn't bother and try something else. So, now that I've answered your question, you can answer mine, do you like the dang thing or not? [:D] J/K

I had to think about your last comment, lol. But I got it![:D]

R.T.
Click to expand...
The last time I spoke honestly about someones work( requested) I was pretty much raked over the coals, but here it goes:

Might be the grain combos swirly with straight I don't know.
It might be the black with the brown, I don't know.
You said the BEB was dyed yellow but on my monitor actual color doesn't seem to detract from the pen
As a pen turner I don't care for straight line glue ups unless I can make them looke like they were planned and as yet I haven't been able to do that many times to MY satisfaction.
When I see pens with a diferent color portion near the nib I envison my own "oopses" and attempts to correct them.
In your case it looks like you had an "OOPS" and then made another one to create the effect of balance.
I am sure this is not the case but that is normally my first reaction.
I made the mistake of showing an OOps pen that I was not happy with and wound up taking orders for 3 more.( the original oops was a catch on Brazilizn walnut cut on the bias.I had a heck of a time trying to duplicate that one)
I have since made a note to myself that if I show a pen that I am not satisfied with I won't take any orders:"Sorry that is a limited edition"[:D](then I jack up the price)
Under the Title of this forum, it says:
Let's see your best work!

May be I take that too literally.
Certainly not everyone has the same tastes as I do in what I find eyepleasing or unique.
I certainly have not made my "best pen"yet, at least I hope not.
Maybe the name of the forum should be
"Hey! Look what I did!"or
Waddya think?
I know I am not objective in what I do, but I am extremely SUBJECTIVE in how I do it.
My wife will at times ask me why I take a pen back to the shop because the finish doesn't meet my standards.
I have been accused of being an artist.I don't work in a studio,I don't wear a beret.
I turn utilitarian items that I hop are pleasing to the eye and will be used, not put away for"safe keeping"
Since my intent is to make something pleasing to the eye, and there is no one next to me when I am turning a pen then I am the only critic I have.
I have made quite a few pens that I haven't bothered to post.
Those that I have posted are usually the ones I make that are different.
I don't even bother to post them in my album.( Though I should)
In the words of Ricky Nelson in "Garden Party"
"Ya can't please everyone so you got to please yourself.
 
I think the pen is a little to nice for the ugly pen contest. This is just my 2 cents and no malice is ment. I would have used a gold kit and would have cut my joinigs on a 45 degree. I just not sure about the two diffrent grains. I think sometimes you just don't know what a pen will look like until you build it. I know every one us here has built pens that made us say. Man thats ugly ,did I do that.
 
Originally posted by Fred in NC
<br />Eagle, did you mean:

"Beauty is in the eyes of the penholder?"
Click to expand...
Possibly but I think it starts(at least for me)
Beauty is in the eye of the penmaker
 
Thanks Eagle,

you never have to worry about me getting upset with an honest opinion. If we all liked the same things then it would get pretty boring.

I'm new enough to pen turning that it helps me to decide on a direction to take by posting my pens and getting feed back, which is why I'm sure most of the guys (like you) don't feel the need to, because you already know what sells for your area and you've already been down the road a few times,hit all the bumps and know what to look out for. If I made each pen for my taste I doubt that I would ever sell many pens, not to say that I've sold many now, because I haven't. But until I'm where a lot of you guys are, I think it's a good idea to post my work and get feed back (good or bad), so I can see where my mistakes are and learn from them. Saying it was an oops would have been an easy way out, but I'm sad to say there was none, it was just a poor plan. [:I]

I had to look and your right, it does say "Let's see your best work". But my best work is at least a few years down the road, does that mean I shouldn't be posting my work and finding out if it's any good? I sure hope not, if so then there's a lot of my pics that need to get deleted. [:D]

I didn't know about the problem you had with someone about giving your opinion or I wouldn't have joked with you about it in the first place. But at any rate, feel free to critique my work any time and you have my word I won't get upset. I know I'm not perfect but I'm so dang close with just a little help I'll get there.[:D]

Thanks again everyone!

R.T.
 
R.T. maybe we should have an area for just honest critique of our work. I agree with you that having others look at our work, we can grow. I know I have not made the perfect pen yet, but I will some day.

Should we take a poll and see if there should be a special place to post our work for critique. I think it maybe a very good idea.
 
Wood Chucker you flatter me-
Though I have been a wood butcher(mostly with torn down pallets) for 30 years, I never touched lathe before last Fathers day.
I think the best education in turning I had was the fact tht I didn't know the first thing about turning when I started.
I made about About 20 pens before I even found this site.
Most of my learning was trial and error.
That is still the way I do a lot of it.
I pick up info here nad ask any turners I run into.
It's kind of like the denim pen, I didn't wait for someone to do a tutorial, i just tried something differnt.
I wanted to make a shell casing pen,One of the members is working on a tutorial,I decided to try one and when it didn't work out, I worked on correcting what was wrong and then tried again.
Yes there is no reason to reinvent the wheel , but you don't have to stay in one place because you don't have a wagon either.
I am still a newbie, sharpen my chisels by "eye", buff with an electric drill while the blanks are on the wheel, wifh I had a Beall collet chuck but I don't so I turn my shell casings in a home made drilling jig that uses hose clamps and drill on the lathe.
I won't but what I can make,or maybe I will make something I can't afford to buy,and I usually won't ask how to do something until I have at least attempted to try to figure how it was done in the first place.
Newbie Eaglesc
 
Garry, your right it would be a good idea, or maybe just a clarification as to what this forum is for. I guess I'm the stupid one, because I've thought all along that's what this was for.

I don't post every single pen I make, but I do post a lot of them. To tell ya the truth, I like looking at other peoples work, I've learned as much from the stuff I don't like as I do from the stuff I do like. There's a lot of talent here and I'm glad the people that have it post and share there work and ideas with us.

I will hold off posting any more of my pens until I know for sure it's OK. I wouldn't have a lot to talk about if it weren't for my pens, I mean that is why I'm here, and just to look at them in the album's without getting to know who made them wouldn't be much fun to me.

Eagle, all I can say is that you've come a long ways in a short time. I also have been a woodworker for 25 to 30 years. And I feel I had more of a natural talent for woodworking then I do turning. Turning was not easy for me to pick up on, I'm getting better but I know I won't excel in it as fast as the other, and that's OK. I still enjoy it and like most of what I make. I don't consider myself a fast learner, but what I do learn I can do pretty good and most of the time I can find ways to improve on it. I can for sure improve on this pen. [:D]

If I see someone else's work that I like, I don't mine asking how they did it, so in that respect I guess you and I are a little different, neither one is wrong, just different.

Anyway, thanks for your tips and your input, I really appreciate it!

R.T.
 
Woodchucker, personally I am having difficulty in finding fault with the pen in question. Admittedly, it is different. Isn't that what crafting is all about? Want ordinary, go to Wal-Mart. I think it is attractive. I would carry it. Please keep posting, pictures of work of experienced turners is an inspiration. I do have one criticizm, though.[:I] I don't speak Acronymese, English is my chosen language. I have learned what BOW and BLO and even BB a few others mean, but BEB [?] Watzdat?
 
OK, R.T., I'm off the CA fumes and my head's as clear as it's likely to get. [:D] I still like the pen. I'd carry it in a heartbeat. I probably wouldn't have made one like it, but that's because 1) I don't have any dyed boxelder burl and 2) I'm not as freely creative as you. As for the straight cut glue-up, I'm fond of that look. The diagonal lines are also nice, but they don't seem as crisp to me. When you get tired of looking at this pen, you can always send it my way...I'll use the heck out of it!

As for the other comments in this discussion, I think this IS the place to get open feedback and critiquing of our work. The fact that many folks give positive feedback does not mean that we need a separate area for honest criticism, it just means that most of us have a sincere appreciation for the effort and results of each others work. If any of you are looking for negative comments only, just ask. I'm sure you won't have any problem getting what you're looking for. [8D]
 
I'm really glad that you and a couple of the other guys like it. At least I know there's a chance for a buyer. I still don't care for it myself, but I didn't make it for me. [:D] Thanks for clearing up the other thing.

R.T.
 
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