Resin Pens

[cl1237]

I picked up an alumilite blank from Divine Island in a box of turning supplies at an estate sale. My first time turning a resin blank and I fell in love. Almost mesmerizing and a little chaotic as the ribbons come off the blank when turned. All of these were finished with magic juice from Stadium Pen Blanks.

The blank on the magnetic vertex looks a bit darker when it's not in direct light. You can kind of see it's darker at the ends, presumably because I painted the tubes black. I've seen a lot of info on paint color, paint type and opinions on painting tubes vs inside of blank.

 

[jttheclockman]

Nice work for sure. To address your concerns about painting tubes VS blanks and different colors. This is a topic that tossed around here many times and if you do a search of past threads on this you will see a few different responses and ideas. My thoughts are paint choice on semi transparent acrylic blanks becomes a personal choice things many times. As you do more of them you will train the eye to pick up on the colors that are prominent in the blank and try to highlight those with the color of paint. as for weather to paint the tubes or the blank or both is another topic that gets bantered around. Again my thought is and my method is to always and only paint the inside of the blank. To me it is a waste of time painting the tubes and if you paint both, now you have to be concerned about the hole being large enough to accept the tube. If I am concerned about scraping some paint off blank when inserting tube I will mix a little paint of color in with the epoxy that I use to glue in tubes. I always use epoxy. You will find if you use CA that it does not play well with all types of paints. If you break down th anatomy of what we do it is simple. You drill a hole for the tube. So the layers of pen material is blank, paint, glue, and then the tube. Tube being the last thing you see if you paint the blank. Anyway good luck as you continue on down the path of pen making.

 

[TDahl]

Very nice job on the pens. The third pen is my favorite. I agree with everything JT said above.

 

[Todd in PA]

Very nice indeed. I like the second blank the best.

 

[bzahn]

I like the second one, too.

 

[cl1237]

I like the second one, too.

For anyone interested, the blank on the Vertex is called "let freedom ring" from crosscut creations in Ohio.
https://cross-cut-creations.com/product-category/pen-turning-material/