Transparent Blanks

[WriteON]

Can't stand them. Do not feel like painting inside. If I sense the tube will show I'm not drilling it. What is it with the "see the glue/tube attraction? Please show some of your painted/finished pen work. I'd like to see how it looks.

 

[magpens]

Yes, painting is a pain !

For me, painting the hole is the best. . And the best "paint" is actually "Glass Marker" made by Rustoleum. . It dries fairly quickly and I can sometimes glue in the brass tube within about 30 minutes. . The "paint" is a bit fragile, though, so you have to be careful not to scratch it when pushing in the tube. . If you have a large selection of drill bits, it is best to make the hole size about 0.003" bigger than the recommended drill size to allow for the paint thickness. . Also, there is not a wide color selection, so you might have to mix to get a better color match for what you want.

I use a Q-tip to apply the paint to the inside of the hole.

Sorry, I don't have any pics to show.

 

[JoeCallahan]

I painted the inside of the drilled blanks for both of these pens using Rustoleum 2X paint/primer. Its annoying having to let them dry overnight, but it prevents any glue splotches from being visible. I personally like transparent or partially transparent blanks because of the depth they have in their appearance.

 

[WriteON]

Nice work JoeC.

 

[TonyL]

Remember, this is just me. The only thing I am able to do with them is make kitless pens (this include semi -transparent blanks). Again, this is just me.
I have painted the tubes, tried the camouflaged tubes, painted the inside of the barrel after sanding the drill rifling marks from the inside.
I bought mirror paint and hit the tubes with that. I don't want to see glue marks or any evidence of the tube or drill rifling marks. If someone has a process they can approached my goal underlined, and would try today. I even tried all of the above with thick walled pens. Like dunking a basketball, I am at peace with this skill limitation. .

Oh yeah, I also tried dye-ing the epoxy. I don't mind minor disguising the above, but I prefer limited disguising.

 

[Mach4]

In my case, many of the materials that are especially attractive are transparent, translucent or semi-transparent. I'm currently working almost exclusively with gemstones. Agate, for example is by definition semi-transparent or translucent. Even petrified wood is often "agatized" and needs "painting" to prevent the tube from showing. My first experiments involved actually painting the tube and the inside of the drilled hole. Paint is a relatively poor material for adhesion and I had several pieces blow up while shaping. The ultimate solution for me has been to use dyed epoxy as the glue, either black or white depending on the material. I acknowledge that wood has a lot more flexibility and stability compared to stone which is extremely brittle and often has micro fractures. My wall thickness can be as little as .041 so having good support between the stone and brass tube is essential. My techniques often call for drilling .019 - .036 oversize which means I have plenty of epoxy thickness for ensuring material support and dye coverage.

Here are some examples of pen tubes made with plume agate. As shown in the cabochons made from the same material, much of the material is semi-translucent.

 

[magpens]

Amazing work with the agate !!!

I love the look of that pen !!!

 

[Kenny Durrant]

My opinion of see through might be a little different than yours. If you can literally see through the blank I'm not a fan of it. These I see mostly have a tinted resin with colored ribbons in it. As far as seeing a reflection of the brass tube, to me that's just part of pen building or turning. Most of what I do is clear casting. I'll glue something to the tube then cast in clear resin. That brings painting the tube a big plus for what I'm doing. Snake skins I can change the tint of the skin to match a plating of a kit or to darken or lighten a piece of cloth.

 

[leehljp]

Can't stand them. Do not feel like painting inside. If I sense the tube will show I'm not drilling it. What is it with the "see the glue/tube attraction? Please show some of your painted/finished pen work. I'd like to see how it looks.

Here are some links of the same kind/color blanks with different back paint colors:

Reverse painting - different effects

Someone posted a thread asking about painting tubes and was given a lot of good advice. Someone also pointed out the different effects you can get from reverse painting the blank. Here are 3 tritons, all made with a cream matrix blank (I really love this blank!). The first is reverse...

www.penturners.org

Seeing is believing - Reverse Painting

I've learned a lot from the wise people at this site, including how color choice can affect the pen blank when doing reverse painting. What I hadn't seen was a side-to-side comparison photo. So... for all us newer guys, here's a perfect example. The blanks used are the 4-color opal pearl from...

www.penturners.org

http://www.penturners.org/forum/f13/reverse-painting-revisited-132746/

All of the above are exceptional, but look at this one in which JohnT goes with BLUE in comparisons with other colors.

Advice on back painting

I ordered this blank not realizing just how translucent it is. I will be painting the tube, coloring the epoxy, and back painting the blank. But what color? Black? Gold? Copper?

www.penturners.org

And look at the YouTube in the link of this thread:

Painting tubes vs blanks

Nice video from Lynn Lacey this morning comparing techniques. https://youtu.be/Lb7XYWkc48M

www.penturners.org

 

[WriteON]

top left shows brass but it works. Blue on right shows brass and looks like it has processing flaws. Bottom is a strange blank and tube shows but it looks good in its own way.

 

[duderubble]

What is the technique for back painting? Spray? Brush? Q-tip? I am wondering if running a rifle bore brush on a drill would help or hinder.

 

[qquake]

These are both pieces of the same blank. One was back painted with white, the other with black. It's amazing the difference between the two.