one and a quarter

[Russianwolf]

I've had a lot on my plate lately, but I figured I could show these,

First is a set of chessmen that I've been working on. They are Cocobolo and about 1/4 of the set is done.

Next is a Chrome Baron Fountain Pen that is wrapped in a friend Hybrid Wood/PR cast blank call Stellarcast. I did not paint the tubes as I thought it would be opaque enough, but no such luck. Instead the GG that I used makes the red PR look like waves of lava on some strange planet.

[lrogers]

Very nice work Mike. I think that pen is your best one yet.

[gad5264]

Mike that is a great looking pen.

[SARGE..g-47]

The pen is beutiful and I love the looks of cocobolo if I could afford it. Man.. you've got the turning addiction I see.

[Russianwolf]

Cocobolo ain't that expensive for turning stock. I think I paid $2 each for some 1x1x12 spindle stock that I made these men out of. May have actually been even less than that.


Thanks for the comments guys, this was a fun pen to turn and the chess set has been begging me to work on it for months. I'm going to try to fish both sides this weekend.

I am also going to get a buffing wheel from Sears I think and see if I can't polish them up a bit more.

[crokett]

I love that pen. Did you intend for the red to look like that? If not, it was a very happy accident.

[Russianwolf]

did I mean for the red to look like what?

I thought it would be a little more opaque, and I did not intend for the GG effect to be visable. But I'm definitly not complaining about it.

I have a similar blank that has blue PR instead of red. I think I'll do the same with it in the hopes that my Earthcast will have waves too. I'll be putting it on a Platinum Cigar though I think.

[dkerfoot]

Next is a Chrome Baron Fountain Pen that is wrapped in a friend Hybrid Wood/PR cast blank call Stellarcast. I did not paint the tubes as I thought it would be opaque enough, but no such luck. Instead the GG that I used makes the red PR look like waves of lava on some strange planet.

I understood hardly a word of that, but I really like your pen!

[Russianwolf]

I understood hardly a word of that, but I really like your pen!

Doug, Tell you what, I'll send it to you for a closer inspection. Just go to my website and click that little paypal button under the pen and follow the instructions and once you get it, I'll explain everything about it you want.

The sad thing about it is that I'm now totally out of kits until the group buy stuff comes in. I have a couple to finish for my daughters friends, but nothing that I can put the really nice blanks on. And I just ordered 4 more of the Dragonhides too.

[John Hunter]

Very nice.

[leehljp]

I missed this post the when it was done. I like the pen and these cast resin with wood really is pushing me to try that. I have cast coffee beans in "latte" color as well as black, but other than that, no colors yet.

I like the pen and the colors.

[ironhat]

For those of us who aren't part of the pen fraternity, reading your posts - that would include you, Hank - is interesting if not confusing. I guess it's just one of those things that you have read up on and research for it all to gel in your head. I'm still wondering what 'GG' is, though. Gorilla Glue is the only thing that comes to mind. Understood or not, it's pretty intriueging and beautiful. Nice work to be sure!

[Russianwolf]

For those of us who aren't part of the pen fraternity, reading your posts - that would include you, Hank - is interesting if not confusing. I guess it's just one of those things that you have read up on and research for it all to gel in your head. I'm still wondering what 'GG' is, though. Gorilla Glue is the only thing that comes to mind. Understood or not, it's pretty intriueging and beautiful. Nice work to be sure!

For not understanding, you seem to be heading down the right path.

Plastics can be pretty translucent and if you don't paint the inside of the drilled hole, or the outside of the tube, you can see the brass tube after you've glued it in place. Since this one is red Polyester Resin, the tube kinda adds some luster to it, but the Gorilla Glue makes what looks like waves under the PR since it foams up as it cures.

[leehljp]

For those of us who aren't part of the pen fraternity, reading your posts - that would include you, Hank - is interesting if not confusing. I guess it's just one of those things that you have read up on and research for it all to gel in your head. I'm still wondering what 'GG' is, though. Gorilla Glue is the only thing that comes to mind. Understood or not, it's pretty intriueging and beautiful. Nice work to be sure!

OK. Guilty as charged!

PR=Plastic Resin (I think)
GG=Gorilla Glue

In casting resin, lately some creative minds have been making more and more unusual pen blanks. One of many has been the "coffee" blanks. This is done by adding coffee beans into a mould and pouring the plastic resin in. Even here, there are variables.

Clear plastic resin poured over the blanks creates a blank that is called "black". (But the brass tube must be painted black, or it will shine through the clear resin and look strange.)

Resin comes in several colors and colorants can be added to change the resin to almost any color desired. I used a "white" (milk-ish) colored resin and poured over the dark brown coffee beans. In this case, it is sometimes referred to as "latte" pen.

Below are links to a couple of cast resin blanks.
The first is one that a friend makes that is identical to what I made as a "latte" cast.
The second is one that a fellow made that has dried rose petals in the cast.

Latte: http://www.penturners.org/forum/topi...TOPIC_ID=31669
The 6th picture down shows a set of blanks with clear resin and coffee beans. Pens made from this are usually referred to as a "black coffee" pen.

Rose petal: http://www.penturners.org/forum/topi...TOPIC_ID=38140

[Russianwolf]

And don't forget Karl's Potpourri blanks(he even claims they smell good while turning)

http://www.penturners.org/forum/topi...erms=potpourri

When it comes to casting, the sky is just about the limit. They are even casting HOT PEPPERS!

Here's my first attempt at casting, nothing fancy just resin and pigments, (no hybrid stuff in it). I'm calling it Clemson Chaos. 2 parts Orange, 1 part White and 1 part Purple