Big Shed
13th December 2009, 01:08 PM
As said in my other thread, I was paired with Jeff Powell (workinforwood) in the 2009 IAP PITH pen swap, a rather daunting partner I must say!
I couldn't hope to compete with his imaginative scrolled blanks but at the same time I wanted to do something "outside the square", as I always try to do in any pen swap.
As it happened I was given some Gulami trading beads by a client to incorporate in to a pen for her daughter, so I decided to try and incorporate one or more of these in to a pen for Jeff. These beads are made from solid extruded glass rod, multi coloured and patterned, and were used as trading currency on the Silk Route. Thet originate from countries along the Silk Route, especially India.
Being glass, I quickly found they couldn't be turned with any turning tool I had access to, so I had to resort to grinding.
The pen is a Jr Gent FP in Rhodium, dressed in Red Ironbark, or at least the bark from that tree. I replaced the standard finial with the same bark and incorporated one of the Gulami beads in it.
I couldn't hope to compete with his imaginative scrolled blanks but at the same time I wanted to do something "outside the square", as I always try to do in any pen swap.
As it happened I was given some Gulami trading beads by a client to incorporate in to a pen for her daughter, so I decided to try and incorporate one or more of these in to a pen for Jeff. These beads are made from solid extruded glass rod, multi coloured and patterned, and were used as trading currency on the Silk Route. Thet originate from countries along the Silk Route, especially India.
Being glass, I quickly found they couldn't be turned with any turning tool I had access to, so I had to resort to grinding.
The pen is a Jr Gent FP in Rhodium, dressed in Red Ironbark, or at least the bark from that tree. I replaced the standard finial with the same bark and incorporated one of the Gulami beads in it.