Thread: Pens from the casting

Well done Greg great effort the only thing I have to say that is negative (if you can call it that ) is that I think the barrels on the Sierras are to big or have too much shape for my liking. I would have them a lot slimmer or more cylindrical but as for the pens themselves I love them the WW ones look great and the colour in them has come up great I would like to know did you do them under pressure or just normally ? It looks like you have your dehydrator working well ? I new I should have been faster to get to Aldi as those Banana skin pens look great. I had never thought of something like that Finally the streamline all I have to say about it is that I LOVE it . I don't know how you did it but it looks great.


Cant wait to see what you have next


Cheers ian

Ian

The barrels on the Sierras are too thick, I agree. I couldn't cut the banana any closer to the tube as when I chopped up a banana for dehydration I cut the slices a bit too think. Next time a fine slice and then after casting I canturn them a lot thinner. This time was an experiment - learning process. I've got a pressure pot but I didn't use it. The small moulds I just poured and let them set. The WW I put on a scroll saw table and vibrated it and then let it set. I've got a heap of fruit setting in a mould at the moment so I will put it on the bandsaw tomorrow to see how it came out.

The streamline was easy enough and turned out he best. SWMBO now owns it. Just pain the tubes with some artist's oil paint in various colours after first painting the tube black with artist's oils. It takes for ever to dry - about 2 weeks to cure properly although I left it for a month. I have a couple more of them to get done.

Greg

Yep, a great effort Greg, I love the painted ones and the bananas . What happened to the kiwi fruit?

Shape in the Sierras is too bulgy, but I assume you are worried about cutting through to the banana, so perhaps you should consider Sierra Visas next time.

Now questions. Is the banana dried and then wrapped and stuck on the tube? Did you stabilized the banana after it was dried, with thin CA or something, to ensure it doesn't rot in time?

Could be the photo, but the banana looks like it has a few air pockets? Did you paint on the resin first, or just pour it in?

Cheers

Good stuphph Greg!!

Obviously you are adhering to the rule "Thou shalt not waste."

yep Greg as I said before well done

Cheers ian

Hey Greg

Wow mate I love that banana one it's awesome well done and the rest of them are fantastic job well done mate

Ian

I love the banana casting too. (I love bananas too.) Not sure about the shape but I've found some people like them with a bulge.

Have you thought about slicing the fruit length-ways? Obviously you could only present a section but the "seed" pattern might be cool on a pen. If you get a fat enough one, the seeded middle would wrap most way around a tube I reckon.

Bananas, eh? Makes me want to run right out and get a dehydrator to try out strawberries, lemons, limes, Chinese gooseberries and carambola (star fruit).

Very impressive Greg !. Nice to see the 'Fruits' of your labors turn out so well. I like the 'pregnant' sierra look, just for something different and out of the norm. Turned & finished to perfection as usual. Too hot for me to do any turning in the shed yet. Wish the wet season would hurry up

Thanks for your comments

Neil

The kiwi fruit awaits turning. It just ran out of time yesterday and started to get sick of turning acrylic - I must prefer timber.

I did turn it too thick as I was worried about slicing into the bananas. I will cut the bananas thinner next time and use Ian's gluing method to the tube. Sierra wan't the right pen but I thought that if it didn't work then I had only lost a couple of cheap Sierras.

The banana was dried out in the dehydrator although you never get rid of all the moisture. Then it spent a week in the freezer which seemed to remove a bit more moisture (I read your post on drying timber in the freezer and thought I would give it a go). I glued it to the tube with CA and then covered the exposed side with CA. When I mixed the resin I followed your advice at the video making day and painted the tube and fruit with resin with an old artist's brush. Then popped it into the mould and filled with resin. Surprisingly, there was not even a single air bubble in the cast or the kiwi fruit cast. A couple of popped air bulles marks at the top of the resin but they get turned out anyway. Beginner's luck I think. I managed to hit a bit of banana at the end of the tube when turning it and coated that with CA.

I did get a few small air bubbles in the WW blanks but I filled them with CA before and during turning. Its a bit of a pain with acrylic in with the WW when turning but slowly does it. Ending up coating the turned blank with 10 coats of CA to get a polish on the wood.

Not a bad idea Doug. I will try it next time. It gives a new meaning to chewing on the end of your pencil. At the moment I have a slab of banana, kiwi fruit and orange setting in a block of resin. I thought I had some flat green colouring for the resin but it turned out to be green pearlex - interesting to see how that comes out. The only problem I envisage is that when it is cut into blanks the fruit will be exposed. So it will be back to the old CA finish to seal it unless there are better ways of doing it. That's next weeks job. I will see if I can sneak to the shed today and cut the blanks but might not be popular if I spend 2 days in a row in there

Any tips or comments would be appreciated as I have a lot of improvement to do on this method yet.

Just as an aside, for some reason that CA we got from the US seems to be stronger than the CA I got from here. Maybe its my imagination but it sets so damn fast that the paper towel glues to the gloves before I can put it down and the paper begins to smoke with the heat. Maybe it was just the very hot day and the temperature inside the shed. The air con worked well but only at the front half of the shed. Still I didn't need to go to the back.

Hey Wal - Patent Pending mate

Originally Posted by plantagenon

Just as an aside, for some reason that CA we got from the US seems to be stronger than the CA I got from here.

It is good quality CA. I have found it as good as the GPW and Hot Stuff from Carroll's I used previously. Not sure what you were using previously, but the CA you get from the $2 shops is the left-over slop from the vats they make the CA in, sometimes even the wash out product and definitely lower quality.

Neil
I was using CA from Timberbits and while it does the job without any problems this new stuff is almost instant dry when used in small amounts. You really have to speed up the process such as gluing a tube in or applying CA for a finish or you get caught out like I did. I got a tube stuck half way in as I pushed it in. Had to cut it off and glue the remainder in from the other end. Then I must have split a little bit of CA on the work bench because when my finger touched it, it got glued to the bench.

This should be in casting I suppose but I have already started the pen bit here - feel free to move it if you would like.

I cut up the 'bowl of fruit' resin block and found my errors. It is banana, orange and kiwi fruit. The banana wasn't dry enough. It really needs to be cut very finely and left in the dehydrator for hours. The orange seemed better and the kiwi fruit seems to have disappeared into the green pearlex, although it will reappear on turning. I drilled out the blanks to Streamline specifications (7mm). Then I poured CA down the tube hole to try and seal the fruit. I also soaked the blanks in CA to try and set them a bit. I can see when turning I will have to apply a lot of CA if I am lucky enough not to have banana fly across the room first. Maybe the resin might hold it together. It will also need a few coats of CA sealer after it is turned.

Lessons to far:

1. Cut the fruit very thinly
2. Keep it in the dehydrator until it is almost crisp for resin blocks but just slightly pliable if gluing to a tube.
3. Coat each piece with a thin layer of CA before putting it in the mould and let it seep into the fruit.
4. If gluing to a tube then coat it with CA, roll it onto the tube and after dry CA on the outside before putting it into a mould and adding resin.
5. Remember to learn lessons.

Unfortunately, I won't be able to turn the blanks until next w/e. Back to work tomorrow for another week.

I can add something here.
As a long time lover of drying fruit for consumption - some fruits (like strawberries) progress from just pliable to cardboard stiff in moments when cut too thinly. Placement in dehydrators and on trays effects to outcome too, even with expensive gear. Like anything it's trial and error.

I worry about you applying your CA to seal it before it is completely dry, means it isn't, so will probably rot in time.

Might I suggest another way:

1. Cut slices and dry till pliable in the dehydrator
2. Glue pieces to the tube with thick CA. Cover with baking paper and hold in place with rubber bands maybe
3. Put blanks back in dehydrator until completely dry (ie very crispy dry)
4. Place thin CA over dried fruit soaking it and leave to dry overnight (no accelerator)
5. Cast in clear resin then turn, or use thick CA finish if close to finished size.