Thread: White pearlex Sierra

"superdose of pearlex" is that like pearl flake for casting resin , yours almost look like opal
the white pearl i ordered were the standard plastic blank, was going to just paint them with "cemical proof 2 pack indusrial paint " ( left over from a job )

Originally Posted by SawDustSniffer

"superdose of pearlex" is that like pearl flake for casting resin , yours almost look like opal
the white pearl i ordered were the standard plastic blank, was going to just paint them with "cemical proof 2 pack indusrial paint " ( left over from a job )

Pearlex pigments are a range of various coloured powdered pigments that mix with Polyester Resin and create a shimmering, iridescent look. At pen thickness, they are usually quite transparent at the recommended application rates, so I have taken to adding 4 - 6x as much as recommended to prevent the dreaded tube-showthrough that I have posted in a few other threads. So far it seems to be working.

Russell.

Ive been trying to make blanks out of feathers for a while now
normal "diggers" casting resin leaves bubbles in the grain of the feathers
CA works but i cant build it up thick enough

the stage I'm at is to CA the feather ( bind the bits together ) then cut the inlays up to use
you might have a better idea
so ill send you ha heap and let you stuff around and if you can get Feathers around a pen no obligation

I take it you don't have a pressure pot?

Feathers being naturally waterproof could probably use some pre-treatment to remove that as well.

Russell.

no i don't have a pressure pot
these are red tail black cockatoo tail feathers , as one species of the 4 is endangered you cant put a monetary value on them , but you are allowed to have them ,there not allowed to leave Australia ether
I'm a caretaker for a breeder with 75 red tails , these are all from last years malt
so as long as you don't resell them I'll send you a heap for inlaying

Originally Posted by BoomerangInfo

Didn't want to threadjack Amos's powdercoat thread, so the quote is from there. I did up a white pearl sierra yesterday at someone's request. Painted with standard white aerosol undercoat and used a superdose of pearlex, and cast it straight onto the tube in a mould I'd made specifically for label casting. Not the best picture, as I wasn't going to post it here, but here's the result.

Russell.

Russel

Nice work on the casting. Came out really well from what we see. Are you satisfied with not being able to see the tubes??? May I ask what kind of mold do you have for asting labels. I would be interested. Thanks. I want to try casting labels also. I just got my pressure pot up and running. I happen to be experimenting with making white pearlX also. I am going to try mixing white tint with the pearlX. I want to make a black also that is why I am experimenting.

Great looking pen Russell!

There is a good tutorial on the IAP site about making pens using feathers. Need a pressure pot to do a perfect job.

Originally Posted by JTTHECLOCKMAN

Russel

Nice work on the casting. Came out really well from what we see. Are you satisfied with not being able to see the tubes??? May I ask what kind of mold do you have for asting labels. I would be interested. Thanks. I want to try casting labels also. I just got my pressure pot up and running. I happen to be experimenting with making white pearlX also. I am going to try mixing white tint with the pearlX. I want to make a black also that is why I am experimenting.

Yep, no tube showing at all, working great on the last few.

I'll post a picture sometime, but my label casting mould is a length of poly pipe with a threaded end and a cap. I've embedded a rubber stopper in wax in the cap. The tube gets pushed onto this stopper, and another stopper goes on the other end, then the pipe is screwed on. I then just have to pour resin in the open top of the pipe until it just reached the top stopper. When done, unscrew the cap, tap the resin our of the pipe, pull the rubber stopper off the end and it's all set to go.

Careful mixing tint with pearlex. If I mix my opaque white with the pearlex, it all ends up just being opaque white.

Russell.

Great pen and cast Russell lots of pearlex in there

I like those feathers as well We used to have them nest in a huge gum in the block behind our place until they built on the blocks and the tree got cut down. I have the same trees but they have not come to stay yet just crows more the pity

Originally Posted by Simomatra

Great pen and cast Russell lots of pearlex in there

I like those feathers as well We used to have them nest in a huge gum in the block behind our place until they built on the blocks and the tree got cut down. I have the same trees but they have not come to stay yet just crows more the pity

Thanks Sam.

I reckon you could get a fortune for crow feather pens, as long as you could prove you killed the crow in the process

Russell.

Originally Posted by BoomerangInfo

Didn't want to threadjack Amos's powdercoat thread, so the quote is from there. I did up a white pearl sierra yesterday at someone's request. Painted with standard white aerosol undercoat and used a superdose of pearlex, and cast it straight onto the tube in a mould I'd made specifically for label casting. Not the best picture, as I wasn't going to post it here, but here's the result.

Russell.

Nice looking pen Russell.

So, how do you define "superdose"?

Originally Posted by Big Shed

Nice looking pen Russell.

So, how do you define "superdose"?

OK well I put in twice what I used to, then do it again, then just a little more for good measure

Russell.

Originally Posted by BoomerangInfo

OK well I put in twice what I used to, then do it again, then just a little more for good measure

Russell.

Let me be more precise in my question then, how much Pearlex to PR, to 100 gr PR how much Pearlex do you add? Do you add Pearlex by weight or by volume, ie a teaspoon measure?

Originally Posted by Big Shed

Let me be more precise in my question then, how much Pearlex to PR, to 100 gr PR how much Pearlex do you add? Do you add Pearlex by weight or by volume, ie a teaspoon measure?

LOL, well that's about as precise as I can be. I add it by the eye-full.

Here's my process if you can garner a measurement out of that, good luck

1. Measure out resin. In this case, it was a mere 50mls
2. Grab paddlepop stick and shove the end in the pearlex bottle and scoop a little pile up (about 10mm along the end of the stick).
3. If the pile is higher than it is wider, shake a bit off. If it's wider than it is higher, scoop a bit more up.
4. Pour it into the cup. Does it looks like a lot?
4a. No - repeat steps 2&3
4b. Yes, continue
5. Stir with paddlepop stick. Looks at colour consistency on the end of the paddlepop stick. Does it look too transparent?
5a. No - goto step 2
5b. Yes - carry on & cross fingers.

TBH, I used to put a small fingernail size lot into a 250ml cup. Now I'd be likely to go for 1 level tsp if I'm feeling cheap, two teaspoons if I want a guaranteed result.

Russell.