Couple of new cactus pens

[Curtis O. Seebeck]

Here are a couple of new cactus pens I recently completed.

This one is clear resin with the tube painted black. It really shows the depth of the skeleton and is everyone's favorite so far.

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a340/MesquiteMan/ClearCactus.jpg

This one is resin with gold metal powder. It has some depth to it with some gold accents and looks a lot better in person.

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a340/MesquiteMan/GoldCactus.jpg

Thanks for looking!

[John Timberlake]

Love both of them. I agree that the clear resin (with and without gold) give the pen more depth. How do you get the resin into the skeleton without any air bubbles?

[Tom Sherman]

Two more excellent pens Curtis super job.

[Jeff Kuykendall]

Great looking pens Curtis.

[Henry C. Gernhardt, III]

Really cool, Curtis. I love that technique.

[Curtis O. Seebeck]

John,

I pressure cast them in an old paint pressure pot. I posted a link to a tutorial I wrote in this thread: http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=38751

[Vaughn McMillan]

Very sweet, Curtis. Based on the pics, I like the clear one best, but they are both awesome. I would hope you're making lots of money from these. ;)

- Vaughn

[Bernie Weishapl]

Beautiful Curtis. Love them both. Nice job.

[Corey Hallagan]

Neat stuff Curtis! Nice job!

corey

[George Conklin]

Hi Curtis,
I checked out your tutorial. Man!!! That is definately an intense process just to get the blank!

Have you thought of marketing cactus blanks? I bet you could get a pretty penny for them if people knew all that went into making them.

Thanks for sharing

[Gary DeWitt]

Thanks Curtis for the tutorial. I had tried using colored epoxy on some drilled holes in some bottle stoppers, and had a lot of trouble with air bubbles. I had tried using a Vacuum chamber, but it didn't help, and I had given up. I'll try the pressure now, see how it goes.

[Jim Becker]

They are both INCREDIBLE. You really have something there, Curtis...outstanding!

[Curtis O. Seebeck]

Gary,

Pressure will do the trick! I first tried it with nothing and got very mediocre results. I then went to vacuum and it was better but not great. Now with pressure it is OUTSTANDING. In an entire blank I may end up with one or two bubbles the size of a pin head that are easily filled with CA. I have started using pressure when filling large cracks in pen and bowl blanks and it realy works well.

[Jeff Myers]

Curtis,
Those are absolutely beautiful!!! Is there a source you know of for those of us on the other end of the country we could purchase some skeletons? I'd sure like to try it sometime. Really nice work!!

[Mark Cothren]

These are both fantastic! But the first one REALLY stands out to me!

Great work, Curtis!

[Wes Bischel]

Curtis,

Both pens are outstanding -but the first pen is truly a cut above!

Wes

[Jim Underwood]

Very nice pens! You've done an incredible job on the R&D and topped it off with an excellent tutorial.

Now I've got a question.

Has anyone done a pen with snake skin? And can you tell me how it was done?

I've got a copperhead skin I tried to cure a few years back that would make an excellent bunch of pens...

[Vaughn McMillan]

...Has anyone done a pen with snake skin? And can you tell me how it was done?...
This should answer your first question, but as to how to do it with your own snake skin...I'll leave that to others who know more than I do.

http://www.pennstateind.com/store/wxss7.html

HTH -

- Vaughn

[Ernie Nyvall]

Those are outstanding Curtis. You really have someting there.

Ernie

[Dario Octaviano]

Curtis,

I know I already said this somewhere else but I really love these cactus pens. Good job!!!

I got to see these in person and they are much nicer.

[Tim Solley]

Curtis,

I know I already said this somewhere else but I really love these cactus pens. Good job!!!

I got to see these in person and they are much nicer.

I too saw these pens in person while visiting with Curtis a couple months back. They are indeed more impressive in person than in the pictures. They're simply awesome! What I liked though, and I'm not sure Curtis has posted these, was a normal pen with a cactus band. I really like the cactus accent on a wood pen.

Tim

[Travis Stinson]

Curtis, those pens are absolutely spectacular! That's a fantastic process you've developed.:cool: