Pink/Teal Acrylic and Chrome Ballpoint Twist Pen
Whenever I start to make a pen from an acrylic blank I always remember the negative points. Acrylic turning is messy, I really try to clear every last scrap of it up; it can also be smelly; the sharp little chips get everywhere and it can blunt the turning chisels really quickly. By the time the pen shape is turned and I start the messier job of wet sanding through about fifteen different grades I'm usually trying to convince myself that maybe its better to just concentrate on turning wooden pens.
Then the final grades of sanding and polishing start to reveal something special and I really like acrylic again... until the next time.
Leaving the marina at Hawne Basin on new year's eve we moored up at the Black Country Living Museum and headed into Tipton to meet up with some friends for a bit of a doo. We had just about recovered from our excesses and on a very gusty January the 2nd we headed the ten miles and three locks into central Birmingham where we will hide away from the worst of the weather in the BCN’s basins and loops.
We were feeling a little guilty a week later as we had been enjoying catching up with more friends in the restaurants and bars in the city centre so I started to make a rough plan for the next pens to be made. First a day or two of cutting, drilling and gluing brass tubes into various pieces of wood and colourful acrylics.
Another fortnight of the delights of all that Birmingham has to offer went by rather quickly and after a short day cruise we moored up within sight of the Sealife Centre and the Barclaycard Arena on this very modern part of the Birmingham Canal Navigations.
Pen #447 was turned on February 3rd outside the entrance ramp to the Barclaycard Arena in central Birmingham.
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