# Wedding pens



## BigShed (Mar 21, 2008)

My first granddaughter is getting married Sunday week, 30th March, and I decide that with my new found interest in pen turning I would make a special set for the bride and groom to sign their certificate.

I didn't know what sort of journey I had embarked on!

Having decided on 2 tone Chrome Sierras and a black an white theme, the search was on for a matching "opposite" set of white and black blanks (if that makes sense!).

Not too much trouble finding a suitable black acrylic blank with white lines, but finding a similar white blank with black lines proved a bit of a headache.
Purchased a silvery opal blank at Carbatec, which was quite nice on its own but not in combination with the black.

Having put out some questions both on this forum and on the Oz forum, I finally found a suitable blank on CSUSA. These duly arrived last Monday, I bought 3 white as well as 3 blacks. Together with some other blanks I had bought, that made a total of 12 blanks purchased for a set of 2 pens (the things you do for your granddaughter, SWMBO was ready to have me certified).

Turned 2 each of the white and the black, as well as some backups for the engraver to practice on.

Delivered these to the engraver on Wednesday for pickup yesterday, Thursday. When I arrived at 3pm yesterday he had neither done a practice one, nor done the proper ones.
Blood pressure on the rise!

Anyway, he was very obliging and did 2 different depth laser engravings on the practice one and put some gold and some silver paste stuff in the engraving to make ir show up.

Having decided to go for the deeper of the 2 and selecting the silver highlighting, he did the engraving on the good ones, exactly where I had marked them with a permanent marker.

I am very happy with the end result, but won't add up the total cost of these 2 pens!


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## BruceK (Mar 21, 2008)

Great job on those!  I need to do the same thing for my stepson....but I have until September to come up with an idea!


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## Sfolivier (Mar 21, 2008)

That's really nice! I remember you looking for the blanks. I think all your efforts resulted in fantastic gifts for your family.

By the way, what kind of engraver did you go to? Just the "standard" jewelry / customization kind? He did a good job and the silver paste goes very well with the kits.


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## BigShed (Mar 21, 2008)

I live near a relatively small regional city (Bendigo pop 90,000) so we don't have an extensive choice here. This shop does mainly sports trophies and gifts and he has both a laser engraver and a CNC rotary machine. The pens were done on the laser.

I agree that he did a very good job.


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## jcollazo (Mar 21, 2008)

Very classy. It gives me ideas for my daughter's wedding pens.


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## Johnathan (Mar 21, 2008)

Very nice. I like the yin and yang approach.


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## karlkuehn (Mar 21, 2008)

Really nice pens! They're going to be thrilled at that beautiful set. Nice choice of kit, too. Well done.


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## Dalecamino (Mar 21, 2008)

Beautiful creation Fred ! I like what you've done here . Excellant ! Congratulations to you , as well as the Bride & Groom ! Thanks for sharing ! [8D]


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## VisExp (Mar 21, 2008)

That's a beautiful set of pens for a special occasion!  Your granddaughter will be thrilled.  The time and effort you put into finding just the right set of blanks was well worth it.  

BTW.  The date really confused me!  It's taken me nearly a decade to get used to writing the date mm/dd/yyyy  [:I]


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## george (Mar 21, 2008)

Wow !!

Great pens. It really looks super. Can you share one part of finish with me ? That is, was the pen totaly finished before laser engraving or did you "seal" the engraving filling with final coat of CA ?

Perhaps stupid question for masters, but important for amateurs.

Thank you , George


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## rjwolfe3 (Mar 21, 2008)

Beautiful work.


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## DJ2759 (Mar 21, 2008)

Beautiful work and I will make a set for my daughter in May this year, but I do have a protocol question. I noticed you put her name first. Does it make a difference? I was thinking I would have to put his name first. Sorry, I know this sounds petty but you'd be surprised how it makes a difference to some. Maybe I should write Dear Abbey and ask......


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## rherrell (Mar 21, 2008)

Great job there, Fred. You did your grandbaby proud.


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## bosipipes (Mar 21, 2008)

What a great idea.
and U did a wonderful job!!


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## Ligget (Mar 21, 2008)

Excellent idea, beautiful pens![]


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## BigShed (Mar 21, 2008)

> _Originally posted by DJ2759_
> 
> Beautiful work and I will make a set for my daughter in May this year, but I do have a protocol question. I noticed you put her name first. Does it make a difference? I was thinking I would have to put his name first. Sorry, I know this sounds petty but you'd be surprised how it makes a difference to some. Maybe I should write Dear Abbey and ask......



This was the subject of some debate with my better half. She wanted Kirsty & Brad on her pen (the white one) and Brad & Kirsty on his pen (the black one).

In the end I decided to put the same on both for two reasons, the couple is usually referred to as Kirsty and Brad within the family (ever notice how the order of a couple's names is nearly always the same?) and I didn't want to run the risk that the engraver got it wrong.

Anyway, he may as well get used to his place in the scheme of things early in his marriage!


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## BigShed (Mar 21, 2008)

> _Originally posted by george_
> 
> Wow !!
> 
> ...



George, you are asking this question of a rank amateur, these pens were number 7 and 8 respectively, so I have a long way to go before I could call myself a "master" (if ever).

Anyway, to answer your question, there is no finish as such on the acrylic, just sanding with progressively finer grit and final polishing with white diamond paste on a polishing mop.

I would not be game to seal the engraving with CA, or something else, the engraver told it was not necessary to seal it.


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## BigShed (Mar 21, 2008)

Thank you all for your kind comments, it is heartening to get such praise from ones' peers.


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## arjudy (Mar 21, 2008)

Very nice. I'm sure they will be cherished.


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## BigShed (Apr 6, 2008)

Have just returned home from Adelaide (8 hr drive), wedding was last Sunday.

The pens were a great success, I certainly scored some brownie points with the granddaughter and her new husband.

Some very nice comments were made by the guests etc, so overall it turned out to be a rewarding exercise.

I have attached some pictures of the pens in the weeding and the happy couple.


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## johncrane (Apr 6, 2008)

Beautiful pens and a beautiful couple you must be very proud Fred great job mate![]


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## VisExp (Apr 6, 2008)

Thanks for the update.  They make a great looking couple!


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## Tanner (Apr 6, 2008)

Oh WOW, those are beautiful!  These will be cherished forever!


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