# Reverse painting pen blank video



## MesquiteMan (Nov 24, 2009)

Here is a video I recently made showing how I paint the inside of a blank to hide the glue. Beware, I am not a video expert so please don't make fun of my videography!!  BTW, comments or criticism of the video itself would be appreciated so I can get better.  I plan to do a number of videos on penmaking subjects that I will share here and on my website.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bnVaA1Ppa14


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## el_d (Nov 24, 2009)

Looks good curtis.......Your a regular George Lucas!!!!!


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## bruce119 (Nov 24, 2009)

Good video I guess after that feasco you had painting the inside of all those cactus blanks you are the expert. BTW is that some of those cactus blanks in the background.

Good video I just spray paint but mite give that a try a little less messy. Do you paint your tubes also.

Great video

Thanks


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## mredburn (Nov 24, 2009)

Not to bad at all, and you only used "um" once and "uh" twice, you wouldnt believe how much that kind of thing distracts from the end product when used excessivly. Over all its done well.  My .02    Mike


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## MesquiteMan (Nov 25, 2009)

bruce119 said:


> Good video I guess after that feasco you had painting the inside of all those cactus blanks you are the expert. BTW is that some of those cactus blanks in the background.
> 
> Good video I just spray paint but mite give that a try a little less messy. Do you paint your tubes also.
> 
> ...


 
Bruce,

There is no need to paint the tube if you get a good coat on the inside of the blank.  Spray paint is ok but most spray paints are not made for plastic unless you use plastic spray paint!  Also, spray paint is thinner than the stuff I use and I have had too many times where I could still see through it on a clear blank.  I guess I am a little bit of a perfectionist and I don't want to even see a hint of the tube or glue voids.


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## just_call_me_dusty (Nov 25, 2009)

Thats awesome thanks for the tip.


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## sawdust-johnny (Nov 25, 2009)

Hi
Picture quality excellent, Sound excellent and content very informative thank you. (I've been using the wife's nail varnish :redface also it downloaded very quickly with no pauses.Pity the rest of You Tube weren't up to this standard  

regards

John


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## SamThePenMan (Nov 25, 2009)

Nice video. That clear blank looked sort of neat in the video at least. My thought on using spray paint is: One, you'd have to use several coats before theres enough coveragerr, and Two, a lot of the paint just goes into the air which is wasteful and maybe not that great for the environment  just my 2cents.


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## Jim15 (Nov 25, 2009)

Thank you Curtis.


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## fiferb (Nov 25, 2009)

Nice job Curtis. You may want to consider a Q-tip instead of the acid brush or paint brush. I find it's easier to get a coat and you can see into most blanks as you paint to check your coverage from the inside.


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## jimofsanston (Nov 25, 2009)

Curtis form your picture I though you would have a deeper Texan voice:tongue:. Very good production. very clear, and good focus on the subject that you were showing.


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## johncrane (Nov 25, 2009)

Curtis l think your video's are good,keep'em coming.:good:


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## Gordon (Nov 25, 2009)

Looks good to me  - - clear and to the point.

Thanks


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## jthompson1995 (Nov 25, 2009)

A second vote here for the Q-tip, It's hard to get one of those acid brushes in the narrower holes for smaller kits. And they're cheaper.


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## Druid (Nov 25, 2009)

You da man!  The pens & boxes look great Curtis!  I'm suprised you did not use the opaque (RC-3) method for the tubes.  Maybe too time consuming? Now that you've got that order done maybe you'll have time to chat with an old friend?


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## NewLondon88 (Nov 25, 2009)

Cool!

Just a suggestion .. I also like the Q-tip, but when using the acid brush I
notice that you're having some trouble getting it inside the tube easily.
If you 'roll' the brush .. twist it as you're about to put it into the tube, the
edges of the hole will push the bristles into a more round shape so it will
go inside easier.

I picked up some acrylic paints to try out, just haven't gotten to it yet. I've
been using the spray paint method and not all that happy with it. I spray it
up in the air and keep pushing the blank into the paint cloud but this takes
forever to get any coverage.


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## Druid (Nov 25, 2009)

Charlie,
if your going to use acrylics I would highly recommend using an all purpose sealer first (you can pick up at a craft store)... just my two cents based on hundreds of blanks  :wink:


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## NewLondon88 (Nov 25, 2009)

Do I spray that up in the air, too?


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## Druid (Nov 25, 2009)

LMAO, good one!!!!... no comment from the peanut gallery (But if I had one I think I would use a small brush or Qtip)!!!!!:biggrin::biggrin:  .


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## skiprat (Nov 25, 2009)

I'm also a Q-tip user. I also take one more step before allowing the paint to dry.....I push and twist the brass tube through the painted hole a few times and wipe any excess off the tube. 
I found that if I didn't do this, then the tube may be too tight a fit when it came to gluing.


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## TomW (Nov 25, 2009)

Curtis,

Good video.  My suggestion was going to be to put down some butcher paper or something to give a less distracting background, but changed my mind.  You should put down some butcher paper to keep the black paint drips off your workbench!

Thanks
Tom


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## dow (Nov 25, 2009)

Good job on the video, Curtis.  I'm using q-tips as well, but that's because we bought a package of them at Sam's a couple of years ago, and we still have about a hundred thousand left, lol.


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## BobBurt (Nov 25, 2009)

Thanks Curtis....... Kind of simple when see it


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## MesquiteMan (Nov 25, 2009)

I have been painting the inside of cactus blanks for 3 years and have tried all different methods.  I have used q-tips as some have suggested but do not like them as well since they do not hold as much paint and the "flow out" is not as good.  Just personal preference I guess!  I do frequently trim the edges of the acid brush to make it more tapered and that works wonderful but too much extra info to put in the video.  I was shooting for as short as possible to reduce download time.

Anyway, thanks for the comments everyone.


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## wdcav1952 (Nov 25, 2009)

Curtis,

Very informative, thanks!  I would hire a better actor to replace the one you used, though!  :biggrin::tongue::biggrin:


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## mick (Nov 25, 2009)

TomW said:


> Curtis,
> 
> Good video.  My suggestion was going to be to put down some butcher paper or something to give a less distracting background, but changed my mind.  You should put down some butcher paper to keep the black paint drips off your workbench!
> 
> ...



That workbench has character!....It's also owned by  one!
Great job Curtis! I've been "reverse painting" as long as I've been doing pens, just never called it that until a few months ago when Connie pointed out to me that it sounded better than telling customers, " I painted the inside of the blank" :biggrin:


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## BigguyZ (Nov 26, 2009)

Curtis, 
Checked out your other videos too.  You REALLY don't like dust, do you?  :biggrin:


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## RyanNJ (Feb 7, 2010)

very informative.
how do the cactus blanks turn. any tips to make sure the whole blank is covered as i dont have any clear blanks to practice on


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## Mac (Feb 8, 2010)

Good job ,keep it up, I have used Q tips and the brush method. I find that the brush does not leave any cotton hairs inside of my blanks.


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## MesquiteMan (Feb 8, 2010)

RyanNJ said:


> very informative.
> how do the cactus blanks turn. any tips to make sure the whole blank is covered as i dont have any clear blanks to practice on


 
I thnk they turn great but then again, I am a little biased!   Tips for getting full coverage?  Hold a flashlight up to the blank while you look through the hole.  You will see any areas that do not have good paint coverage.


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## SKEETERPROV (Feb 8, 2010)

thanx for sharing...


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## Lenny (Feb 8, 2010)

Thanks Curtis!
I haven't been able to find testors paint locally but have some hobby paint to try. I think I agree with you on the brush, it seems to lay a better coat down.


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## bruce119 (Feb 8, 2010)

I have been following this thread kind of. Great video Curtis and yes it is important to get an even coat. I Don't know if it's been mentioned, I didn't read every post, but drilling is very important. Getting a good clean drill hole can be tricky in some acrylics. If you don't have a very sharp bit and get a rough powdery inside chances are if the acrylic is transparent it will show.

So my point is a good clean drill hole is very important.

.


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## markgum (Feb 8, 2010)

excellant. THANK YOU.


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## TomS (Feb 8, 2010)

Do you drill the blanks with the correct size bit, or do you go one size larger?


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## Karin Voorhis (Feb 8, 2010)

That is great. super cool extra idea of using clear blank for demo too.! nice work! I noticed your drilling blank you used same clear blank. very nice!


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## Len Shreck (Feb 16, 2010)

I ask a question recently about painting tubes that were to be installed with epoxy, and one of the things that came up in that thread was mixing a little of the paint in with the epoxy. Has anyone tried this and if you have how did it turn out? That was a great video either way. Thanks... Len


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## bruce119 (Feb 16, 2010)

Len Shreck said:


> I ask a question recently about painting tubes that were to be installed with epoxy, and one of the things that came up in that thread was mixing a little of the paint in with the epoxy. Has anyone tried this and if you have how did it turn out? That was a great video either way. Thanks... Len


 
I gave a detailed answer to this on your thread.
http://www.penturners.org/forum/showthread.php?p=981268#post981268

thanks


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## TellicoTurning (Feb 16, 2010)

Len Shreck said:


> I ask a question recently about painting tubes that were to be installed with epoxy, and one of the things that came up in that thread was mixing a little of the paint in with the epoxy. Has anyone tried this and if you have how did it turn out? That was a great video either way. Thanks... Len



Len,
I always mix a little pain in the epoxy.. it works very well... when I use epoxy... my preference is the thick CA, but do use the epoxy when I need to.


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## triw51 (Apr 5, 2012)

I learn from you all the time Curtis nice video.


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