OBX experiment

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sorcerertd

sorcerertd

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North Carolina, USA
OBX = Outer Banks of North Carolina. A local told me that the X represents crossed pirate swords. The area was a well known hangout of Blackbeard. Anyway, there's a LOT of pictures coming here.

This one is a cool idea (IMHO) that was a bit of a challenge and a came out just a little rough around the edges, but it was a testing/learning project. Beach life is like that anyway! So, all of the materials came from a trip to the beach last month. As strange as it seems, we were driven TO the beach by a hurricane. That's a first for us. We were originally going to the NC mountains, but that was definitely not in the cards.

The body is driftwood with an asymmetrical inlay band, custom center band and finial.
  • The inlay band is sand and shells/shell pieces, built up with CA. Blue seems like a natural for a beach pen, but does NOT work under that inlay (amateur mistake, lesson learned). That was a redo with a cream colored acrylic paint as seen in the pictures, though you can still see a little of the metallic blue at the edges of the inlay.
  • The finial started out with some scrap kraft paper from my business cards. I added sand and shells, then domed it with UV resin. There's a tiny bubble that was unintentional, but it doesn't bother me in the least on this one. It's a feature that fits the theme perfectly!
  • The center band is just a scrap of mica pearl. I do like that the center band contrasts, but feel that it's a little much. I have some faux abalone that I think would work better. I still may change it out.
The wood definitely should have been stabilized. It soaked up some CA for sure, and still tore out easily. I ended up shaving/sanding it and then having to build it back up on the main barrel. The tube shows through a little in the cap barrel. I could have corrected that in a few ways, at the very least with a sharpie while filling it, but it was a learning project anyway.

OBX.2.jpg

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Very nice work. I think the first one looks like it's shim Blackbeard's own collection. Wonderful you turned your trip disappointment into some very nice world of art. I personally know several people impacted by that storm, it's good to see something beautiful come about because of it.
 
Chasboy1 said:
Did the sand in the large band produce turning problems?
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Not really, It was a very thin sprinkling, which worked so much better with the lighter paint. The only trouble was that a little got into the upper/outer layers, but it didn't affect the actual turning/finishing. That really just makes it look like a little sand got stirred up in water. Everything about the beach is so casual feeling that the little things that would usually bother me seem to just fit in. It's just the blue paint showing through and the band that I will change next time around.

GFHWoodWerks said:
Very nice work. I think the first one looks like it's shim Blackbeard's own collection.
Click to expand...
I can only imagine what that would be worth! Even to be made of wood from Blackbeard's ship, or one that was certified to have be sunk by him. He lured them into the shallows where he knew the waters. I can't imagine there's much left of any wooden vessels that were destroyed from that long ago.
 
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