Casting Cotton

[GColeman]

I live in farm country. I have an order on the bench now for 12 corn cob pens. I have also had an inquiry from a cotton gin owner for a pen made with raw cotton fresh from the gin. I told him I would give it a shot. The problem is that I have no idea how to proceed.

My ideas are wrap a white painted tube with cotton then cast.

Pack a PVC tube with cotton then saturate with resin.

Back up 10 yards and punt.

What advice would you experts give?

 

[Alexanderpens]

When in doubt, try both! We all have to learn somehow.

 

[arw01]

How wet is the cotton straight from the gin?

 

[its_virgil]

Try something and if isn't what you like try another something. I think I would pack a mold with cotton, including the seeds, pour in the polyresin. Be sure the cotton is dry as well as the seeds.

Maybe you can cast just the seeds like coffee beans...much the same thing. The seeds come "fuzzy" or delinted...with the fuzz removed.

Oh, be sure to show us the results.
Do a good turn daily!
Don

I live in farm country. I have an order on the bench now for 12 corn cob pens. I have also had an inquiry from a cotton gin owner for a pen made with raw cotton fresh from the gin. I told him I would give it a shot. The problem is that I have no idea how to proceed.

My ideas are wrap a white painted tube with cotton then cast.

Pack a PVC tube with cotton then saturate with resin.

Back up 10 yards and punt.

What advice would you experts give?

 

[jttheclockman]

I would not use a white background. Use a blue or black. Curtis might be the guy to ask because it is similar to his cactus blanks I guess. May need to spray it with a clear lacquer before tring to work it to give it rigidity.

 

[jskeen]

My guess would be that a would be easier. B might work, but you would probably want to put in an inch of cotton, pour in some resin, press, repeat till full rather than trying to fill the tube and then force the resin all the way down to the bottom. some whole cotton bolls might look interesting that way too. or there is the ever popular "lay out some in a flat mold, pour 1 inch of resin, then cut up into blanks after set" approach.

I agree that the cotton seeds may be interesting too. Some gin's compress the seed into huge "bars" or "cakes" for processing into cattle feed, iirc, and that might be interesting to turn, either cast in resin or just stabilized with plenty of thin ca.

 

[Mac]

Why not make mini cotton balls glue to painted tube and cast clear leaving space in between balls.
Maybe find out his tractor colors and paint the tube say John Deere green with a little yellow. Just a thought.
You could even make a stalk holding the mini cotton balls.

 

[GColeman]

Some interesting ideas.

If I go with
pack a tube in stages, pour in a little resin,
when I turn will it expose cotton fibers?

I am guessing that the exposed fibers will be saturated with resin and not be fuzzy. Is that correct?

Even if it is fuzzy can I turn a smidge undersized then build back with CA?

Cotton seeds are plentiful at the gin. They store them in a semi trailer and send them to a processing plant.

The cotton from the gin is de-seeded and fairly dry. It is heated during the gin process. It does still have some trash in it. I intend to leave any trash in the fibers as I cast. I want a fresh from the gin stand look.

Painting the tubes the tractor colors is a good idea also. As far as my client is concerned John Deere is the only equipment there is.

Thanks for you help so far. If it works pictures will follow. If it doesn't you never heard of me.