Polymer Clay Centerband

[Wmcullen]

Slimline pen is rosewood with a centerband made of hard maple and polymer clay.

Here's my process for making this polymer clay centerband plus 9 more... not rocket surgery.

Marked a piece of hard maple with alternating drill and cut lines. Drilled 10 holes with 1/4" bit and cut them apart.

Mounted on my mandrel.

Turned down into "spool" shaped pieces.

Each "spool" was packed with red and/or white clay and maybe some paint and baked at 250 for 30 minutes.
I aimed for 10 different patterns.

The arrow indicated the black and white centerband.

More information on the "marble" effect can be found here.

Thanks for looking
- Cullen

 

[1080Wayne]

Looks great ! Nice , simple process .

 

[Lew]

Way cool!!!

 

[derekdd]

Really cool look.

Thanks for the explanation.

 

[Kenny Durrant]

Nice idea. Thanks for sharing. The process gives me an idea that I'd like to try. Not sure if I'll ever get to it but it opens up several options.

 

[KMCloonan]

Very nice! Thanks for sharing your process as well.

 

[Woodchipper]

Stroke of genius!

 

[jrista]

That white band looks really good! Is this the same technique as before, clay balls or worms coated in acrylic? It really came out looking good!

I might have to give this a try with some of the milliput I have. I'm curious now how well milliput might work to replicate this. It doesn't need to be baked, it just hard cures in room temp air. I've never tried to coat it with acrylic, though, so...curious to see how that works.

 

[Wmcullen]

That white band looks really good! Is this the same technique as before, clay balls or worms coated in acrylic? It really came out looking good!

I might have to give this a try with some of the milliput I have. I'm curious now how well milliput might work to replicate this. It doesn't need to be baked, it just hard cures in room temp air. I've never tried to coat it with acrylic, though, so...curious to see how that works.

You're exactly right: this is the same process as before. The only difference is that I made much smaller clay balls. Thanks so much for the Milliput recommendation. It looks like an easier alternative.

 

[wolf creek knives]

Wow Cullen, didn't see this one first. Really nice work!