Friday, September 24, 2021

Experimental sea snail and epoxy resin pendant

 






















Tools and materials I propose:

Hot glue gun

Vacuum chamber kit

Resin colors

Buffing kit

Micro mesh sanding pads

Foredom Woodcarving Kit

Diamond Cutting Wheel Discs

Buffing Wheel Set

Mini machinist’s lathe

Jeweler's saw


In this video I make a pendant inspired by ammonite fossils. I made it out of a sea snail shell and epoxy resin.


First of all I hot glued the shell on a base to keep it steady. I used a scrap piece from a woodturning project. 


I then filled the shell with resin and de-gassed it in the vacuum chamber. 


I tried turning it on the lathe but it was too hard to turn. 


So I decided it to sand it as much as possible. Then I used a diamond disc on my rotary tool to cut off a slice. I used water to cool the piece down. I then choosed the most interesting piece.


I sanded from 100 to 320. Then I wet sanded from 400 to 1000. I polished it with my polishing pads and finally I buffed it. 


I used my metal lathe to make a brass ring, I added a leather stripe and my pendant was ready. I think it came out really beautiful.


But that was it. See you soon with a new project video. 


Disclosure: Some of the links below are affiliate links, meaning, that at no cost to you, I get a small commission if you click through and make a purchase.

Friday, September 17, 2021

How to make a DIY palette painting knife

 



















Tools and materials I propose:

Silver solder

Flux

Propane torch

Copper pipe cutter

Tormek honing compound

Foredom Woodcarving Kit

Lathe

Buffing kit

Wood turning tools set

Chuck kit

Tormek T8 Sharpening System

Tormek Woodturner’s Kit


In this video I make a palette knife out of a nail, a spatula, copper pipe and wood. This a pretty interesting tool used in a very impressionistic painting technique. 


First of all I made a small paper template of the knife’s spatula part. I used the metal from a spatula I bought from the hardware store. The spatula needs to be flexible in order for the palette knife to work. 


I then cut the shape of my spatula using a rotary tool and a metal cutting disc. 


The spatula needs to be polished. You can do that using sand paper, sharpening stones or a sharpening system like my Tormek. The final polishing you can do on a leather strop. You can also use a buffing wheel with honing compound on your rotary tool. 


Next I cut a nail and bended it with heat. To connect the spatula with the nail I used silver solder. Heat and flux pull the solder towards them. 


I then cleaned and polished the metal parts again. 


As a handle you can use a handle from another tool. But I turned one out of beech. 


I epoxied a piece of coper pipe in front. Once I finished the handle I epoxied the metal parts in the handle.


This is a really interesting technique. It works better with oil paints because thy are pretty thick and dry really slow. But that was it. See you soon with a new project video.



Disclosure: Some of the links below are affiliate links, meaning, that at no cost to you, I get a small commission if you click through and make a purchase.

Friday, September 10, 2021

Rotten burl from another planet

 























Tools and materials I propose:

Hot glue gun

Lathe

Wood turning tools set

Chuck kit

Vacuum chamber kit

Block plane

Flexcut starter carving set

Resin colors

Buffing kit

Micro mesh sanding pads


In this video I use a rotten burl from an unknown (to me) type of tree. I think that these fragile wood pieces hide a lot of beauty and resin can help a lot to preserve it. So I made a resin and wood blank and turned it on the lathe. I hope you like the result. 


I spotted this burl on a tee in my neighbourhood. Once I touched it I realised I could remove it by hand. So I took it to make something out of it.


I first flattened one side on the belt sander. 


Next I made a mold out of an old Ice cream box and a piece of plywood. I hot glued the mold on the plywood and I used a drop of silicone to seal it from leaks. To prevent it from floating in the resin I used rubber bands and a scrap wood piece. 


I then mixed some epoxy resin and added some orange transparent dye. 


I poured the resin into the mold and de-gassed in the vacuum chamber. 


Once the resin was cured, I de-moulded it and found the centre of the plywood piece. I drew a few circles to help me align the piece on the glue chuck. I then epoxied the hole piece on the glue chuck. 


Using plywood wasn’t the best choice. Plywood is really hard on woodturning tools. But that’s what I had. 


I turned my piece true using a bowl gouge and a round nose scrapper. I also used a parting tool. 


I sanded dry from 100 to 300. Then I started wet sanding using mineral oil from 400 to 1000. I then started polishing with my micro mesh sanding pads. 


Next I parted the piece off the lathe and turned it around using my bowl bottom cleaning jaws. Same stuff again, scrapping sanding and polishing.


Finally I buffed the piece with my buffing wheel and carnauba wax. 


Last but not least I made a base out of basswood. I cut the piece on the table saw and hand carved it give it some texture. I painted it black with water based stain. 


And my little burl was ready. I really like looking at these strange beautiful shapes nature creates. But that was it. See you soon with a new project video. 



Disclosure: Some of the links below are affiliate links, meaning, that at no cost to you, I get a small commission if you click through and make a purchase.

Friday, September 3, 2021

How to make Kryptonite

 









Tools and materials I propose:

Hot glue gun

Silicone rubber mold

Lathe

Wood turning tools set

Chuck kit

Vacuum chamber kit

Block plane

Flexcut starter carving set

Resin colors



In this video I used a real quartz crystal to make a silicone rubber mold. Then I poured epoxy resin to make an exact duplicate. I then turned a base out of basswood, to place my little epoxy rock.


I used a plastic container from yogurt in which I hot glued the quartz rock. I then prepared some silicone rubber in which I added a drop of red pigment. I then poured the rubber into the mold and de-gassed in the vacuum chamber. 


Next I cut the mold open to remove the crystal. 


I then prepared some epoxy resin which I dyed transparent green. 


I first degassed the resin itself and then poured it into the mold. I de-gassed again. I should insist on de-gassing more because I still got a few bubbles in the final cast. 


I flattened the bottom of the crystal on the belt sander. Then I turned a base on the lathe out of basswood. I carved some decoration on it. 


I epoxied the crystal on the base and painted the upper part of the base with latex paint. 


And my little fake crystal was ready. I hope you  liked my little Kryptonite project, but that was it. See you soon with a new project video.




Disclosure: Some of the links below are affiliate links, meaning, that at no cost to you, I get a small commission if you click through and make a purchase.