I have some family members who are very much hockey nuts. My sister is a rabid fan for the Minnesota Wild - and a while back I found out that Penn State Industries manufactured a hockey pen turning kit. I had to make some - so I bought the three-pack (a chrome, gold, and gunmetal). The gold went to a St. Louis Blues color scheme (blue and gold), I made an Edmonton Oilers' (Royal Navy and Orange) (#041E42 blue and #FF4C00 orange) using the gunmetal, and the chrome went to Minnesota.
Considering that I couldn't find good pen blanks for Minnesota colors, or Edmonton's, I had to use a pen blank mold kit and resins.
- For Edmonton, I used the "AOI HI BLUE" and "TIGER" mica powders, the "Eye Candy" brand.
- For St. Louis, the same "AOI HI BLUE" and "Queens Gold" by Stardust (nearly any bright gold metallic mica powder will do nicely), and.
- For the Wild, it was an "Imperial Jade" (again, "Eye Candy"), Red (QC9118 by "Seisso"), and Meyspring's "Stirling Lining" silver metallic powder.
Each was cast using Alumilite's Amazong Deep Pour resin epoxy (avaiable from Amazon in a 4 pack or from your local Hobby Lobby) because of the long drying time. Please note that exothermic reactions on Epoxy will cause it to mix while it cures, so you will not get good color borders between different epoxies if you use the long-cure stuff like I did. Each one was allowed to cure for a week in desert heat, even though the cure time is "72 hours". This is because the "cure" isn't always perfectly hard.
*Note* - make sure you spray mold release/silicon spray into your mold for each one to make the release easier!
The mold I used is a "Lizard Blanks" 1"x1"x6" mold. I can't find a link to the specific mold kit on Amazon, but you should be able to find one at your local woodcraft store, or order it from them directly. Other blank molds may do nicely - I don't know. Even a 3/4"x3/4" might suffice for you.
Anyway, after pouring and curing (I poured all colors at the same time into the mold, hoping for clearly defined colors, but ran into exothermic mixing), I pulled the blanks out, drilled and barreled them, and subsquently turned them like any other pen kit.
Minnesota is on the left, St. Louis in the middle, and Edmonton is on the right. I think they turned out great, though I am not going to make a habit of making these.
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