A gift for Dad…

I made this polymer clay covered pen/pencil set for my dad’s birthday this year. When you’re a crafter, it is hard sometimes to come up with “masculine” gifts…but I’m really happy with how these turned out. 

The pen supply kits are from Penn State Industries (a company that sells wood-working supplies) and they come in a multitude of styles. This is the Polaris model. The middle piece is actually hollow brass tubing that is normally covered with a wood blank.  I covered it with a decorative clay sheet instead & baked it in the oven.  After baking, the piece was sanded & buffed to a high shine.  Then, the entire pen was assembled to get the finished product.  The kits are fabulous & are made of very high quality material… comparable to a high-end Cross or Parker pen that you’d buy in an office supply store.  

Here is a close-up of the extruded cane design used on the pen.  It was made by combining raw umber & gold Premo! clay together in an extruder gun, then putting 9 square extrusions together to form a grid gane.  Thin slices were taken from the cane & placed on a base clay sheet which was run through the pasta machine until it was smooth. It has a very subtle look to it but the mica powders in the clay make the pieces really shine & glisten in the light (hard to tell from the pics).