Esterbrook Jewels

[ipse dixit]

I received a copper Esterbrook J today. It is missing the cap jewel. It seems like I just saw some for sale. Does anyone have a suggestion?

 

Jim

[Gerry]

I dunno Jim. If you do get a line on the jewels for the J please either post here, or let me know b/c. My spare parts bin lacks only the J cap jewels...

 

Gerry

[eli]

One thing you might consider is to make temporary jewels from Fimo or Sculpey polymer clays.

 

You could take a good example still on a pen, press it into a small section/block of material, bake it in you oven per directions and use the resulting mold to form jewels for your pens.

 

These you could shellac into place until you could find a real jewel to repair your pen; or if you like what you've got, who’s to know? Just remember to tell someone if you sell the pen with the polymer jewel on it

 

Just be sure that you clean the example pen with soap and water and use a sealer, varnish, polyurethane, etc so no part of the polymer clay contacts plastics long term; some people have reported some leaching of polymer clay plasticizer into other plastics.

 

That is not a problem at all as long as you are aware of the potential issue.

 

By the way, there is a polyclay that remains flexible after baking that would also make for an excellent mold.

 

For the adventurous, pens and inkwells made Fimo, etc are limited only by your imagination and willingness to explore.

 

Cheers,

Eli

 

Cheers

[ipse dixit]

So, would Moldable Plastic Resin, sold by Tryphon, be suitable to fabricate jewels?

 

Jim

[eli]

Jim, if you’re asking me, I have to say I don't know.

 

I've seen this listed and it looks like it would be fine, though things like color bias might be more difficult to manage.

 

It looks like you could make a small mold of polymer clay, form and bake your mold and use the resin. Plaster would work too but it would be a lot of messy work that would be better handled by the polymer product.

 

I do know that using a metal post or one made of polymer clay would be quite simple with the Fimo or Sculpey and that obtaining a specific finish/surface is quite manageable. Many, many people use this material for jewelry, crafts and serious works of art and there are reams of web pages on the subject.

 

I tell you what; send me your postal address and I'll make a couple of buttons without post, ( I don't have an Esterbrook without a jewel to model on) and send them to you. You try them out on your pen and let the rest of us know how they worked out...or not.

 

Cheers,

Eli

Edited February 28, 2006 by eli

[krz]

One thing you might consider is to make temporary jewels from Fimo or Sculpey polymer clays.

Good idea ely!

 

I use polymer clay quite a bit and probably would have never thought of that.

Epoxy Clay is another great McGiver tool, but wouldn't work well for a Estie jewel.