Woodturning - Coloured Pencil Mosaic

5 years ago
46

Ying Yang Plate made from coloured pencils.

This is the first Coloured pencil project I have done, I started this a couple of months back now, apologies for the music all the way through, most of this was filmed some time ago before I got my audio sorted on my camera.

Few lessons learned from this project for those interested in turning one. The black pencils contain a high amount of carbon (graphite), these dull HSS tools fast, and I mean I spent more time at the grinder than actually turning on the outer edge of the plate. I should have used my carbide tools and just accepted the cost or used another colour, although the darker colours all seem to have some carbon content so its still carbide tools next time.
Always use a pressure pot or at least stabilize the pencils first if you can, they just release air into the resin without a pressure pot. I made the mistake of thinking it would be ok based on the shallow size of the pour. The other option would be to use a slow cure resin and vacuum chamber to remove the air, a slow cure resin would also be better at getting into the smaller places while allowing any air to be released.
When turning you will see I had to apply superglue to the plate to keep some of the lead in each pencil in place, when the plate gets thin it just gets pushed out the other side as opposed to being cut with the wood, if you stabilized the pencils this may not happen which is something I will have to experiment with.
Sanding can be difficult with colour run, I found it best to use an extremely light pressure when sanding and gradually work you way through the grits. Finishing is just do with sanding sealer, everything else I experimented with seemed to have a negative effect with colour run, however that may just be the make of pencils I used.
I think the effect of the mosaic may have come out better with pencils that have a larger lead radius in comparison to the wood....Its also an extremely time consuming project :)

Let me know your thoughts in the comments. Thanks

My website mjturning.com

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