Video #758: Everything you need to start making designer polymer clay pens… even if you have never worked with polymer clay before.
In this video I unbox and review the new Pen Making PolyClay Starter Set from Penn State Industries.
Penn State Industries (PSI) has been supplying pen blanks and other similar accessories to wood turners for many years now. More recently, they have also started servicing the polymer clay market.
Here the Penn State description of the kit that I review in today’s video…
“This comprehensive starter set includes everything you need to get started making PolyClay pen kits. It includes 5 Executive chrome plated pen kits plus 8 essential accessories. There’s enough PolyClay material to make over 15 pens. This set will pay for itself with the first 5 beautiful pens that you make. Includes 2 PolyClay Bricks: 1 Black and 1 White; 5 Canes including Mixed Bouquet, Watermelon, Blooming Daisy, Wild Flower and Stained Glass; PolyClay Cane Slicing Jig; Acrylic Roller; Tube Size Cutter – Set of 5; PolyClay Mandrel; Slicing Blade – Set of 2; Sanding Set – 8 Piece; Oven Thermometer; Tempered Glass Cutting Board and 5 Executive Chrome Pen Kits and Bushing Set.”
The link for more info about this Penn State Industries, Polymer Clay Pen Making Kit, is post just below the video.
- Related Resource: Penn State Pen Making PolyClay Starter Set
- Related Video: Faux Burlwood Pen Polymer Clay Tutorial
- Related Video: Reducing a Polymer Clay Cane From Start To Finish
- Related Video: We-R Memory Keepers Glass Mat
- Related Video: Starter Tool Kit For Polymer Clay Beginners
Do you have any suggestions for videos on tips, techniques or products you would like to learn more about? Let me know in the comments section below!
My goal is to help you to learn quicker and easier ways to bring up the professionalism in your polymer clay art.
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Looking forward to hearing from you!
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This kit was so well thought out. It is encouraging to know they consulted with someone who worked with PC to increase the users success.
Yes that was refreshing to see from a non clay related company.
Have to say this is one of those things if I hadn’t seen it previewed I would never even thought about it. I just put in my order half an hour ago and can’t wait for it to arrive :D Of course now I am trying to figure out how to budget for a lathe :P Guess I will just continue to sand the old fashion way.
You can use the mandrel in a power drill if you have one Alie. That way it wouldn’t be as old fashioned. :)
Ha! like that idea, I do have a very nice Dremel that I may or may not have taken from my husband’s workspace.
I may or may not have taken a few tools from Doug’s workspace as well. ;)
Just a quick comment about the lathe. When I was doing all those pens two years ago (yeah…..two…..crazy!) for the soccer fundraiser, I went ahead and bought a lathe (and the appropriate mandrel and bushings (<– which change per pen type)). I got one fairly inexpensively from harbor freight and it is *fantastic*! It was $100 (regular price) and I had one of their 20% coupons. So. Worth. It. I was able to get an entire pen (I was doing the….crap, it's been so long, I don't remember the model, but it had two barrels, same as the one from your tutorial), sanded/polished and pressed (I bought one of those too (~$50 I think from WoodCraft) in 9 minutes. That includes the entire sanding process with the micro-mesh pen sanding kits (9 grits) as well as finishing with the renaissance wax. 9 minutes. That was a big deal with how many pens I had to make. Doing all those by hand (sanding or pressing) would have killed me.
Anywho, I suppose the point of all this is really, if you are interested in making the pens (every single person who bought one or received one as a gift LOVED them) on a larger scale, then I HIGHLY recommend going with a lathe and a press. I originally tried it using a hand drill, but I didn't like having only one speed. I liked the variable speed available (particularly when applying the wax) with the lathe. And for the price…..about the same as a new drill nowadays, it was worth it. I have used it for things other than the pens as well, so it turned out well in the end. :)
Thanks Chrissy for coming in to say that! You make an excellent point about using the lathe and press. 9 minutes is excellent time for finishing a pen! Have you have the chance to learn out to turn a blank on your lathe yet? That seems like it would be a really fun skill to have. Polymer clay is so soft too that apparently it is a dream to turn. If baked properly it shouldn’t chip or sheer off like the acrylic blanks do either. So many cool things to experiment with and so little time!!
Yes, I was excited with how quickly I was able to spin them out. Yeah, I did try it a couple times. I wanted to add some “ripples” to the grip area of a couple pens. It cut really easy without any issues (no chips/etc…), but I really sucked at it. Ha! I really want to expand and get better with that, but just haven’t had time since (working on my master’s degree…..bleh). I do want to get a vacuum setup near my lathe, the dust on something more than a “ripple” would get pretty bad I think. It was quite noticeable on the little bit I did.
And did you link the fundraiser thing or has my computer started thinking for me? Ha!
That would be Doug… he’s the one who spins all the tech magic around here!