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Steampunk Pen

My first steampunk creation. (i'm not very sure i can call it steampunk, though) It's just made of some parts that i found lying around the house and some aluminum tape.

Technique for aging the aluminum- I colored it with a normal black sharpie, waited for it to dry, then used fine sandpaper on it. (it worked great, in my opinion.) You can turn almost anything into "metal" with aluminum tape and this technique.

I know it's not that great (partly because of the hot glue residue), but please critique. I'm going to be making many more steampunk things. (I also made a steampunk mechanical pencil, which i think looks pretty good.)

12 comments

Oct 9, 2011. 8:33 PMdvillegas duque says:

It looks awesome! i would love to see how to make it,
PD: if it writes, it should break your fingers :P but still awesome!

Oct 10, 2011. 2:17 AMprosper58 (author) says:

Thanks XD - Yeah, it is a little awkward to hold (which is why i don't use it)

Jan 18, 2011. 6:59 AMabsolutekold says:

all in all it looks pretty good.. would consider touching up the glue with either silver or bronze spray paint.. i.e wrap the whole thing in masking tape using an razor to cut out only the showing glue, sand the glue a little so the paint will stick, and just "dust" the exposed areas. then rough up the edges with sandpaper to blend would make it look like those were soldered on or brazed instead of glued. I find the plastic hubcap/bumper paint sold at auto shops and department stores works the best for this.

Jan 18, 2011. 2:37 PMprosper58 (author) says:

Thanks for the advice- i really do hate hot-glue residue (VERY much). It kind a ruins the whole project :P

Jul 17, 2011. 8:43 AMjustjimAZ says:

For future projects, why not consider silver or copper glue sticks?
http://www.gluesticksdirect.com/servlet/the-121/Copper-Metallic-Colored-Glue/Detail

Jul 17, 2011. 3:30 PMprosper58 (author) says:

Oh, wow. Haha. I didn't even know those existed. If I try making a steampunk project in the future, i'll be sure to buy these first :D

Jul 17, 2011. 8:47 AMjustjimAZ says:

I think this worked out pretty well!
Looking at the piece from the hairclip in the last photo, I'm guessing it's plascit painted to look metallic? A real metal piece would be fairly easy to bend to conform to the curve of the pen. A plastic piece could possibly be warmed up with a heat gun (or a good hair dryer and lots of patience) so it too could be bent to match the pen barrel.

A clever and creative piece here!

Jul 12, 2011. 6:19 AMEkloef says:

A great Instructable for the raw steampunk stuff and a really fun project. I already have some ideas my self!

another easy steampunk-type pen is a simple fountain pen =) But it is harder to write with of course.

I'll probably make one or two mods right away!