Guessing Game: Time to Reveal Steampunk'd Items and Winners

If you missed my last post, we were having a little guessing game to figure out what everyday items I made some costume bullets out of. Big THANK YOU to everyone who participated. So many answers were so very close. It was difficult choosing the deserving winner. But, we have!

Now to find out what they really are!.....



If you said pen parts, you were correct, but only partially. Some of the many bullets I made were indeed made from different pen parts that I salvaged from assorted dead pens. However, I knew it wouldn't be difficult for some of you to recognize these. This is why I said to "be specific" on the two bullets in the challenge. The trick was that the bullet cylinders of the chosen two weren't actually made with the pen itself.



It was the caps that made up the cylinder portion. To be precise, it was Bic Round Stick Pen Caps. Both of the bullets in the challenge, as well as all the bullets pictured in the top row of the 2nd image of this post, were made with these caps. The second bullet did use the joint that holds the internal writing portion into the barrel from the same pen. As for the tips, I used 6mm Plastic Spaghetti Beads that were given to me. A third of a bead was cut down for the very tip of the second bullet.

Bic pens are truly fabulously well designed and crafty pens. Inexpensive and sufficient to write with, too. I wondered if any of you had noticed my frequent use of them in my projects. I have used them to make my adjustable knitting loom, a polymer clay covered pen, and some Harry Potter inspired writing quills. We use the internal ink parts left over to refill our other pens. So, no part of the pens have gone to waste here. :)

Here's how it was accomplished...



First, we cut the open ends off shorter. Two reasons for this. To remove the skinny clip part and to remove the "Bic" logo around the lower band. The plastic is soft enough to cut through with an exacto knife, or even a sharp pair of scissors. You can use a small flame, like a lighter, to smooth any burrs on the edge after cutting. Also, remove the center from the tip of the cap. You don't need to do a clean job. The little nubs will help the bead to stay in place better.



For the simplest version, we just crammed the spaghetti beads into the top. I used a tiny amount of glue around the rim to secure the bead.



For the longer bullet, I used the tip joint part thingy. It is also stamped with the logo, which can be removed with a little sanding. Just wrap a 150-200 grit paper around the tip and rotate it to wear it down. You'll also need to stretch the hole on top of the cap to get the parts to fit. I forced the opposite end into the hole to stretch it out. Turn it back around, and it should just pops right in.

Then, I tried various paint. The caps already have a texture that will help paint stick without need of sanding. Shooting them with a light coat of spray paint will help acrylic paints stick better. However, the best results, I think, probably came from good old gold/silver "Rub n' Buff". The fancy filigree on some of the bullets is actually just short scraps of lace that were painted.



One last minute clever thing I discovered using all the assorted pen parts, is that you can make the bullets into tiny containers! (The image above is of four of these containers.) How cool, right?! They could hold small pills/capsules, tic tacs, or even secret messages! ;)


Now for winners...

With so many similar answers, we decided we'd pick two winning guesses as well as one random winner. We scored them one point for each part guessed right and one point for being the first to guess a particular part.

Kudos to Creepy Creations, our highest scorer! She not only guessed it was pen caps and beads, but also the brand of pen! Great eyes! Our second place winner is The Cardboard Crafter for being first to mention the bead and for callin' out the pen tip! Congrats to our random winner , Jana_Ellena, chosen by random.org, who also just happened to be the first to guess pen! And, for being a good sport letting us borrow her challenge idea for this, I'm sending Mich in LA a bullet necklace, too. So great of her to come by and guess! Thank you so much!

That should wrap this up. I'll be notifying the winners via email shortly. Please send you snail mail addys ASAP, so I can get these to you. Thanks, again, to everyone for coming over to play!

Next up, I'll be posting about a quick fun project we tried this week. It was a ball!...or three! ;)