Results 1 to 4 of 4
  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jun 2003
    Location
    Brisbane, Qld
    Posts
    939

    Default Bright silver pigment?

    Hi folks,

    Anyone got any tips on a good pigment (or technique!) to produce a bright, shiny silver in cast blanks?

    I am pretty happy with my ability to produce other colours, between some newly-acquired langridge dry pigments from barnes (their gold in particular is looking good so far!) and perlex, but a silver which isn't just a slightly shiny grey eludes me!

    Cheers,

    Danny

  2. # ADS
    Google Adsense Advertisement
    Join Date
    Always
    Location
    Advertising world
    Posts
    Many





     
  3. #2
    Join Date
    Nov 2006
    Location
    Bendigo Victoria
    Age
    80
    Posts
    16,560

    Default

    Very difficult to produce a real shiny silver effect in a casting.

    In surface coatings there are 2 different silver finishes, one is the silver effect you find on cars, the other is the bright chrome look you can buy in spray cans. The first one uses a silver pigment called non-leafing, the second uses a silver pigment called leafing.
    The non-leafing metallic pigment particles are randomly distributed throughout the surface coating. The leaving metallic pigment particles float, as the name suggest, to the surface and overlap each other giving the shiny chrome effect.

    When these leafing pigments are incorporated in to a resin casting they may or may not float to the surace, but in any case by the time you turn the blank you have lost that shiny chrome effect and finish up with a non-leafing type of look. This why when you see injection moulded plastic parts that have a shiny chrome look they have been electro plated with a special process.

    You could experiment with getting one of the shiny chrome aerosols and spray the tube, then cast in clear resin and see what that looks like, although you will look some that real shiny effect due to refraction within the clear resin.

  4. #3
    Join Date
    Jun 2003
    Location
    Brisbane, Qld
    Posts
    939

    Default

    Thanks Fred - that makes sense... But is a bit of a shame! I do actually have some bright nickel tubes around, so I guess I might have to try casting tube-in blanks with half clear resin and half coloured, see what it comes out like.

  5. #4
    Join Date
    Apr 2005
    Location
    Nerang Queensland
    Age
    66
    Posts
    10,766

    Default

    Barnes have a bright silver (and gold) powder that works well Silver Brilliant Powder but there is a trick to using it. If you add it to resin like Pearlex you will get swirls of the colour not pure solid colour. So the trick is paint on some resin and then sprinkle the powder over it. The powder then basically forms a metallic surface coating effectively floating on the surface. Once that resin is set, pour more resin over the top then turn/finish as usual.
    Neil
    ____________________________________________
    Every day presents an opportunity to learn something new

Similar Threads

  1. Colouring with pigment
    By Gabriel in forum CASTING & STABILISATION
    Replies: 2
    Last Post: 2nd December 2015, 09:17 PM
  2. wanted : used pigment box for colour matching
    By JDarvall in forum RESTORATION
    Replies: 14
    Last Post: 5th June 2012, 09:11 PM
  3. Polyester Pigment source
    By BoomerangInfo in forum CASTING & STABILISATION
    Replies: 11
    Last Post: 22nd December 2011, 10:10 AM
  4. dry pigment sources
    By echnidna in forum FINISHING
    Replies: 6
    Last Post: 5th September 2003, 09:35 PM
  5. Need help removing glue pigment from hands
    By barrysumpter in forum GLUE
    Replies: 8
    Last Post: 16th April 2002, 04:08 PM

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •