Thread: Resin Coloring

Originally Posted by texx

now we are getting some info
not much point every body making the same mistakes , if we can learn what has and or has not worked for other's it can save a heck of a lot of pain and dollar's .
so the colours from barnes are a paste not a powder.see i thought they were all in powder form
what does FGI and PSTF stand for ??

Pearlex is powder, Polyester resins are like very thick paint. I stick a paddlepop stick in the pigment, and the blob that sticks on the end of the stick I then stir into the resin.

FGI is Fibre Glass Industries, the people in Wacol, Brisbane that I've got my last can of resin from.

PSTF (Poly Supra Tran-Fast) Transparent dyes are a liquid dye than, as the name says, is still transparent when mixed with resin, so instead of clear see-through, you may en dup with pink see-through, or blue see-through, etc.

Russell.

Originally Posted by MBUMIK

CSUSA sell tubes for some pen kits in Black and also Nickle

i plan to get some for each style of pen i get off them next time i place an order, damn that next order is going to be a big one, the wish list is massive already

MIK

Be careful with that. My experience (which may not be the same as everyones) is that tube colour is not the only factor. I have found, even on painted tubes, that "something" can be seen through the resin. After quite a bit of trial & error (more error than trial really), it seems the epoxy glue is forming a layer between the tube and the blank (as it should) and that layer if reflecting/refracting the light differently to the resin, thereby creating a shiny atrifact in the layer, just like airbubbles underwater looking silver.

The solution I've found which works 100% of the time for me so far, is to paint the inside through the drilled hole instead. It's a PITA, since I now also need to wait for the paint to dry before continuing with the pen, but better than turning the blank, only to have to throw it away.

Russell.

Originally Posted by Mr Brush

Saw an interesting idea in a recent woodworking magazine.....forget which one.

They suggested using the Feast Watson Prooftint in epoxy - just add it to the mixed epoxy until you get the shade you are after. Bonus is that you only need to buy the tiny bottles of Prooftint, which are nice and cheap.

Tried it once (teak), and seems to work very well.

i have a few of these tints that i use for dying my wooden arrows it does work well for wood, this would turn out as a transparent resin

any ideas on anything else to add that would reduce the transparency??

like adding corn flour to curried bangers, thickens it up (dam now i'm hungry for curried bangers)

interesting concept, i think this is a question for all you chemical gurus

beats me i just come up with stupid question

MIK

I actually mixed opaque whit epigment with pink PSTF dye to get opaque pink, to make my "Think Pink!" pens.

Russell.

Originally Posted by Big Shed

I have found the poly resin pre-dispersed pigments from Barnes to be very good, again not cheap at $8.80 per 100gr. But 100 gr should colour about 1-2kgs of polyresin which in turn would give you between 20 and 35 blanks, so not really that expensive.

Well I haven't actually measured, but I reckon I'd be getting 200 - 500 blanks from one $8.80 pigment container. There might be 1/2ml on the stick that I mix in to make 4 blanks, and there must be at least what, 100mls in the container? That'd be 800 blanks!

Russell.

interesting, will have to get some of this pigment paste

i read a pdf on resin casting and it had some pearl drops in it, it is a liquid pearl, the guy mixed it in after the resin was at the gel stage, i should say swirled it in, very effective, but i haven't been able to find the pearl drops has anyone else found these anywhere???

MIK

Originally Posted by MBUMIK

interesting, will have to get some of this pigment paste

i read a pdf on resin casting and it had some pearl drops in it, it is a liquid pearl, the guy mixed it in after the resin was at the gel stage, i should say swirled it in, very effective, but i haven't been able to find the pearl drops has anyone else found these anywhere???

MIK

Well, I may still be doing something wrong, but when the stuff I use gels, it gels solid (solid enough to not flow again) in seconds. Swirling in anything after it starts to get results in air pockets, which are your absolute worst nightmare in a cast.

Russell.

Originally Posted by BoomerangInfo

Well, I may still be doing something wrong, but when the stuff I use gels, it gels solid (solid enough to not flow again) in seconds. Swirling in anything after it starts to get results in air pockets, which are your absolute worst nightmare in a cast.

Not only that .. but the pearl that gets swirled in isn't resin. (unless I read it wrong)

That might look great, but it is a barrier in the middle of your resin blank, and if that
blank is going to crack anywhere, that's where it will happen. Might even fall apart
coming out of the mold. From what I just read, there's nothing about the 'pearl drops'
that would gel or harden. It would just be a line of liquid in the middle of the blank.
(Can you point to this PDF so I can see if I'm sticking my foot in my mouth?)

However .. if the 'pearl drops' are really catalyzed resin with pearl already mixed in,
then this would work. Perhaps the smaller amount of resin makes it 'gel' later than
the rest of your mix? That could account for it not being set yet.


As Russell said, once it sets, it can set HARD and FAST. I have a piece in my shop
that is a solid, smooth 5x6" block of purple pearl with tangerine swirls in it, and on top
of that is a large mountainous lump of purple/tangerine bumps. When I started to pour
16 ounces out of the mixing cups, it was coming out nicely. Before I could pour all 16
ounces of it, it hardened into said mountainous lump and plopped into the mold.
And how long does it take to pour 16 ounces? 5 seconds? 6 seconds?

so far all of my cast i pour both colors at once so that they mingle as they pour but i am planing to try the wait game in the future

here is the link to the PDF that i mentioned
http://content.penturners.org/articl...ster_resin.pdf

the pearl drops he uses gives some pretty good high lights

MIK

ok . now I understand.
I don't think the resin is 'gelled' before he's putting the pearl in, but it is probably starting
to get a little thicker and warm. And from what I had read, it sounded like someone was
just swirling it through the resin. But actually, he's stirring it in.. getting it well mixed.
The 'swirl' part happens after mixing. You just kinda stir in a pattern once it starts to set.

If you check Coastal Scents (i think it's coastalscents.com) they have pearl mica
powders that are not very expensive..These will accomplish the same thing, but will do it
in one step. Rather than mix the colored powder and then add pearl (liquid or powder)
you add the colored pearl powder. Either way, you're still going to mix it thoroughly and
then make your swirl pattern just as it is getting set.

thanks mate

i have been looking at some of their paint powders as well, they have some pretty good looking colors

i read alot of things on the net, the biggest problem is because we are in different countries there are different names for some things and Australia is pretty small in the big scheme of things so not everything is available here, so i try and make it up as i go along

MIK

Originally Posted by MBUMIK

Australia is pretty small in the big scheme of things so not everything is available here,

Send me an address, maybe I can put together a little care package

There is a company in Perth that is looking at getting in Alumilite. They tell me that it can set in 90 sec if this is so it will make it easy to mix colours. The only draw back is the cost of about $10 to $15 more the resin. When I get back home I will se how they are going with it and let you know.
David

Originally Posted by dj_pnevans

There is a company in Perth that is looking at getting in Alumilite. They tell me that it can set in 90 sec if this is so it will make it easy to mix colours. The only draw back is the cost of about $10 to $15 more the resin. When I get back home I will se how they are going with it and let you know.
David

That'd be interesting to see. Price may be a killer by the time it gets to Qld for me, but it may make things difficult with PE resin a lot easier.

Russell.