Dyes vs. Powders

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Turned Around

Turned Around

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Joined
Jul 28, 2011
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838
Location
Houston, TX
I've looked on a bunch of sites I found from doing some searches on here for starter set ideas, couldn't really find anything. I'm used to clear casting, so colors are new to me. My question is, what's the best "starter set" to get for my learning curve? Not sure on liquid or powder, what pearl is needed, or quantity needed for starting off.
 
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You left out everything...PR or alumilite, pressure no pressure, blanks or slabs or other, in-bedded items or no. What exactly is it you want to do?
 
For the time being, I was just going to mess around with colors and see if I can't make a decent blank casting. I use PR right now, but would like to try Alumilite. That stuff just turns so much better for me. I would try some worthless wood revivals, too.
 
that seems more like what I'm looking for. I saw one of the library articles explaining that it's about 1/4 teaspoon for every ounce of resin. is that typical for a place to start and does that apply to both liquids and powders?
 
You can buy powder coating powder from Harbor Frieght cheaply. Limited color selection but a good source for red, yellow, white and black. Wish they had blue.
 
Powder coating works well for flat colors. Mica powder from Coastal Scents is a great alternative to pearl ex because of the cost. A very small amount of powder...1/4" on a popsicle stick is fine. You will Be painting the tubes so a huge amount of powder isn't needed.
 
I just ordered a sampler pack from amazon of Pearl Ex. Seemed like a decent deal, but not a whole lot of powder for each color. Would all of that still be sufficiant enough for my trial and error phase of casting colors?
 
Sure why not?

I've used the Perl Ex colors and they are fantastic, when I want a pearl finish. I've also used the pigments from TAP plastics, the HF powdercoat, Cast N Craft dyes and Dyes from Wood and Whimsies. They all have different properties. The only way to know for sure what you want is to try some. As far as I know, most pigments will work, HOWEVER they can be tedious to combine with the resin. The HF Powder coat has to be mixed a very long time to get the powder to disperse in the resin. I have never tried it but I understand Acrylic paints also work, but can be very hard to mix thoroughly.
 
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