Mica not Disolving in PR

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J

Justturnin

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So I have made a few casts and am having trouble getting some of my Mica powders to disolve (white and yellow so far). I got them from artstufdotcom. I found one article in the library that said to use DPM but I can't find it anywhere by itself, only in floor stripper and such. Is there another way to disolve the powders before adding them to the PR?

Thanks in advance
 
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I can think of three things that could be causing your problem.

1. Inadequate stirring. Try more stirring.
2. Resin is too cold and thick to readily accept the Mica, try thinning the resin by sitting the container in hot tap water for 5 minutes.
3. Old resin or contaminated mica.
 
take a little bit of the resin and put it in a separate container. Maybe
an ounce of resin. Pop it in the microwave for 10 seconds. It should
now be watery, and you should be able to mix the mica in pretty well.
Then add that to your other resin.
I picked up some 3 ounce plastic cups at one of those overstock places,
got a sleeve of them for $.50 . Perfect size for pouring Mini's or for
mixing a tiny bit of color separately. Don't overdo the microwave, though.
It shouldn't get hot, just lukewarm.
 
NewLondon88 said:
.
I picked up some 3 ounce plastic cups at one of those overstock places,
got a sleeve of them for $.50 .
Click to expand...


What typre of plastic cups. My first cast melted the cups while I was waiting for them to thicken. What a mess. I now have some paper cups that seem to do well but not sure how thay will hold up to microwave or hot water.
 
Chris Burgess said:
What typre of plastic cups. My first cast melted the cups while I was waiting for them to thicken. What a mess. I now have some paper cups that seem to do well but not sure how thay will hold up to microwave or hot water.
Click to expand...

If the paper cups don't have a wax coating, they should be OK for the
microwave for 10- seconds. But I wouldn't push it.. you never know what
they use for a glue.
As for the cups.. I can never remember which recycle numbers to use. And
some of them don't even have numbers on them. So I throw a drop into
a cup and let it sit. If it softens the cup, I don't use them. You can often
tell if the cup is going to be a problem long before anything goes wrong.
As you stir, you can feel the stick start to drag against the surface of
the plastic. That tells you it is softening. That means stir faster! :tongue:
 
So basically, the mica is clumping. It won't ever really dissolve.

Thoughts:
1) The paste idea already posted is good.
2) Your mica may be damp. Get some dessicant in it or otherwise ensure it's DRY.
3) If you have an ultrasonic cleaner, put the mica into the resin, then put the cup into the ultrasonic for about 5 minutes, then add the catalyst. This does a great job of breaking up clumps of pigments. When I'm doing blacks, it'll take resin that looks black in the cup but which coats a popsicle stick with what appears to have clumps in it to a smooth jet black even in the thin coating over a popsicle stick.
 
There is a You Tube video where someone takes a Popsicle stick and chucks it in a hand drill to stir in their powders. I have to admit it makes it very easy.
 
I tried that, and it did introduce more air than I was comfortable with, but if the
resin is thin enough (warm enough) it should be OK.
I did stop using popsicle sticks though .. too wide and they catch lots of air. Now I
use the wooden coffee stirrers. Same idea, but it lets me 'squish' the mica up against
the side of the cup much better. The wider the stick, the less you can squish.
 
NewLondon88 said:
I tried that, and it did introduce more air than I was comfortable with, but if the
resin is thin enough (warm enough) it should be OK.
I did stop using popsicle sticks though .. too wide and they catch lots of air. Now I
use the wooden coffee stirrers. Same idea, but it lets me 'squish' the mica up against
the side of the cup much better. The wider the stick, the less you can squish.
Click to expand...

I havbe ceen slicing my wide sticks in half to thin them out.
 
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