New results from painting acrylic blanks

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mmayo

mmayo

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I always paint the sanded brass tubes and use a complimentary Testors color inside the blank. My other jobs prevented me from epoxy gluing the tubes for a couple of days after painting. This is not typical as I usually glue up the blanks the NEXT DAY. When I do that I get colored epoxy squeeze out when inserting the tubes in the blank. The glue dissolves some of the paint. I deal with that as always. It does require separate batches of epoxy when gluing up different colored blanks. This time after waiting at least two days - there was no color in the epoxy that squeezed out. It must take a couple of days to fully cure the Testors paint. I was very happy with this new method. If you have the time on your next acrylic pen - try it.
 

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I haven't used Testors for my paint. That is an enamel, correct? I've been using acrylic paint myself so far.

Do you find it produces a better color for the inside of the holes when you use the complimentary color approach like that?
 
jrista said:
I haven't used Testors for my paint. That is an enamel, correct? I've been using acrylic paint myself so far.

Do you find it produces a better color for the inside of the holes when you use the complimentary color approach like that?
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I am curious about this as well.

I typically, use acrylic craft paint inside the drilled blank and color the tubes with colored Sharpie brush pens. If I am really worried about it because of the translucency of the blank, I mix a bit of the acrylic craft paint into the epoxy.
 
d_bondi said:
I am curious about this as well.

I typically, use acrylic craft paint inside the drilled blank and color the tubes with colored Sharpie brush pens. If I am really worried about it because of the translucency of the blank, I mix a bit of the acrylic craft paint into the epoxy.
Click to expand...
I was going to suggest when mixing the epoxy just throw in some tint to color the epoxy.
bought some Mica Powder 5 years ago and still have quite a bit left. I use it to dye/tint my epoxy when I fix cracks in bowls. Just a little bit will do it.
 
jrista said:
I haven't used Testors for my paint. That is an enamel, correct? I've been using acrylic paint myself so far.

Do you find it produces a better color for the inside of the holes when you use the complimentary color approach like that?
Click to expand...
It always looks good and sells. Trying different colors inside can be better or worse by luck. I use white spray paint on the tubes almost every time. I like a paint lighter than the blank usually of the same color. With purple acrylic I use lavender paint.l etc.

I tried acrylic and left it.
 
Mortalis said:
I was going to suggest when mixing the epoxy just throw in some tint to color the epoxy.
bought some Mica Powder 5 years ago and still have quite a bit left. I use it to dye/tint my epoxy when I fix cracks in bowls. Just a little bit will do it.
Click to expand...
The mixed epoxy can be disastrous sometimes. I think my older method which I glued up after 24 hours was 95% perfect. I think, unless I'm in a hurry, I'll wait 2 days from now on.
 
so here's a procedural question then.

I have used acrylic paints for the holes in the blanks and find that I'm not always in love with the results because the paint doesn't cover evenly. I would have to think my method of application is the issue? I'm using a QTip.

What do you guys use to apply the paint inside the tube?
 
bugradx2 said:
so here's a procedural question then.

I have used acrylic paints for the holes in the blanks and find that I'm not always in love with the results because the paint doesn't cover evenly. I would have to think my method of application is the issue? I'm using a QTip.

What do you guys use to apply the paint inside the tube?
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I use Testors paint applied with a clean a tip
 
I use spray paint as close to the blank color as possible … in the drilled hole and on the brass tube. I like double coverage because I've scratched paint off the hole walls while inserting the tubes. This way I'm still covered. I was using just white but found the thinner areas on a pen can turn lighter colors than the rest of the blank like around the tip and finial areas of some sets.
 
mmayo said:
I use Testors paint applied with a clean a tip
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Thanks Mark - is "clean a tip" a typo or a brand name I'm unaware of? I tried putting it into a search engine a couple times. Entirely possible my search could have been wrong
 
JohnU said:
I use spray paint as close to the blank color as possible … in the drilled hole and on the brass tube. I like double coverage because I've scratched paint off the hole walls while inserting the tubes. This way I'm still covered. I was using just white but found the thinner areas on a pen can turn lighter colors than the rest of the blank like around the tip and finial areas of some sets.
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Thanks very much John
 
JohnU said:
I use spray paint as close to the blank color as possible … in the drilled hole and on the brass tube. I like double coverage because I've scratched paint off the hole walls while inserting the tubes. This way I'm still covered. I was using just white but found the thinner areas on a pen can turn lighter colors than the rest of the blank like around the tip and finial areas of some sets.
Click to expand...
That has plagued me with Jr type pens because of the different thicknesses of the blank left on the barrel and cap.

My blanks sit for various times when I paint them as I often leave them sitting a few days between stages of prep (only cut blanks / cut and drilled / paint if needed / glued / squared and ready to turn) There's almost always a bin of pens in each stage. I'm still having really good results with the Gorilla clear instead of epoxy, and it's a lot easier. I would think it would still be good to give them the extra day for the paint to cure no matter what glue you use, though. I've seen the results of your methods and will just say keep doing what you are doing, because it is working very well.
 
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