PR Color Questionnaire

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scrollsawwoodart

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So I have been reading and searching to past posts about adding color to your PR. I wanted to Know some of your thoughts on the the ones I list and if I am missing any that you feel are worthy of looking at. I thought maybe this could help some of the newbies out there such as myself.

Pearl Ex- I have some of these and the few castings I have done just doing some experimenting it is a great mix with PR. Seems like cure time is pretty consistent between colors. Great effect when 2 or more colors are mixed.

Castin Craft- I have some but have used it not as much as Pearl Ex. I did mix up some white that was a pain for me because it just took forever to cure.

Rit-Dye - Will this work? never tried it?

Mixol- read about them have never tried them. I read some posts about it and saw I think grub32 talked about it.

Costal Scents- Again mentioned in numerous post. I have never tried, any thoughts?

Any others that I'm missing?

Jesse
 
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Only one of these I have used is the Pearl-Ex powders. The only thing I have to say about them is they work great but you have to use a lot of it to get a good affect...IMHO
 
I too have only used Peal-Ex, however the Mica Powders from Coastal Scents are very very good according to many of the users on this group. (I just haven't ordered any yet)
 
witz1976 said:
I too have only used Peal-Ex, however the Mica Powders from Coastal Scents are very very good according to many of the users on this group. (I just haven't ordered any yet)
Click to expand...

If you get the Coastal Scents powders read the MSDS or the ingredient list. A few of the colors have additives and anticaking agents that have a shelf-life of a few years and could cause problems with your castings.
 
I use mainly mica powders from coastal scents. Pearlex is also very nice to work with. Another thing I've tried in PR is the alumilite dye, with this the smallest amount is almost too much. I think mixol will give the same effect as the alumilite dyes. I'll add a touch of mica to the dyes to keep that pearl effect but with a more translucent effect. I've also tried testers enamel paints, they look great but setting time wasn't consistent (this was with castin craft PR though) I think I've read somewhere about using oil based paints, that might have been with alumilite though.
 
I only use high quality pigments... no fillers or additives for bulking, anti-caking or any other reasons, just colored pigments.
A lot of mine come from Italy and are used by many of the well known artists. I get them through a friend of mine who is an artist.
 
I've been using the coastal scents micas and glitters for 3 years now and have never had a problem . They work great with both Silmar 41 and Alumilite . One or two colors slowed down the cure rate (I might have overloaded the resin) but just took a little longer to harden , no big deal .
 
I watched a video by grub32 where he used HF powder coat as pigments. At $5 per pound this seems extremely economical, as the other stuff I've seen is more like $5 per ounce.

Does this stuff work well? You guys dont seem to use it, why not?
 
I bought some powder paint that GRUB32 used from HF but haven't used it yet.I haven't got up all the materials to cast yet.Plus I'm trying to learn alot more before I get into this.
Donny
 
The problem I had with powder coat pigment was it clumps like crazy and it took so much stirring that I ended up with lots of little bubbles , even after it sat for over an hour , and I still had clumps in the mix . It also is just plain color , no life to it . One ounce of the coastal scents mica makes allot of blanks and mixes like a dream , you only need just a little per blank (2 little lumps on the end of a ice cream stick) and it gives great pearlescent swirls
 
soligen said:
I watched a video by grub32 where he used HF powder coat as pigments. At $5 per pound this seems extremely economical, as the other stuff I've seen is more like $5 per ounce.

Does this stuff work well? You guys dont seem to use it, why not?
Click to expand...

I second what Butch said. HF powder paints are cheap but you get what you pay for...

They clump LIKE MAD!! I wouldn't use them again. That is what I started with...
 
Jesse-

I've done some with Perl-ex, Coastal Scents micas, and Alumilite dyes, and a lot with the artStuff colors. All have worked well.

As someone noted, the Alumilite dyes are really concentrated. There's a posting somewhere from Curtis explaining which bottles to put them in and to cut them to ~50% with mineral spirits.

Check out my color library. Which is due to get a pile of
new recipes added.
 
I am new to this also but recently tried the HF pigments. I mixed it with a small amount of acetone first to remove the clumps then added to the PR. Not sure that is the right way to do things but the blanks seem to be OK.
 
I'm assuming the mica powders have the pearlescence built in. I have some powder labeled "mother of pearl" that I got from hobby lobby. The pigment is plain, so I added this stuff and got a 2 tone swirl and a bit of glitteriness.

I also picked up some mixol from woodcraft to try out. I figure I need to add the powder to that as well.

Does adding the mother of pearl powder do basically the same thing as mica pigments? (swirling effect).

lol I need to decide if I want to turn a pen tonight or try another cast. only time for one or the other.
 
The problem with adding the MOP to dye is that the dye will tend to over power the MOP that you add unless you add allot . That creates another problem , it's called "over loading" . Silmar 41 can only handle about 7% pigment load , more then that starts to create curing problems and also tends to make the blanks more brittle . If you use less dye your blanks will be less opaque and you will have to paint the holes to cover up the tubes and then the paint can change to overall color .
If you use the mica or pearlx powders they are colored and create the color of the blank with no dyes needed . With Mica and Pearlx powder only need to use a small amount to get an opaque color . I use a very scientific measuring system to add my powders , I take a regular mixing (ice cream) stick and get a small lump on the end about the size of your little fingernail . I use one of these per ounce of resin and get great results .
With the mica powders you get great pearlescent swirls that you can't get with dyes unless you add Pearlx or some other kind of pearl powders .
Most of the coastal scents mica and glitter powders are $3 to $5 per ounce which makes allot of blanks and turns out to be cheaper then the dye , MOP powder combination .

This pen was made with Bronze pearl mica from coastal scents



And this one is Black pearl mica

 
Nice pens Butch. I see what you mean. I had assumed that blanks like that were achieved by swirling 2 different colors of resin. The MOP I used makes swirls, but not with anywhere near that much contrast.
 
This is what I got with fiberglass resin, Blue pigment and MOP. Picture sucks - it was raining out so not enough light.

The PR blanks are similar, but a brighter blue overall because the resin was clear.


Edit: The left side was buffed to white diamond and the right to blue rouge. Not sure the difference in the pic is due to the pic or the buffing. I'm surprized it is noticable in a photo.
 

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Don't try to use your pearlants as opacifiers(to make it opaque). Use your pigment. The more pearlant you use the less optical interfacing you have, or simply you don't see the swirls so much. There is a trade-off between how much pigment to use and how much pearlant to use. Start with a small measure and work up. The plastics industry put out a paper years ago stating that 1% of Pearlant additive was optimal for effect (wish I could remember where I stored it). You may like more, but at some point the pigment will have a load that will interfere with the optical effect, and you are just wasting your pearlant.
 
I have only used Mica powders and I have to say that I love them. I have ordered a few Mixol colors just because the Micas don't really give me a solid, opaque color, but for sheer versatility and beauty I really love the way Mica powders mix with each other. Here are a couple of pens with only Mica powder to color.

DSCN1533.jpg


PurpleMaj.jpg


BlueNov.jpg


You can also check out a bunch of blanks here: http://www.penturners.org/forum/showthread.php?t=64594
 
Here's some samples of other types of pigments/dyes:
This one is testers enamel paint:

And this one is Black alumilite dye with a pinch of pearlex and electric blue mica:

And just cause everyone else is doing it....mica only:
 
WOW

This is turning into a great thread on everyone's experience! I really would like to thank all of you that have responded so far.

I have a question about the mica powders. These are the ones you can buy from costal scents correct?

Also Butch, are you getting that swirl effect with just one color mica? The pens look great by the way.

How do the mica mix together? Lets say you want a 2 color pen?

Thanks again and also thanks for posting the pictures that really helps those such as my self that need the visual representations:biggrin:

Jesse
 
Jesse,

The swirl effect is different depending on what Mica you are using, but they generally all have a pearlescence that gives them both a translucence and swirl effect. To make a two or more color blank, I mix the colors separately, and pour them, one after the other, then swirl them together with a small craft stick. I have a few different techniques for this depending upon what mold I am using. Most of my mixes are blind because I like to use PVC tubes for my molds. In this case I pour a little of one color, then the next color, then swirl a little with the stick. Then I repeat until the tube is full. Most of my blanks now are multi-colored. All the pens in the pics I posted are multi-colored as well.
 
On mica and pearlex, can you effectively mix the powders in the resin for a custom color? (for example blue and yellow to get green).

I agree this is a great thread. Very cool to see wonderful examples of what the products do.
 
soligen said:
On mica and pearlex, can you effectively mix the powders in the resin for a custom color? (for example blue and yellow to get green).

I agree this is a great thread. Very cool to see wonderful examples of what the products do.
Click to expand...


I don't know about the mixing of mica's to achieve a new color. Never tried it because there are over 100 mica powders and most colors are represented. If you want green, there are several shades.
 
soligen said:
On mica and pearlex, can you effectively mix the powders in the resin for a custom color? (for example blue and yellow to get green).

I agree this is a great thread. Very cool to see wonderful examples of what the products do.
Click to expand...

Craftdiggity said:
I don't know about the mixing of mica's to achieve a new color. Never tried it because there are over 100 mica powders and most colors are represented. If you want green, there are several shades.
Click to expand...


You can mix them together to make custom colors. For instance, coastalscents doesn't have a true orange so I have to make one. I get alot of orders for team colors and sometimes you have to tweak it a bit to achieve what you're wanting. For doing multiple color swirls I do the same as Chris. Make each color separate and wait for them to gel (think maple syrup). Once they are at that point I pour them into my mold and swirl with dental picks. A trick to not introduce air while swirling is to not break the surface while you do it. Here's some good multi color blanks with good separation:


 
It just goes to show you how different areas of the same state can differ so you can imagine how different states can be . Around here I can't give multi color pens away so I tend to make allot of single color blanks , the Black Pearl , Bronze Pearl and Red Pearl being the colors requested most . The Black Pearl out sells all the others by allot , people around here seem to like the subtle elegance of it .
The Micas are actually an extremely fine flake of Mica (a mineral) that reflects the light differently when seen from different angles much the same way Mother of Pearl does , hence the name Pearl . The Mica chips are dyed different colors with a special permanent dye , and then are ground to an extremely fine powder . They are primarily used in the cosmetics industry but are also used in soaps and candles other things that require that pearlescent look .
I prefer to use straight colored mica powders rather then dyes and pearl pigment because you get a very even color where the dye / pearl mixture can give some effects that I don't like , like what I call ghosting , that's where you have a translucent color and where the pearl pigments get close to the surface you can see a whitish shadow because the dye layer is so thin above it that it don't tint the pearl powder .
When I do make a multi color blank I wait until the colors are just starting to thicken (kick off) so that I get an even mix of color rather then one color on one side and the second color on the other with just some swirls between them . This requires that you time your pours or you get too much mixing of the colors . When I do this the resin starts to kick off at about 8 minutes and I have about a minute to get them poured before the resin gels , different colors kick off at different times so I mix the colors that will kick off first and time my mixes so that they all kick off at the same time . Then I pour the two colors (or more with a helper doing the third and fourth colors) at the same time swirling the streams as I pour so I get good color separation without too much settling or mixing .
Because the mica is a fixed color powder you really can't mix them to get other primary colors , or at least I've never had what I would consider acceptable results (but I'm a bit of a perfectionist) and if you mix them too much you will get a brown or grey color but you can use a touch of white to lighten darker colors and black to darken lighter colors but the effect is minimal and since there are so many colors I have never found the need .

This is an example of one of the only two color mixes that sells for me . I call it Creamsicle .

 
This is great stuff. Much appreciated. I'm going to try a multi color pour this week end. Just need to decide on colors. I have Blue, red, and yellow pigments which I bought figuring I can then mix for other colors (I didnt think about white & black when I was at the store:frown: ) and the MOP. I'll need to use these up, then I'll switch to Mica as I love what you guys are doing.
 
soligen said:
Is there any real difference between Pearlex and the coastal scents mica powders, or just different suppliers of basically the same thing?
Click to expand...

They're basically the same thing, but may have different additives. Whether
this makes a difference in your casting or not, only you can decide.
If you mix dyes and pearls, I'd suggest the Ultra Pearl from CoastalScents.
Although it is very fine (and therefore a pain to mix!) it has given me the
best pearl look (so far) and a pound will last forever. I've found that mixing
the pearl with a tiny amount of resin in a separate container helps. Or you
can mix it with styrene thinner.. that mixes well and is compatible with the
resin. After mixing, add it to your resin and dyes.

(also has the added benefit of showing you for certain if you are
using the correct plastic mixing cups or not :tongue:)
 
The only difference I know of is that the Pearl-x comes in a smaller jar for about the same price as the Coastal scents . Pearl-x comes in a .75 oz jar and Coastal Scents in a 1 oz jar . They also name the pigments differently but both have about the same colors , Coastal scents does have more colors though and they also have some glitters . There are some fillers added to the Coastal scents micas but they have never given me any problems . They are both micas , not true pearls . Micas are very finely ground flat square or hex shaped flakes , true pearls are micro sized balls of pearlized pigment that give a very smooth pearl effect and sometimes are colored differently on two sides and give a color shifting effect that is amazing as is seen on some car paint jobs . These are extremely expensive though and only come in larger sized packages .
 
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Jackpot!!!

Well I scored when the wife gave me here red silicon muffin cups but, today I hit the jackpot.

The wife wanted to go to a few garage sales this morning before I headed in to work and I found a great great deal.

Picked up 18 brand new jars or Pearl Ex for 5 bucks. No duplicates needless to say I grabbed them as soon as I went into the garage!

After reading through the posts it looks like I will have enough color for a while.

Hate to brag but, damn I was lucky. Looks like I will be cooking dinner for the next year for her!:biggrin:

Jesse
 
I use Castin' Craft dyes. You can get it at Hobby Lobby or you can purchase it from the link below. You will find the dyes at Hobby Lobby where the PR is located. The dyes comes in Transparent and Opaque. I have placed a picture of the dye below so you will know what to look for. You can also get Pearl Ex at Hobby Lobby. I also added a link for a coupon to get 40% off at Hobby Lobby on one single item at checkout.

http://www.hobbylobby.com/weekly/coupon.cfm

http://creative-wholesale.com/casting resin.html

46302%20%20Red%20Pigment%20Reduced.jpg
 
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