Slower drying finish over resin blanks?

[jeporter02]

I love the look of urushi lacquer pens, and the flexibility to inlay materials on the pen, within the finish. I cannot buy urushi lacquer where I live (EU), and I'm highly allergic to poison ivy as it is, so I'm not inclined to experiment with it.

If I wanted to try inlaying objects like metal powders, eggshell, or abalone shell in the finish over an acrylic blank, what finish would you recommend? CA glue and melamine lacquer, the two finishes I use the most, both dry too quickly. Would acrylic lacquer adhere to a resin blank like Alumilite? I would need something that would give me at least 20-30 minutes open time before it got hard, that would adhere well to a resin blank, and could be polished to a high or at least semi gloss. Suggestions?

 

[Curly]

I haven't tried myself so take this suggestion with a grain of salt. There are ultraviolet curing resins that would work for your application. The resin will stay wet until it is put into sunlight or under a UV light (protect your eyes). Then it cures hard and you can do some more.

 

[jeporter02]

I haven't tried myself so take this suggestion with a grain of salt. There are ultraviolet curing resins that would work for your application. The resin will stay wet until it is put into sunlight or under a UV light (protect your eyes). Then it cures hard and you can do some more.

That's a great idea. I hadn't thought of that. Worth at least running an experiment piece on.

 

[Woodchipper]

UV resins are used for tying flies, securing the thread wraps on the head of the fly. One place you might look.

 

[Hippie3180]

I haven't tried myself so take this suggestion with a grain of salt. There are ultraviolet curing resins that would work for your application. The resin will stay wet until it is put into sunlight or under a UV light (protect your eyes). Then it cures hard and you can do some more.

Alumilite has an ultra violet resin.

 

[jeporter02]

Wow. I was previously unaware of the apparent popularity of using UV resins to create "glitter pens," but Google took me down a teenage crafting rabbit hole that was rife with Hello Kitty-style pen remakes that even a rainbow-tailed unicorn might find too sparkly. Still, helpful to know that this can work. I'm curious about durability as UV resins don't generally exhibit heat or scratch resistance. So perhaps I'll do initial coats with a UV resin and then cover with a CA topcoat to improve durability. I think *thin* layers will be key.

 

[duncsuss]

Speaking of rainbow-tailed unicorns ...

I made this one by making a barrel and cap from black ebonite (hard rubber), then used uv-cure resin as both a glue and covering for the coloured chips of egg shell. I built up a single thick layer in small patches which I cured before moving on to glue-and-cover the next patch. Then I turned it and sanded/polished as I normally would treat any other resin pen. It's been a couple of years, so far no sign of scratching - but I expect there's some variation between manufacturers.

 

[jeporter02]

Speaking of rainbow-tailed unicorns ...

I made this one by making a barrel and cap from black ebonite (hard rubber), then used uv-cure resin as both a glue and covering for the coloured chips of egg shell. I built up a single thick layer in small patches which I cured before moving on to glue-and-cover the next patch. Then I turned it and sanded/polished as I normally would treat any other resin pen. It's been a couple of years, so far no sign of scratching - but I expect there's some variation between manufacturers.

View attachment 376912View attachment 376913

I love this pen! And this is exactly the process I was curious about experimenting with myself. Thank you for posting the pics and sharing your process. How did you colour your egg shell? I like that the color isn't totally uniform on the pieces but has some variety in shading.

 

[duncsuss]

I love this pen! And this is exactly the process I was curious about experimenting with myself. Thank you for posting the pics and sharing your process. How did you colour your egg shell? I like that the color isn't totally uniform on the pieces but has some variety in shading.

Thanks! It was something I tried as an alternative to casting, which would have required a pressure pot (that I didn't have at the time) and would be a bit more complex getting the entire surface glued on before there was anything protecting the shells on the underside.

I'm trying to remember the sequence I used - I think I broke it into the small chips then coloured them.

First step was to peel away the interior skin, then break the shell up. I arranged the chips on waxed paper into groups of however many different inks I'd decided to use. (I got pack of 12 "Limino" brand alcohol based inks from Amazon, cheapest I could find.) I used an artist's paintbrush and just splotched it on - the shading is because I didn't make any effort to brush out the ink to a uniform layer. Alcohol ink dries fairly quickly. I used a toothpick to hold down the tiny bits of eggshell and keep them from sticking to the wet brush.

Have fun!