Using paint to color PR

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reddwil

reddwil

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Loganville, Georgia, USA.
What type of paint is best to use in PR besides the pigments like castin craft? I've heard some say oil based. I tried a small slab on Saturday using some purple acrylic paint I had laying around from Hobby Lobby. As of today at noon its still like jello. Yes I did add the hardner. Keep in mind I've just started casting and still have ALOT of learning to do.
 
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I don't have an answer for you but ... can you give a little more information ... maybe it will help others to figure it out.

How much paint did you add?
How many drops of catalyst per ounce of resin did you use?
What was the temperature? Did it stay that temperature?
Have you tried warming it in a dedicated toaster oven or heat box? I use a cardboard box and clamp on light.

Good Luck!
 
Lenny
4oz of resin using 7 drops per oz. I would say I used 7-8 drops of paint, enough to make opaque, with 1/8 tbs. of pearl ex. Temp in the shop was about 75. I moved the blanks into the sun at lunch today to see if the heat would help harden. The two other blanks I cast using pigments and pearl ex set up perfectly.

I was thinking the type paint may be causeing the PR to not cure?? Since the paint is the only difference!
 
Jonathan Brooks (Brooks803) Should be able to answer your question. Hopefully he will jump on soon and let you know.

I've only done a few casts and have stuck to the mica powders. I have heard than finger nail polish will work, but that stuff is pricey. Not too sure about anything else.
 
G1Pens said:
Jonathan Brooks (Brooks803) Should be able to answer your question. Hopefully he will jump on soon and let you know.

I've only done a few casts and have stuck to the mica powders. I have heard than finger nail polish will work, but that stuff is pricey. Not too sure about anything else.
Click to expand...


Lol...thanks Gary.

Kent, I've bought and tried just about everything to see if it'll work to color PR. The acrylic paints will eventually set, BUT from what I've done, it's not worth it. The finished result was grainy looking, lemme see if I can find a pick of the pen (this was about 2 years ago btw!) First two pics are two different "paint" blanks. The first one was your typical acrylic paint and the second was testers paint. they both took DAYS to cure. I've recently bought an oil paint set and did get a couple blanks made with it. It took longer than normal to cure, but less than a whole day. I haven't found time to spin it yet to see how it turns but the colors are nice and vibrant. You do have to be careful not to overload the resin or else it will never cure. I've stuck with micas and some dyes for the majority of my castings. Those that I recently did for you were done with the castin craft opaque dyes btw. Hope that helps any, give me a shout if you need to.
 

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Thank Jonathon. The slab I cast did finally set up after several hours in the sun. The couple I poured in the round molds are still like jello even after being in the sun, We'll see what happens. I loaded up on pearl ex today, (40% off coupon for Michaels) so I think I will just stick with that until I get the hang of things.
 
I've never used any paints with my castings (Resifills), so I can't give you a definite answer to your problem BUT, with my experience with "paints" I would think that acrylics being WATER based, would never be a good combination with non-water based products such as the PR (not 100% sure the Alumilite compositions tough...!).

If I would to try missing any type of paints with resin (PR) would only be the OIL based paints, even then I would be skeptical to the final results when it comes to drying/curing times, and even on the mixing capabilities of these paint products.

I have used past, liquid and powders all specially made for casting purposes and I tend to believe the powders are a better option...!
When it comes to costs, I don't thing that using any kind of paint is any more economic than the proper casting pigments (liquid or solid), in fact Pearlex pigments are very concentrated, it reaches saturation point very easily, there is, you can use the appropriate amount to reach that colour capabilities, with a small amount, you can tip the hole container in the resin and the colour doesn't change that much...!

One of the great things about resin castings is the "experimentation" side of it, the worse that can happen is, you make a hell of a mess and the mix never makes it into a pen, it will cost you a few dollars but is not the end of the world...!:wink::biggrin:

Good luck

Cheers
George
 
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