I am relatively new at casting and use mica powders mostly for my colorations. I have had decent enough results but still have not figured out what causes the sparkle patterns.
For example in the picture below I had pretty good luck. I used a blue, green, purple (which hardly came out at all), and a bit of white food coloring to add a flat white.
I poured each container seperatly with minimal mixing. Sometimes Ill "dirty pour" them all together maybe with a bit of silicone for "cell creation" or something, and dump em out.
My blue came out really nice, with a good pattern of light and dark with lots of sparkles. My green in the picture was fairly flat green though. On the other side of the pen I got the nice light/dark mixture with good sparkle.
SO the question is: What factors determine the amount of sparkle you will get from a pen blank?
Assume only ONE color is used. You might wind up with a flat colored one with practically no sparkle, OR maybe get one with a lot of nice gradiants and such.
But what controls this? DO you need less powder to ensure it is not too dense and blocks too much light? Or maybe not mix it up too much in the epoxy/resin so that the powder densities are different?
I'd appreciate any tips.
For example in the picture below I had pretty good luck. I used a blue, green, purple (which hardly came out at all), and a bit of white food coloring to add a flat white.
I poured each container seperatly with minimal mixing. Sometimes Ill "dirty pour" them all together maybe with a bit of silicone for "cell creation" or something, and dump em out.
My blue came out really nice, with a good pattern of light and dark with lots of sparkles. My green in the picture was fairly flat green though. On the other side of the pen I got the nice light/dark mixture with good sparkle.
SO the question is: What factors determine the amount of sparkle you will get from a pen blank?
Assume only ONE color is used. You might wind up with a flat colored one with practically no sparkle, OR maybe get one with a lot of nice gradiants and such.
But what controls this? DO you need less powder to ensure it is not too dense and blocks too much light? Or maybe not mix it up too much in the epoxy/resin so that the powder densities are different?
I'd appreciate any tips.
