posted January 21, 2017 08:44 AM
I got a note from a friend yesterday reminding me of years back at letterhead gatherings at our shop where we had a tray of water and floated lettering enamel on it and could swirl the colors on the top of the water and roll objects onto it getting a very interesting marble effect. Kids were painting their shoes. Computer cases, and backgrounds on aluminum panels.
So, Frank wanted to do this recently and said the colors wouldn't float anymore. He said it just creates dots and/or sinks to the bottom. He tried thinning, Chromoflo, detergent, hot water and more. Nothing worked. Do you have any ideas or is it just the crappy paint we have now? Frank
My thought was there might not be enough oil in the color anymore? What do you think?
-------------------- The SignShop Mendocino, California
Making the simple complicated is commonplace; making the complicated simple, awesomely simple, that's creativity. — Charles Mingus Posts: 6712 | From: Mendocino, CA. USA | Registered: Nov 1998
| IP: Logged |
posted January 21, 2017 04:20 PM
I'm not sure about the paint, but the place I've used for sandblasting and powdercoating is now doing Hydrographics. R.W. Little in San Diego. They coat car wheels, helmets and all kinds of things with a similar process. I don't know much about it but the samples in their showroom look pretty cool. I just looked on line and see kits available to do this. It looks like they print on the water surface or something because some of the geometric patterns they get cannot be done with paint or ink simply poured onto the water.
posted January 22, 2017 12:07 AM
Maybe it's his water! I'd try it on bottled water.
-------------------- Signs by Alicia Jennings (Mudflap Girl) Tacoma, WA Since 1987 Have Lipstick, will travel. Posts: 3812 | From: Tacoma, WA. U.S.A. | Registered: Dec 1999
| IP: Logged |
Making the simple complicated is commonplace; making the complicated simple, awesomely simple, that's creativity. — Charles Mingus Posts: 6712 | From: Mendocino, CA. USA | Registered: Nov 1998
| IP: Logged |
posted January 23, 2017 03:55 PM
A method on one video was to add one and a half tablespoons borax to each gallon of water to help the paint float. Ideal water temp was 78° F. The guy was using Humbrol Enamel. It's a model paint. Apply the paint very slowly with a plastic pipette. When ll your colors are there you can swirl them to get the effect you want. Another guy got good results using Rustoleum Spray paint. He had to work quickly as the top layer of paint was setting up pretty quickly.
Making the simple complicated is commonplace; making the complicated simple, awesomely simple, that's creativity. — Charles Mingus Posts: 6712 | From: Mendocino, CA. USA | Registered: Nov 1998
| IP: Logged |
Printer-friendly view of this topic