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I ruined it. A whole week working on my first smalt job & I screwed it up. Its uneven, it seems to have crumbed up in some areas, others seem to not have enough, & since I did about a 1sq. ft. area at a time, & the patches show big time. What did I do wrong? I used west systems with 206 hardener.
------------------ Marcano-Welch Signs Luquillo, Puerto Rico 787-889-6608
Posts: 2275 | From: Luquillo, Puerto Rico, USA | Registered: Nov 2000
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posted
Felix, we have a method we use that I posted just once quite a while ago. We coat the substrate area with a heavy coat of our old Pelucid schtuff, wait one minute and evenly sprinkle the media over the area, wait 12 hours, shake or blow off the excess media and apply a second coat of the clear Pelucid and Voila!! Dots eet, mon! Heavy duty permanent finish.
------------------ St.Marie Graphics & Makin' Tracks Sound Studio Kalispell, Montana stmariegraphics@centurytel.net http://www.stmariegraphics.com 800 735-8026 We're chiseling every day of the week! :^)
If it's a sand smalts, just mix up some smalts oil, lampblack, and flattening paste and go right over your first effort with another layer. You'll be cursing the brush, but it'll look like a million bucks.
If it's glass, then leave out the paste.
Don't forget to leave a wet edge when applying the smalts, to avoid the patchy appearance.
------------------ Purcell Woodcarving & Signmaking spurcell99@mediaone.net Cape Cod, MA
Posts: 900 | From: Cape Cod, MA | Registered: Oct 1999
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Dots eet? I would love to try distuff, and have a perfect job coming up this month, to use it on. Has anyone ever done a play by play on this subject on the board? Where do I get the materials? Pierre, is yo stuff able to hold a coarse smalts? I want to use something maybe like "aquarium fine gravel" I am needing a navy blue to williamsburg blue color smalts. thanx, bronzeo
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Yuppers. It do. I got the idea after a test piece of Dibond, heavily coated with Pelucid, fell face down on the ground outside while taking it our to place it in the sun. The whole face ended up covered with the pea-gravel outside. It wasn't salvageable but it looked kinda cool, so I let it cure. The little girl in the shop next door saw it and wanted to use it with her Barbidoll stuff. Said she needed a "patio" for her umbrella and chair. I finshed it off with spraying a surface coat and she was very happy.
Anyway.....it stated a thought process so I determined that a 5 minute wait to allow a slight thickening was enough to make the bond with the glass. I also applied a vertical edge border of masking tape to contain the heavier coat. I did a little "mosaic" kinda thing, allowed it to cure for 12 hours and sprayed a thin overcoat of Pelucid on it. Excellent results. Anyhoo....coarse schmaltz will work great, almost as good as pea-gravel.
:^)
------------------ St.Marie Graphics & Makin' Tracks Sound Studio Kalispell, Montana stmariegraphics@centurytel.net http://www.stmariegraphics.com 800 735-8026 We're chiseling every day of the week! :^)
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I suspect the difficulty to be working with an adhesive thats too fast and requires doing small areas at a time. The way smalt is traditionally applied is with a very long slow smudge, so all the sign can be smalted at one time.
------------------ The SignShop Mendocino, California "Where the Redwoods meet the Surf"
Oh, for the faith of a spider! He begins his web without any thread.
Posts: 6744 | From: Mendocino, CA. USA | Registered: Nov 1998
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Rick, Could you elaborate on the application a bit. I was under the impression that you brush down a thick even coat of sticky, and then sift coat the smalts on thicker than you need and then dump off the loose when dry, Maybe repeat to get a double thick finish. I am needing to do a simple smalts background for a carved monogram. It will hang indoors, but in the sunlight. Thanx, Jack
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Hey, Rick! Good to hear from you. Actually Pelucid will give you an easy 20 minutes to mess with. The thicker it is, the longer it takes. You really have to experiment with it to satisfy yourself that it's the application for you. We're constantly tyring all kinds of odd applications for it. Seems to be a multi-use schtuff. I've actually used it for an adhesive between HDU sheets. Really versatile medium. Keep yer shoes ON!!
:^)
------------------ St.Marie Graphics & Makin' Tracks Sound Studio Kalispell, Montana stmariegraphics@centurytel.net http://www.stmariegraphics.com 800 735-8026 We're chiseling every day of the week! :^)
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Hey Steve, what is Smalts Oil? I've used Smith's creme mixed 50/50 with enamel and had good results. Even though it's a bitch to work with because it's so thick, we were able to cover large areas in one swell foop. Reapplying touchups were invisible too. I just hate working with the goop. Before Smith's Creme, we used another 'glue' product I can't even remember the name of right now (something old-school). It was great at sticking and drying but so thick that it was nearly impossible to apply with even the stiffest brush. I'm not convinced we've found the best solution yet.
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Quill Hair & Ferrule used to sell a glue for smalts. Rick Glawson recommends the paint-and-Smiths-cream mixture. I've also used epoxy, but my concern is that epoxy resin doesn't like sunshine, the UV breaks it down.
------------------ "A wise man concerns himself with the truth, not with what people believe." - Aristotle
When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro. - Raoul Duke (Hunter S. Thompson)
Cam Finest Kind Signs 256 S. Broad St. Pawcatuck, Ct. 06379 "Award winning Signs since 1988"
Posts: 3051 | From: Pawcatuck,Connecticut USA | Registered: Nov 1998
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Cam's right, QH&F carries 'Hold Fast Oil'. I also add linseed oil, per a recipe I got from Bill Gottsman, a great signmaker for three generations. I suppose you could substitute Penetrol as a flow enhancer.
BTW Joe, I'm moving the shop in a few weeks, just can't take these conditions anymore...
------------------ Purcell Woodcarving & Signmaking spurcell99@mediaone.net Cape Cod, MA
Posts: 900 | From: Cape Cod, MA | Registered: Oct 1999
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posted
Hold Fast Oil - THATs the 'glue' crud I was talking about. Man, that's hard to use.
Moving?, you know I loved lots of things about your old shop. You couldn't beat it for square footage. Good luck finding something more suitable. Should we talk?
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