Today I have very little material. I continue to collect materials on epoxy resins in one place and it’s time to talk about painting them. There are several ways. The simplest and most logical is, of course, purchasing special dyes.
I buy bottles from time to time various colors. I can suggest a couple of places: hobbymagic.ru and master-fimo.ru. And you can buy a wide variety of dyes: transparent, pearlescent, metallic, neon, etc. Usually add a small amount of dye into the resin, mix. Then the hardener is added and all components are finally mixed.
The maximum amount of added dye is sometimes specified, and sometimes not. As a rule, such a dye is a concentrated pigment diluted in component “A” epoxy resin. So when you add it to resin, you are essentially mixing one resin with another, and the proportions are not that important. Everything is determined by the shade you want to get. Proportions are important when adding component “B” (hardener).
And one more thing: if you buy dyes, then do not forget about the basics of color mixing. The point is that if you decide to buy red and yellow dyes, then there is no point in taking orange. It is enough to drop a drop or two of red into the yellow one and you have orange. Blue and yellow make green, blue and red make purple, etc.
I think it won't be difficult to find information on mixing colors. In the end, you only need three primary colors (blue, red and yellow), from which you can create many derivative colors.
The use of the described dyes has, perhaps, only a couple of disadvantages: price and availability. Even if the first one is not very scary (the bubbles are small, but they last a long time), the issue of accessibility remains. Not all colors you need can be found in finished form, i.e. either they will have to be mixed or replaced with something else.
This is what we'll talk about. On the Internet you can find a lot of advice on how to paint epoxy resins. Alcohol ink, ink for ballpoint and gel pens, oil paints, toners for laser printers, dry pigment dyes, powders, alcohol-based stains. There is even green stuff from the pharmacy on this list. The main condition is that the paint should not contain water, because... Resin is not friendly with water.
Today I will conduct an experiment on what is easiest to get. On the way home from work, I visit a stationery store and am interested in gel pens. After rummaging through the shelves, I settled on two colors I liked: metallic green and purple.
By the way, while I was rummaging through the shelves with writing and drawing pens, I read on one of the packages with gel pens that they use ink on oil based(I immediately remembered oil paints from the list).
Arriving home, I began to disassemble the handles. This is done very simply: just use scissors or pliers to remove the writing unit and hold the rod over the glass in which you will mix the resin. The gel ink itself flows out of the refill very easily. I remembered how I tried to blow the ink out of ballpoint pen, then my cheeks almost burst. For accuracy, I decided to weigh everything: I poured about half a gram of ink of both colors into two glasses.
Then I added component “A” of epoxy resin to 10 grams.
And then he mixed the ink with component “A”. The ink color has faded a little. But this is quite understandable: they have become less concentrated.
Now it’s the turn of component “B” (hardener). Fortunately, the scales use the “TARE” button to reset the indicator readings. It’s very convenient, since we have a glass, ink, resin and a stick, which kept getting in the way.
I pour in 5 grams of hardener (my hand trembled a little, I poured an extra gram, it’s not scary).
All that remains is to mix everything completely and let it sit a little so that excess air bubbles come to the surface. In the meantime, I prepared a couple of molds. Since this is an experiment, I chose both matte (roses and the center of the button) molds and glossy (rim of the button and squares).
A day later we take out the wonderfully frozen things and evaluate the result. Personally, I was quite satisfied with it: affordable, budget-friendly and quite nice. Well, it’s true that a button in this form just looks like a plastic one, but that’s another story.
Next time I'll try to mix something else...
If you have questions about this part, feel free to ask them in the comments to the material.
Slide show:
Heretic 02-05-2007 10:35
So, in fact, we needed “radical black” epoxy. Quite a lot, so the option of scraping pencils had to be put aside as a spare. What else can you mix in to tint? some kind of carbon black? In powder or straight paint from the art store?
Help, who can... Who can, help..
Sincerely.
EgorB 02-05-2007 11:06
Powder toner for printers will help
Gadyukin 02-05-2007 11:46
I made a handle from ebony, there was a bunch of this dye. Probably any loose filler in the form of powder.
A.E. 02-05-2007 13:17
On all sorts of demobilization crafts, epoxy was tinted with paste from ballpoint pens.
Konstantinich 02-05-2007 13:25
You can get any color by mixing epoxy with nitro paint. A long time ago, for example, I imitated inlay with “mammoth bone” (epoxy + white nitro enamel: 1: 4).
bigdad 02-05-2007 13:39
Udod 02-05-2007 13:45
Modern tinting compounds are mixed with almost all types of paints. I just don’t know if it comes in black.
Heretic 02-05-2007 14:34
quote: Originally posted by bigdad:
Mixing epoxy with artistic oil paints You can get almost any color. Tested many times.
quote: Originally posted by Konstantinych:
You can get any color by mixing epoxy with nitro paint. A long time ago, for example, I imitated “mammoth bone” inlay (epoxy + white nitro enamel: 1: 4)
does the curing time/strength of the cured material vary greatly?
Sincerely.
Konstantinich 02-05-2007 15:39
The polymerization time is accelerated by an order of magnitude.
The strength of the composition after this is excellent, like bone.
spit 02-05-2007 17:23
I used powder activated carbon for black - very successful, and flour for white - it turned out like a bone, the epoxy was yellow
Serjant 02-05-2007 19:46
When casting a stock for a rifle (pneuma), the simplest recipe was used.
mixed epoxy and poured ink from a regular refill. A prerequisite is very thorough mixing. The color was simply controlled by a drop of ink and mixing. what kind of colors were you looking for?
The rifle has been serving faithfully for 8 years now, the epoxy is holding up tightly, does not paint anything, the rifle is actively used as a screw for entertainment.
» What is EPOXYCON, or how to paint epoxy resin
EPOXY RESIN. MIXING, COLORING, FILLING
SPECIALLY FOR site
Hi all! My name is Yulianna Volkova, I am a designer and creator of jewelry.
In this master class, I want to tell you what an amazing material it is - epoxy resin, and how many different styles and shapes of jewelry can be made from it! But first, we will look at what this outlandish substance is and how to control it.
Firstly, when working with epoxy resin, I recommend following some safety precautions:
1. Work in a well-ventilated area
2. Wear gloves
3. Use for mixing components only disposable tableware which must be thrown away after use.
4. If you intend to frequently work with epoxy resin, you should use a respirator.
Once cured, the epoxy is completely non-toxic unless eaten, of course.
The epoxy resin itself consists of two components that must be mixed in strict proportions indicated on the packaging. Mixing instructions are always included, please follow them carefully.
For mixing, I use a disposable clear cup, a disposable coffee spoon (you can use a wooden ice cream stick) and a couple of syringes of different sizes. Each syringe should only be used for the same component. I don’t throw them away, but store them in a Ziploc bag in a box along with epoxy resin.
Now let's get to the fun part - the process of creating the jewelry itself!
INGREDIENTS
We will need the following materials:
Pictures suitable in size for our blanks and printed on laser printer, or on professional photo paper (this is important, I will tell you why later).
STEP 1
First, mix components A and B in the proportions indicated on the package, filling each syringe with required quantity components A and B. I mixed in double volume. That is, not 4:1, but 8:2.
STEP 2
It is better not to mix in too large portions at once, otherwise it will be difficult to bring it to a homogeneous state, and it is important for us that both components mix very well with each other.
To do this, I heat a little water (up to about 70 degrees), but don’t boil it!
Then I take a deep bowl and pour this water into it. There, very carefully, I immerse the glass with the already mixed components and heat the epoxy in this water bath for 5-7 minutes, stirring occasionally. As a result of this procedure, bubbles come out that we do not need during the work process, and the mass becomes more homogeneous. Make sure that water does not get into the cup with epoxy, otherwise the mixture can be thrown away - it will lose its transparency!
STEP 3
Then I pour the resulting amount of the mixture into three glasses (a transparent mixture should remain, and we will add epoxycone to the other two glasses. For the master class, I chose yellow and blue sparkling shimmering epoxycone.
STEP 4
To impart the required color, a concentrate of organic dyes (fluorescent or pearlescent pigments) EPOXICON is added to component A of the adhesive compound so that the ratio of the total mass of the colored mixture to the mass of component B remains 80:20.
STEP 5
The pearlescent dye must be mixed before adding to the main mass. This can be done with a knitting needle or a wooden stick.
Now the cups with epoxy resin need to be set aside for 2-3 hours. I also set it to 5 (at a temperature of 24-25 degrees). Then the liquid becomes more viscous and a tall lens can be formed from it.
ADVICE: To fill rings, earrings and pendants, do not use epoxy immediately after diluting - it is still too liquid! We need a slightly convex coating, so we wait until it thickens to the state of viscous honey. If you pour epoxy into a silicone mold, you can safely use it right away.
STEP 6
While our epoxy resin acquires the desired consistency, we will prepare forms for pouring, cut out pictures and - most importantly - make a retainer for rings and earrings.
With pictures, everything is clear: it is better to print them on a laser printer, because the paint lies in a dense layer on the paper and does not penetrate into the fibers of the paper, like paint in an inkjet printer. Because we will need to cover the picture acrylic varnish, This required condition. After all, epoxy applied to an unprotected picture will leave grease stain. When protected with varnish, a dense film is formed. It is better to apply varnish in 2-3 layers and dry thoroughly.
We cut out the picture according to the shape, then glue it into the base (you can use PVA glue, you can use the same varnish), then cover it with varnish. This is the best algorithm to follow. We also carefully coat the junction of the picture and the base. For this I use a soft brush.
STEP 7
Now let's make a holder for rings and earrings. It is needed so that our molds are well fixed. We take a piece of polystyrene foam, it should be even on all edges. Stationery knife We cut out rectangular grooves into which our earring rings will subsequently be fixed.
These are the rings I got after about 2 days. This is how long it will take for the resin to cure. You'll have to be patient!
But these earrings, similar to candy, came out when poured into molds.
And some more works for inspiration
You can experiment with fillers, shapes and applications ready-made elements costume jewelry You can add various dry glitter, gold leaf, colored foil, which is sold in nail art stores, dry pigments, dried blades of grass, flowers, leaves to the resin, and even tint it with old unnecessary eye shadow, pouring a little of it into the finished mixture.
Epoxy resin, which usually does not have its own color, in some cases requires tinting, and we are not even just talking about casting decorative items. In these cases, special colors are used.
A variety of dyes can be used to color epoxy resin. It is only important to make sure that they do not react with the resin and do not change color when interacting with them. Powder or emulsion dyes can be used, but dyes are not water based will not mix with epoxy resin. Various unexpected effects achieved when using such “handicraft” dyes are actively used in the manufacture of decorative castings. However, when uniform coloring of epoxy resin is necessary, it is most reliable to use special colors. Their use ensures coloring throughout the entire thickness, while the physical and mechanical characteristics of the product do not change or change slightly.
Specialized colors for epoxy resin are supplied in the form of pastes. Such pastes are a colored viscous mass. It has a color that matches the color of the pigment, the shade of which does not change when working with epoxy resin. The paste contains microscopic particles of pigment dispersed in some kind of binder that is mixed with epoxy resin. Dyes can be very diverse and you can always find a suitable one or mix several available ones to obtain the desired shade. At a concentration of less than 0.5%, the color will be light and transparent. When adding large quantities dye, the color becomes more saturated. As a rule, the content of tinting pastes does not exceed 6% of the mixture volume. To accurately assess the type of product, it is better to prepare the solution in a transparent container, so that you can see the transparency of the layer of the same thickness as the thickness of the planned casting.
The resin is colored before adding the hardener to the mixture. An exception can be made for special decorative resins - they have a long “lifetime” after adding a hardener, so you can tint an already prepared mixture, which makes the final result more accurate. It is recommended to do this immediately before starting the curing procedure and not to store the resulting colored resin. The color is added to the resin in the desired amount and mixed thoroughly. Before use, just in case, you should check the instructions for the colorant to clarify whether it affects the rate of curing of the resin, as happens with some tinting pastes.
