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Monday, January 23, 2012

Creating Metallic Resin

One of our regular blog readers; Diana Brandt asked me about metallic paint colours with resin.  
There are several ways I get metallics on or in my resin.  
If my piece is already cured I use Gilders Paste to add metallic highlights.  
If I want my peices to cure a metallic colour I add colour to the resin in the mixing stage.
The sample above on the left is Envirotex Lite and silver powder and on the right Envirotex Lite and silver acrylic paint.
 When I have a batch of resin mixed I add in my paint.  Just a small dollop.  The acrylic paint I am showing here is very thick.
 The acrylic paint can "break up a little."  See how my cured piece has speckles?  You only see this up close and quite frankly, I like this effect.  Different acrylic paints and different add-in techniques can create different results.
 I prefer to add powdered metallic colours to resin.  These powders are sold by various companies; Pearl Ex and Polished Pigments are my own favorites.
A few reminders.  When you add extra colorant to resin you also add air and and you can effect the cure process.  Be sure to experiment.  I once added way too much powder and my resin cured very soft.

6 comments:

  1. So, when it cured very soft, was it tacky or "usable." I'm thinking it could be wrapped around something, or even rolled to make a flower petal/leaf.

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  2. The metallics look fantastic! I really like these!

    http://pearspalette.etsy.com

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  3. My soft pieces...and they only happen once in a blue moon, I usually glue to something else....I would not use it in a necklace as a component...but I'll happily glue it to a frame. You could roll it, but it would depend on what it started out as.

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  4. They look great! Thank you for experimenting. The speckled texture was what I ended up with also using the acrylic paint. Though my color was lighter and the acrylic paint was thinner. But I like it. I might try the powder as I wanted a more satin and lighter silver color. Though I'm thinking I might give copper a try since I really love copper.
    Thanks again! I'm so glad I found this blog and facebook page. I love working with resin!

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  5. Thanks, Carmi. I knew I'd find just what I was looking for on your site. I'm in the middle of a project and thought, "Wouldn't it be cool to make resin look like metal rather than just painted plastic." But I didn't know what colorant I could use.

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