OPAL

[judgeinfl]

Has any one ever tried to make a opal type finish? I have tried glitter and white but the white compleatly covered the glitter. I am going to try and just glue thw glitter to the tube then cast with clear to a lite white resign next but will see what happens.

 

[jason_r]

No, I haven't. But I took a theoretical stab at it below.

When you say white, do you mean white Alumilite?
Titanium Dioxide pigment?
Pearl White pigment?

Either of the 1st two I'd expect to hide your glitter.
Pearl white will let some other colors though, but gets opaque quickly.

If I tried, I think I'd go with a pearl base and a hi-lite blue
or green pigment. Probably a swirl of the two, poured fairly early
so they can mingle.

Basically:
This base (but substitute pearl for red) from recipe # 20:
http://www.rziha.net/woodworking/experiments/resin_color_library/p1.shtml

With the hilight from recipe #41.
http://www.rziha.net/woodworking/experiments/resin_color_library/p3.shtml

So roughly:
2oz resin
0.125 tsp pearl white pigment
0.125 -0.25 tsp Art Stuf Higlight Blue Luster Pigment
8 drops pearl dye
Enough MEKP

2oz resin
0.125 tsp pearl white pigment
0.125 -0.25tsp Art Stuf Higlight Green Luster Pigment
8 drops pearl dye
Enough MEKP

This is totally theoretical- I have NOT tested this.

 

[jason_r]

I just added a bunch of new recipes/samples , including a pair that were a stab at
the idea above (which I modified).
http://www.rziha.net/woodworking/experiments/resin_color_library/p4.shtml

Most of the samples were of Pearl-Ex and Coastal Scents colors, which I need to
finish making samples of.

 

[ldb2000]

you could try that over a chrome tube to reflect more light back through the pigment

 

[jason_r]

Or, if you wanted a colored opal look, a reflective but colored tube, then use less pearl white.

The less pigment you use, the better your "3-d" effect but more translucent.
So if you used a green reflective tube, you would end up with a green opal.

 

[judgeinfl]

What I used prior I thought was a translucent white ( more opaque instead)with some white pearl mica but only 1 drop of the opaque white resulted in a failure. I will try your recipe once i get some plugs for the tubes and see what happens.

 

[sbell111]

What about a double cast?

I'm thinking of an inner cast of pearlized blue and green swirl and an outer cast of translucent pearly white.

 

[GoodTurns]

put glitter in your mix...hobby lobby, et al sell tubes of casting glitter in several colors and it will give an opalescent shimmer to whatever color you are using. I have cast them in both light pink and purple and gotten nice depth and shimmer.

 

[follow3]

I agree with Jason R...

I would color the tubes to get the color of opal you are after, then cast in a clear resin, tinted with a decent bit of Pearl White. Enough pigment to not see the exact color on the tubes, but we all know colors will bleed through that white. Should make a nice blank..... might give it a go when I pour again.

Steve

 

[jason_r]

I'd not use straight pearl white, but probably a 2-3 part swirl of white and hi-lite blue/green/violet to create the color shifting you get with opals.

Of course, it depends on what pigments/dyes you have available.