Colors Blending, not swirling

[Draken]

Ok, my turn to ask what's up (help in other words). I've started casting into a mold that is about 4" x 4" and I'm trying the ribbon tutorial made by Jay P. The ribbons work fine, but when I pour two other colors into the mold to go with them, they blend together creating a third color rather than swirling. I haven't noticed this when I use the ice cube trays, so what could I be doing to cause this? I tried for a red-white-blue pen, where the ribbons were white. The red and blue blended, so now I have a block of PR that is red-white-blue-PURPLE. Not at all what I intended. Tried again with some silver ribbons and the blue and pink blended into a very light lavender. How can I stop this and why hasn't it happened before?

[xx(]

 

[Blind_Squirrel]

Do you have a link to the ribbon tutoial?

 

[Draken]

Scott,

PM sent, don't want to ruffle any feathers by posting the link here.

 

[DozerMite]

Draken,
could I get the link also? Thanks

 

[johnnycnc]

James,try catalyzing one of your two colors
several minutes(I wait 10-12) ahead of the other.
I am talking regular pr,and not more than 3-4
drops catalyst per oz. of pr.
Seems to minimize the color mixing for me.[]

 

[Firefyter-emt]

Link the the other hidden site for me too?? []

 

[karlkuehn]

Heh...at the risk of sounding redundant...Can I have the ribbon link?

Sounds like you're a step ahead of the rest of us. Give us a minute, will have some sort of opinion, wrong or not! []

 

[great12b4ever]

I would like the ribbon link also.

Rob

 

[doddman70]

me to please[]

Shane

 

[Blind_Squirrel]

Okay, I read over the tutorial. I agree with John. Try pouring one color and letting it set up a bit, then add your second color and gently swirl.

 

[Draken]

Thank for the input John and Scott, I'll have to give that a try next time. I've been mixing up the two colors at the same time, including adding the catalyst at the same time. Works just fine for the ice cube tray blanks, but not for the larger flat molds. I did have some extra blue and pink from the second pour and poured them into the ice cube tray, and they also blended. So I'm wondering if my resin or my catalyst is getting old and contributing to the problem. The resin I got, and first opened, this spring. The catalyst is from the resin order I placed last year.

As for the "hidden" tutorial, it isn't my intention to hide it. Just there have been some pretty big blowups on this forum in the past concerning the site where the tutorial is hosted, and I don't want to be on the wrong side of a blowup. So here's a compromise, type this into Google, including the quotes:

"polyester resin ribbons for casting"

You should get exactly one link, a PDF file, which will be the tutorial.

 

[its_virgil]

Post the link...ruffled feathers will soon unruffle. They shoujld't ruffle at all. No reason why the various pen forums can't coexist. We aren't in competetion with each other. None of the rules for any of them prohibit cross posting.
Do a good turn daily!
Don

Originally posted by Draken
<br />Scott,

PM sent, don't want to ruffle any feathers by posting the link here.

.

 

[Draken]

Fair enough Don.
www.penmakersguild.com/articles/ribbonprocess.pdf

 

[its_virgil]

Here is an excellent article on casting polyester resin writen by Richard Greenwald and posted on the Yahoo Penturners group for those who are members. http://tinyurl.com/3xe9lz
Do a good turn daily!
Don