Hello. First time poster here and first time board shaper as well. I’ve just finished shaping my first board (big thanks to this community). I’ve been going through the endless options for designs. I’m curious if anyone could give some input on how Album Boards is achieving this looks on their Vesper boards.
It looks to me like it might be a white/black or clear/black swirl. Poured on then squeegeed of the back and sides. Then glassing the rest of the board in clear… Maybe I’m way off. Would love to hear any input from the experts out there!
Thanks jrandy! Ya, I have seen a bunch of his vids. I think he is dying the foam before lamination. But he doesn’t get the free flowing swirl look that way… This was going to be my back up plan if I can’t figure out the look on the Vesper.
He also does a swirl video. But he is swirling the entire board with a bunch of colors.
So, if you are only doing the swirl on a section of the board, do you use clear resin on the remainder of the board? Will the clear make the colored portions bleed off into the clear?
Can you take clear resin over the colored sections once the foam has absorbed the color or do you need to keep the areas separated the best you can?
We’ll need input from some polyester glassers. I have never pulled a polyester swirl and have only a couple feeble attempts with epoxy. I do know that whatever color hits the glass and foam first will be the primary color in that spot.
Squeegee the clear over the area you want clear. Drizzle some color or black on the area of the swirl, then pour clear around the color. Squeegee away from the all clear area. The final result will be a bit random & unpredictable. You can do a few trial runs on scrap foam if you want.
Something i heard from some glassers i work with is whatever resin hits the foam first is what stays… if you watch some youtube vids it kind of confirms as the excess resin on a swirl job becomes super mixed but the color you layed basically stays the same
I did notice that the swirl is also on the cutlap that extends to the bottom of the board. That confirms the swirl was done during lamination on the fiberglass, correct?
I have watched a bunch of swirl videos. Whenever the glasser mixes say Black/white… it inevitably turns to grey. Which there is very little grey on this board.
Do you think that means they are putting down a tinted white first and then the black down aftewards? As opposed to mixing them together and then swirling?
I could see an advantage to using a lam if the brand wanted/needed to keep a consistent look while controlling costs (trim lam and glass clear versus doing custom resin artwork on each board). Are there ways to tell lams versus resin art?
Mix up a cup of black, mix up a smaller batch of white. Add catalyst to both, slowly add the white into the black, you can do this in one spot or pour a few different times into different sides of the black, stir one swirl or none at all. Pour onto your board, work this first, then the rest of board with clear. The clear won’t affect the colored area.
Know I’m a little late to the topic but figured I could give some helpful insight…
Like the other guys said, first to hit the cloth is what stays. There’s no way around it. The best part about swirl resin work is that it’s a surprise. It may not come out as you were planning, and oftentimes it is better if you follow these steps.
On your picture, it’s on the deck. If you’re never done resin art like this before, do it first with one layer of cloth assuming you’re following a traditional 4x4 or 6x4 schedule. This will allow you to play with less material. When doing resin swirl, it’s important to clean your squeegee usually each run, especially in your case, since you want the white to be clean. If not, it will look muddied (which some may like). Doing this with multiple layers of cloth and saturating the cloth fully can be difficult if you’ve never done it before.
In my opinion, the white on the board should not be white resin. Mix black and clear for the swirl, and clear on the rest. It will result in a more “candied” look than a mixing of the white and black to make a muddied gray, unless that’s what you want.
Have fun and don’t stress. Maybe work in a cooler climate to give yourself more time too, but don’t let it mess with the cure. There are plenty of ways to resin swirl and the best part is it’s abstract and beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
If I were to do this board with resin art. I would prop it flat, mix my black, pour some in a clear cup, swirl a bit. Pour from the tail and up (easier to manage the amount since you can let it drip off the tail, and therefore not a huge glob in the middle) and then manipulate it by squeegeeing the resin off (shake your squeegee and apply pressure to obtain a more abstract look) and angling the board (need be). Once there’s not extra pooling, I’d cover the rest in clear and squeegee, being careful not to pick up any pigmentation with my strokes over where I don’t want them.