Customer ordered a surfboard with his design, i informed him i am no painter, but i can try to replicate his idea, the thing is that when i used black on foam, when fiberglassing, some issues in the glass appeared after laminating, weird perpedicular lines and also the airbubles became visible on the black background.
I informed him about the issues and he is currently thinking, i am also thinking how should i proceede in this case and have this ever occured to you.
The shape came out great i think, it’s water tight and smooth but the “how it looks” is the issue.
I told him it’s my fault and he can have it only if he likes it, i honestly think this would sell as is.
For me the general goal is getting the shape to please me and get as much boards under my belt as possible, but for the customer it seems like the ‘how it looks’ is always top priority.
I went for Groveler type 6’0 around 35liters
I am charging 350 euro for this btw.
And i only got a 50euro deposit from him still.
Yes, the black is “faded”, but it matches the fade of the other colors. Looks fine to me as is. I would expect that, once glossed, your customer should be more than satisfied.
Other than that, great shape, great job, great price.
I work with epoxy resin and this is common with darker colors, I have had the same thing happen glassing over dark blue. I think the board looks great, your offer sounds very fair. I personally don’t like black or any dark colors on a surfboard because of the heat issues from direct sunlight.
Hate to say it, but you might have to bite the bullet on this one, negotiate a (much) lower final price, and chalk this one up to a learning experience. The paintjob itself is okay, but applying directly to foam is the problem. I typically apply designs such as this only to a cured and sanded hot coat, mixing the pigment into a final thin coat that sets up and is then sealed with a layer of gloss. This avoids any possibility of uneven pigment absorption with the foam.
I can’t picture that. You’re doing designs like this with pigment, i.e. pigmented resin, over the hot coat? You’d have to post some process pictures to show how that works before I could visualize it. Working with paint is one thing, pigmented resin is a whole 'nuther animal. If you’re going over the hot coat, then its a thin coat at best, and any sanding will risk creating more irregularities or sand throughs.
I think you’d have better success getting the saturation needed over raw foam than over a hot coated board. Plus, I don’t think the problem here resulted from uneven pigment absorption with the foam, I think its the way that clear resin and fiberglass over dark colors changes the appearance of the color, and shows irregularities in the opacity or transparency of the lamination itself, not the colored blank underneath.
To really get a paint job like this to look crisp and saturated, I think you’d have to spray paint with automotive two part epoxy paint on top of the glass job. But I’m no expert on this kind of stuff, I know there are really good glassers out there who can work miracles, I’m def not one.
keep it ride it in front of him watching get unreal successful rides,the best you ever—had then carry it up on he beach douse it with gasoline set it on fire then tell him you will sell it to him for a buck. ok now wake up you just had a dream… too bad he guy didnt point the flames the right way in his artist concept design … give him a 50 dollar build your own surfboard kit,blank and surform blade,call it a day sell it to somebody that’s stoked thats like 14 years old who will be your friend who doesn’t act like … in case they can manipulate you into discounting the one of a kind greatest board in the history of he known universe that lies here before us. BITCHIN’ BOARD! KEEP IT, RIDE IT FOR EVER NEVER MAKE HIM ANOTHER. even if his mom is really hot,the next thing he’ll say is it doesnt float,te sticker is crooked the surf never
gets good… ambrose… {yes an emotional response, unmodulated no syntax,clearly the doings of a mad man}
tell him to look up the guy with the walker blank buy it for 50$
I actually took some decent photos and posted them, got a positive feedback in the socials and the guy messaged me that now it doesn’t look that bad and he’ll take it.
So i sent him the board full price.
He picked it up and he’s stoked, said he likes it.
So happy end for me.
I’ve learned my lesson, bright colours, easy designs, stay clear of the cutlap so it does not botch the colour, or just do resin tints.
I found this interesting comment in a thread entitled Swaylocks Glossary. Swaylock’s Glossary - Archive 1999-2004 - SWAYLOCKS It verifies the previous comment by G-Man that some use pigmented resin over the hot coat for color work.
John is absolutely right.Use gloss resin for color work on hotcoats,be carefull with color to resin ratios.Pastels based upon white are pretty safe as is black.Blues and reds can get ya in the bleed dept.WHen I do resin panels and pins most people are surprised at how I apply it…thick like a gloss.If you get it to thin the resin will not cure properly and the wax rise will be inhibited.Lightly sand with 320 or use a red scotchbrite pad (or both) to cut the wax and dull the finish for adhesion.I wipe with board with a white paper towel and actetone (not too wet) just before glossing.The acetone will clean things up and lightly tack the surface…I do this just before catylizing the batch. R.B.
I know a absolute master who used to shape for hot buttered and Aloha here in australia. He has suggested or pointed out that you can get the dark colours to remain true to appearance after glassing buy doing a thin layer of resin over the board before lamination, it seals the colour in there. He works exclusively with epoxy now.
My 2 cents would be to use a resin squeegee and scrape a thin layer over the board let it cure to just tacky then laminate over it ( just tacky to ensure a chemical bond between cheater coat and the laminated coat). Maybe with a cut lap to control where the initial layer of resin bonds with the lamination layer, to ensure a chemical bond. I’m pretty sure this still works with Poly, but the need for a tacky chemical bond isn’t as important…
you can get the dark colours to remain true to appearance after glassing buy doing a thin layer of resin over the board before lamination, it seals the colour in there
so, you’re saying that if the original poster had squeegeed a thin layer of resin over the painted blank, before glassing, the color on the completed board would have remained more true to the appearance before glassing?
Would definitely be worth a try. I was thinking about the comment about using pigmented resin over the hot coat, and wondering if you used pigmented resin on the foam blank before glassing if that wouldn’t be better. I always find color to be the brightest on raw white foam.
I don’t work with those kinds of colors, so its not an issue for me, I have gotten to the point now that I try to keep the colors lighter, because of UV / heat damage. Seems like no matter what I do, my boards always end up sitting in the sun at some point, and it only takes one time for the heat to do some damage, and daily over time even worse, but doesn’t happen as much with white or lighter colors.
Before laminating you can see the black has patches, that’s where some of the filler is,
after laminating you can see the fiberglass lines and the fade, the underside looks better, not sure if i just did not clean the polishing compound good or the colors just came out better.
When doing a cutlap i usually come back and push the lap into the foam, so i dont get air bubles around the lap, if i scrape resin over the foam before laminating then later i dont know if that would work.
If anyone tries this keep us posted
For my next boards after my summer break, i would get a densier EPS block, as this one flakes a lot, so i get to do less filler or hopefully none.
On another topic, different board, for laminating i tried to use clear resin and white pigmented resin to do shapes similiar to xococo boards but my white pigmented resin just faded into the board, got some cloudy effect instead, how are they doing this?
On EPS, after you spackle fill the little voids and sand smooth the board gets a cheater coat of white paint first, then you lay the color. I will even spray my white boards white. Also on color work, you will need a light first coat so you don’t have tape leakage, then once dry come back with color coat. The below board is eps.
That grey board looks sick! Re: the xococo thing, not sure if this is what you’re asking specifically and also I’m a total total beginner (this is my 3rd board in the pic, PU and epoxy) but what I did was make 2 batches of resin, a small white batch and the main color batch. I pour thin lines of the white resin and squeegee it flat – not flat enough, I think that’s why the orange cuts into it, plus I have zero technique – then I do the orange over it. Because the white is already soaked into the cloth, the orange doesn’t cover it up mostly. If anyone has tips on better technique so the cuts (which are from the squeegee I think) don’t happen, it’d be super helpful!
