Hi Cayman,
Yes it does apply, just a little more critical on the timing and reading of what your epoxy is
doing. Although epoxy does not “cross-link” the same as polyester resin does, you will
receive a benefit of “extending a batch” of epoxy, and this does kind of the same thing,
sticking your artwork down and holding it, while also preventing gassing beneath the lam
paper.
What you want to look for with the epoxy (not knowing the exact brand or speed of epoxy,)
is when the seal batch “B-Stages.” Though this is not like “gelling” of polyester resin where
an energy “hurdle” is lowered with a catalyst (thus, change of state, liquid-to-solid,) the
epoxy resin begins to gain momentum in locating matching binding sites with the hardener.
This is when heat is given off. Ideally, there is a perfect match in the number of resin sites
connecting with hardener sites. On a thin sealing layer, heat transfer is hard to detect, BUT
if you have a mass of mixed epoxy, you can see/feel it as it gives off heat, and/or solidifies.
A trick to doing epoxy art lams is to seal with a coat of epoxy directly onto the blank, and have
a bit of epoxy left in your bucket. Set the bucket aside so it is slightly TILTED (mixture will
be in a “mass” and will begin to B-stage sooner than the seal coat*.) At that point you can
start to test the sealer surface for tack. There will be a period where the surface of the
seal will be like sticky tape. This only happens for a little while until the last remaining
open binding sites are made. (Note: Polyester Lam resin stays sticky after “drying” because
of exposure to oxygen in the atmosphere, which prevents catalysis from changing the state
of the resin. Epoxy, has a 1-to-1 match so eventually this stickiness will go away when
“dry.”) While still “sticky,” pour yet another small batch of epoxy, this time pretty wet, and
lay down the art, with this new batch. At this point I’ve found two options available. One
is to wait until the new batch B-stages, then pull cloth, and lam with still another batch. The
other way is to not wait, and glass right on top of the wet artwork.
In both cases you will notice the artwork will stay stuck down pretty well, maybe even
conforming to the deck crown a little (but not as much as with polyester.) I’d say the first
option will allow you to stick around rails a LITTLE BIT, compared to going through to
glassing right away.
In either case I would NOT recommend allowing batches to fully cure and WALKING AWAY.
Little tits and trash will form and harden as well as “epoxy curdles” which all interfere with
getting a good smooth lamination with your glass. It is usually not a good idea to sand off
the trash, as you could burn into the artwork (which makes for much sadness.)
I think the key will be to STAY WITH THE BOARD AND NURSE IT. Keep applying batches
until you get the glass onto the board to further capture the artwork.
[img_assist|nid=1070006|title=Epoxy and Digital Artwork Application|desc=Epoxy application of digital artwork fabric onto sealed blank prior to lamination with glass.|link=none|align=left|width=478|height=640]
Looking closely you will see that the orange color is really digitally printed onto fabric
that is laid on top of the blank that was sealed as described. The darker orange rail
is actually masking tape/paper. The art fabric was trimmed during B-stage. Note
also the white-edged portion of the fabric to save on ink costs. I leave this on to
save time and also act as a “handle” to pull the art tighter. Notice too the orange
bleeding- a tough color in this medium. This Wine SUP was glassed about 20 minutes
after this picture was taken.
Hope this helps,
George
*the secret here would be to not have too much epoxy mass in the bucket,
as it will nuke on you and not be an accurate reading, maybe about 1/8"
to 1/4" deep, max.
