I know you can put metallics and pearl powders in resin and they look really good, but can you do it on a board?
ive thought about it before, but now ive got the perfect board to do it on. would you put it in the lam? do a squeegee coat w/it? i know not a hotcoat…cause youd sand it off…the best i can t hink of would be in the lam, and the powder would sit on top of the cloth, instead of penetrate it with the resin…so as long as you dont burn through, you SHOULD get an even effect?
Fiberglass Hawaii sells pearlescent powders now and we tried some in a board with a resin swirl. The pearl totally disappeared in the color.
My guess is you want to use it in clear resin in the laminate coat. You might be able to mix it with Future floor polish and spray it onto the foam, too. I haven’t tried it (yet), though.
I tried a pearl powder in my acrylic spray and in hotcoat… it blended n but was barely visible… if you got a larger size flake that may work if you sift it in eh? Didn’t the if six was nine have a board up with flake in it?
My guess is that if you use it in the lam coat, as you pour it over the glass, the glass will act like a filter and the solids will collect in the low spots of the glass as you work the squeegee. That will probably cause the pattern in the weave of the glass to show in the pearl/metallic. More so with metallic.
If you put it in the hotcoat, all the sanding that goes with the hotcoat might create some variations in the level of pearl/metallic effect.
If you’re working with epoxy, you might put it in a sealcoat.
Tough call but you might wind up with a really cool look. Where I come from, which is the testing lab business, we have an saying, “one test is worth a thousand expert opions”. Why don’t you get some scraps and play with it. Do some mock-ups. It will give you a chance to dial in you system.
I’ve only worked with pearl/metallic acrylic paints, worked just fine when spraying. The metal flakes were very small/fine though. I use the small jars of acrylic from Michaels or Hobby Lobby. Here’s one example:
I used a metallic green and a light metallic gold, but the pictures really don’t do the paint justice. The paint looks darker or lighter depending on the angle the light hits it, it’s a nice effect.
If you’re looking for something like an 80’s or 90’s bass boat for metal flakes, check this out:
From the archives, blue airbrush with silver metal flake, and from the resources, check this one:
I’ve seen boards with sparkly metallics in them and they look pretty cool, but i couldnt tell at what point they were put in. Try some test panels and let us know what you find.
I’ve done glitter a few times… ___________________ insert bad jokes here________________________________
Not sure the end result you are looking for but many So Cal board builders are adding glitter to their “fun Boards”.
I tried it on several small test panels at different stages. My best results came from spreading glitter on lam coat just after laying up board while the lam resin was still tacky. Some of the glitter floated up into the hot coat later but it did not seem to be a problem.
I’ve used the pearl powder in both during laminating (polyester) and hotcoating. I used alot in the lam resin (2 table spoons in 500ml) and it was near invisible. I used 1 table spoon in a hotcoat and the results were much more visible, but still unnoticible from more than a few feet.
thanks for the hints guys…so far my best guess would be to do a clear squeegee coat on top of the lam…and THEN a clear hotcoat w/the pearl in it as well…maybe itll work…test panels!
the board i have planned is kindof a spearish mini longboard…pintaily 8’ thing…anyways, the bottom will be like a spearmint green (hopefully w/a pearl in it), top will be silver texalium w/green tint over the top of it…soooo itll be pretty green
epoxy over a p/u blank.
ill do some test in the next few weeks and we’ll see what happens!
My old 6’8’ cut down a little with a lot of silver powder.
This is just metal powder.I used it on an 8’6" gun,looks neat in the sun.The powder sinks to the bottom of the resin and pools in any low spot.I tried it in the lam and sanding resin.
I would say put it in the gloss step as thick as you want. Sanding metal powder is not good.
Yes they are O.K. in resin but the pearls need a dark background to achieve the best affect, aluminum powder looks O.K.too but looks just O.K., I also used glow powders to but where only mindblowing at night in the bedroom chicks think its cool.
