On my last board I used a pen which bled when the epoxy hit it. I can’t remember if it was a “sharpie” or a “vis a vis”. Anybody know which pens to use under epoxy?
Yes, use the Sharpie “POSTER PAINT” pens, you may find them at some craft stores, otherwise call FoamEZ they have every color available.
They don’t bleed. Otherwise a quick shot of acrylic sealer/fixative over the artwork seals it off too.
I think the pens are good for directly on the foam, but I just used them on sanded hotcoat and wasn’t happy with the coverage. Next time I will be not so lazy and get out the airbrush for that.
I just used the pens on a sanded hotcoat, loved the coverage, but couldn’t keep them from bleeding under the tape!
Ended up going back to acrylic…
I did a test panel with Sharpies to the same result. It looked ok right upon glassing, but when I came back 30mins later it had bled everywhere.
I picked up some Elmers Painters Pens http://www.markersupply.com/elmerspainters.html in black and white and they worked great.
Howzit etmo, The sharpie pens you used were probably alcohol based which makes the ink bleed when both epoxy or poly hits the ink. Aloha,Kokua
I use the sharpie water base poster markers
from foam ez
No bleeds poly or epoxy
when you apply your gloss dont do eccessive brush strokes
Quote:
Howzit etmo, The sharpie pens you used were probably alcohol based which makes the ink bleed when both epoxy or poly hits the ink. Aloha,Kokua
key kokua – thanks for the reply, and I’m sorry – my poor wording caused the confusion. I used the same water-based Sharpies Poster Paint pens that Endless Winter mentioned. What I meant by bleeding (please tell me the correct term) is that the ink/paint/whatever from the pen managed to get underneath the masking tape, so when I pulled tape, I didn’t have a nice line, I had a big mess.
I never got to the stage of applying a gloss coat over the pins – I had to sand them off, because they looked so bad.
The hotcoat was really well sanded, nice and even, but only to 100 grit. I used a fancy vinyl pinline tape called “The Edge”, and made triple-sure than I had pressed the tape down really really well everywhere.
Maybe this pinline tape is meant for smoother surfaces, or maybe no masking tape can keep these water-based pens from bleeding, or maybe it was gremlins. I wimped out, switched to the tried-and-true green 3M masking tape and Liquitex acrylic.
If you’ve had success with these water-based paint pens, I’d love to hear any advice – thanks!
I use em a lot for pinlines
yes they will bleed under the tape in spots but that can be cleened up
first sand in the direction of the line
tape off with quality tape and rub it down
mark the lines
to clean off the bleeds I hold a credit card on the line and drag a blade across the bleed spot
Im pretty good at fixin stuff
I always paint a thin hotcoat over the pinline area to get a smooth surface to apply the tape to. No Ad F, and a good alcohol wipe with a clean cloth does it. Then I use acrylic laytex paint with extra acrylic. I’ve found 15% acrylic is solid and bonds well to the unsanded epoxy. I do one coat, hit it with the hair drier, then put a second coat right on over top. After I pull the tape it’s a perfect, clean line. A light touch with the sanding pad after it dries, and the hotcoat won’t be repelled by the paint…much.
Sanding with 100 grit is too rough. I use 220 in the area of the pinline. And like Kensurf said: “Sand in the direction of the line”
That’s very important, because every scratch is like a little valley for the paint to get into and flow wherever the scratch goes. The thinner the paint, like in paint pens, the more likely it is to flow into the scratches.
Doug
Zig pens – pigment ink