OK - Great Forum! I’ve been browsing this forum for a few weeks now and finally have a question. I’ve shaped, glassed and hotcoated an 8-0 Minimal for a buddy’s wedding coming up in April. My wife has spent days dreaming up and drawing elaborate artwork with paint pens. The board was built to ride, however - it probably should stay on the wall as an artpiece. Because it was built to ride, it will more than likely be tested out numerously by the groom and his bride in which case the artwork may get ruined. We intend to spray krylon to protect it but I don’t think that will hold out - especially if it’s someone else that’s scraping the sandy wax of the deck of the board. Never did a gloss coat before but sounds not too tricky. Has anyone gloss coated over water based acrylic paint pens without any problems? I’d hate to see the artwork bleed. If this is a problem, does anyone have any better solutions? (Krylon, then gloss?, another hot coat over the art instead of gloss - I’m open to suggestions - Just want to protect hours and hours of work.) I will post a picture of the finished art once it is complete. Any feedback on artwork protection is greatly appreciated.
Howzit Surferdad, It's done alot, but I would suggest using pigment ink pens( Zig pens) since they have less tenency to lift or run when glossing over. You can spray a clear coat over it also but you need to scuff the clear coat before glossing. Check the archives for more info on this subject.Aloha,Kokua
I just did my first gloss coat over posca pen a few weeks ago. From what I learned, I have to say is that the pens don’t run except that you have to make sure that the art work is COMPLETELY dried. Using a hair dryer should be fine. I just glossed over some pinlines that weren’t (although they looked dry) and it ran. I just waited for the gloss to dry and sanded it off no problem. Other than that the glossing procedure should be easy as pie. are you using kokua’s gloss recipe? if not, you should i tried regular gloss and it was a wee bit thick but with kokua’s it was just right. I swear, kokua should bottle that stuff and market it. anyways good luck! and pics of the board are always appreciated.
I was having some bleeding problems using polyester resin over my acrylic pen art on a recent board and I tried sealing it with acrylic (future) and letting it dry for days to no avail.
Using epoxy resin ended up being the way to go for me. During my testing phase, I was using twice the amount of epoxy-thinner that was called for, and was brushing real hard over the paint with no problems what so ever. The down side with epoxy is that it will not polish out as nicely as polyester. So you would probably want to do a gloss coat with polyester over the epoxy. Or, alternatively clear coat it with paint.
Whichever way you go, make sure you do some testing over your paints before you dive in.
And Thanks everyone for your feedback. We weren’t using Zig pens since my wife prefers another brand. She’s always complained that the Zig pens clog up. The one’s we use are called painter’s I think. I was at the art store to pick some more up and noticed that they had even more brands. Sharpie now makes an oil based pigment ink pen, and a company from Germany makes a water based pigment ink pen. I bought a couple of each to test out. My wife doesn’t want to use the sharpie because it may take too long to dry being oil based. The markers from Germany work pretty good and are her second choice of pens so far. I will use an old dunger board to draw up some graphics and do a test gloss coat sometime next week and will let everyone know what the results were. I’m just using a generic gloss coat resin that I bought from Fiberglass Supply. I’ll try using Kokua’s recipe next time. Anyway, Here’s the work in progress. Final photos will be posted once complete.
Howzit raven, No, the Zig's I was using were different, they were in metal that is grey and black. They are called Zig Opaque writer,But I only have a couple of the small tipped ones left since they are no longer available on Kauai. I punched ahole in the bottom of one and refilled it with india ink. India ink is in my estimation the best for pinlines, doesn't run or bleed. Aloha,Kokua
Make sure you didn’t use any kind of oil based paint pens if you want to gloss over it. If you did, do some tests on some scraps before you risk your artwork. Most oils will run, melt down and bleed under polyester resin. Always test.
Did I mention, always test? LOL
Check the archives for Kakua’s Gloss Mix. You can still use your gloss as the base, you just add a little styrene thinner and wax to thin it out a little so it flows nicely. Maybe if you ask Kakua nicely, he will post his mix as a reply.
Don’t forget to use a paint screen to filter out any particles from your gloss.
Good luck, and what a great wedding present. Lets just hope that the groom is allowed to surf after they are married. LOL
By the way, is there such thing as surf after marriage? LOL
thanks, I am just trying to figure out what is the most cost effective pens for the work I want to do on my boards. I can see what you are saying for pin lines with india ink…i might have to try that the next time I get around to building a board… this time however, I am going for that lost style art work…so it looks like posca for the next little while…
Howzit raven, In the days before paint pens were used, pin lines were done with pigment or rapidiographs.rapidiographs are filled with india ink and by refilling a zig pen with india ink you have a felt tipped rapidiograph. Aloha,Kokua
