Rice Paper Bubbles

General Discussion
1

Hello. I just finished glassing the top of a board with a large rice paper decal. The decal is a pattern that runs the length of the board. Before putting down the cloth, I wetted and squeegeed out the rice paper with uncatalyzed resin. The paper was well flattened and there were no visible creases, bubbles, or pockets. I then put down the cloth, laminated, and pulled out any excess resin. When it dried there are sections of the cloth that did not completely adhere to the rice paper. It looks fine from straight on, but looking at it from an angle there are large patches all along the board’s length that seem slightly discolored from where the cloth didn’t stick as well as it should have.

If the design looks fine from straight on, will it be ok after the hot coat? If so, is there any immediate concern with delamination?

If the bubbles will noticeably stick around after the hot coat, is there any way to fix the problem (injecting more resin, scoring the pockets with a razor blade prior to hot coat, or other) short of sanding the cloth/rice paper off?

Thank you.

2

Large rice paper decal can be a challenge to lay up to begin with. You should always catalyze the resin. By not catalyzing the resin that you use to stick down the decal with, the uncatalyzed resin that’s beteween the board and the decal will not harden. That’s because the catalyzed resin thats in the glass lamination can’t penetrate very well thru the rice paper below it. You will most likely have some de-lam problems down the road specially when the board is exposed to heat like when out in the sun. Next time just mix yourself a batch that has less catalyst in it to give you more time to get the decal placed.

As far as bubbles go you can use a Dremel with a small bit to grind a small hole into the bubble and back fill it by injecting with a syringe filled with resin.

3

18 or 20 gauge needle is the go for that one.