I have a client that wants sparkles. I saw a video of Jack Reeves doing this. Anything special about the sparkly stuff I should be aware of? Ultra fine? Extra fine?
Thanks
yeah, just what I thought. You guys don’t do sparkles or at least you won’t admit it :)
Sparkle finishes: The next pet rock.
If you do some sparkles, be sure to wear your feather boa, when you do. Post some photo’s.
Sparkle or flake??
heavy or light?
You can lam and then shake on the sparkle, or you can add it to the lam Depending on the desired outcome
It likes to hang around, a few may end up in the next board you lam.
I’ve done glow powder and that has got me interested in trying this stuff: https://www.fibreglast.com/product/Brilliant_Blue_Glitterflake_881/glitterflake
The only thing they warn is that you don’t want to overdo the glitter flake because it can make the finished glass bumpy.
Upload pics once you’re finished.
I’ve seen metalflake in resin opaque glass jobs. Gold metalflake for earth tones and silver for blue tones. As noted above, a tiny bit goes a long way. Be prepared for when that stuff gets all over while you’re sanding. Or so I’m told by the glasser who was doing those.
and for the love of all that is good and proper don’t let my daughter see this. That’s the last thing I need her requesting on the board she’s been begging me to make her.
I have a semi beat up Yater shaped by Michael Hynson , his personal board , shaped in 86/87 with some black panels and fine silver glitter in it. Guess he liked it, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
Thanks guys; great responses. I’ll try to make some notes on doing this and post some images.
Sorry I missed this. I’ve done “Glitter” quite a few times. There are two basic applications; Salt n Pepper(ie the Jack Reeves video). Or heavy glitter. The trick to glitter is to get it on Even. It is difficult to get it on even if you shake it on. Better to stir into your lam resin. If you want it to be fairly noticeable you should double whatever amount you think is suitable. If you want heavy glitter, you will have to really load it up. I buy mine off the internet in quarts. A good combo is to paint the Blank in a color that is similar to or contrasts to the color of glitter you are using. If you are doing a whole board tint, you will want to add the glitter to your hot coat and then gloss over. I have done solid glitter boards in one color using a method similar to the method used to spray ground acrylic on the deck of sailboards. “Similar” is about all I will say about that method. That’s a trade secret I’m not giving up. Lowel
Hynson’s first Board was reported to be a Yater. He was in SB in the late 80’s. Have heard him referred to as “Uncle Mike”.
Yes, McDing, good points. I agree 100% to the need to add way more glitter than expected to the lam resin. Doing the deck side tonight and will at least double the amount that I did for the bottom. I will also probably ad some to the hot coat.
I used ‘extra fine’ glitter (0.015") in the lam and will probably use ‘ultra fine’ (0.008") in the hot coat. Turning out better than I ever expected. But as WideAWAKE mentioned, this stuff gets everywhere. Had a 4th of July BBQ yesterday. I somehow got glitter in my burger. The beer helped.
Just got an email from my supplier about new irredescent colors in a super fire grind. I’ll see if I can post the link. They sell quarts, lbs. and boxes.
Nice! Post the link when you get the opportunity. Fibergalss Hawaii has that stuff. But the chances of me ever surfing at night again were vastly reduced after bumping into a shark on night at Manasquan Inlet NJ back in the summer of 1990. I’d feel like a big fishing lure with a glowing board 
But, if the kids want this…
Alright, did the sparkles. Got “extra fine” and “ultra fine” polyester sparkles from an art supply house. Not expensive. Extra fine sparkles are 0.015" in diameter and ultra fine sparkles are 0.008" in diameter. I mixed the sparkles into the lam resin. Was really easy to get a uniform spread of these buggers. I think if you sprinkle the sparkles you’ll get a more dramatic effect as they would float nearer to the surface of the lam/hot coat/gloss coat. I found that lighter tint colors diminished the effect while darker tint colors accentuated the effect. I would go with the extra fine if I had to choose. I would like to try the next bigger size sparkles to see what the effect would be. Image attached. Not a great photo and I’ll try to get a better picture tonight and post it.
It was an interesting experiment and I hope the client likes it; I think she will. And as mentioned, these things get everywhere if the user is not careful. I’m pretty sure I ingested some at a 4th of July BBQ that we had.
Thanks for the help and advice.
