drawn/painted pictures on a rod blank using pigmented epoxy? (sort of like marbling but on a different level!)

assuming the artist is good enough and quick enough, (and the brush fine enough!) is there any reason (that i cant see at the moment) why it cant be done?

I'd just have a bash but the white blank i have is very sentimental and i need to be confident before i start...

cheers,
Marty

Hello Marty.

Yes, it can be done but it is tricky.

The last one I did was a marlin, what I did was using thread and cp made an outline of the marlin, mixed the epoxy with the wanted colors and let it sit until it started to thicken up a bit then painted it.

The thread along the edges held the epoxy in place, but if it is too wet you will get runs, so the main trick is to get the epoxy just thick enough to stay inside the thread and thin enough to paint.

If you don't want the thread to stay you can pull it when the epoxy is hard enough.

You might want to practice on some scrap a few times before using your "very sentimental" blank.

You will want to put some clear epoxy on over the colored epoxy for protection after the colored has dried.

Tight Wraps & Tighter Lines.

Bob,

New Bern, NC.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/14/2016 12:19PM by Robert A. Guist.

Consider using water-based craft paints for your picture(s). That way they could be easily removed by washing with a wet sponge and redone until you get the picture that you want to preserve by topcoating with finish once the picture has dried.

I don't know how they do it, but fingernail painters do some nice work. I would think the same processes and materials would work for rod blanks.

Acrylic paint works very well for painting on blanks.

You can also air brush a blank in the same way, using the same material that finger nail folks do.

As a matter of fact, just take a blank that you want painted over to your local finger nail parlor and enlist the services of one of the talented folks who can do the art work that you want on your blank.

They commonly paint really great art work in folk's nails.

After the paint is well dried, just give it a coat of epoxy thread wrap finish and you will be set. The secret about putting finish over another paint or lettering is to use just enough to flow out by itself, and do NOT do any brushing of the epoxy in the area of the paint. Also, do not put on so much epoxy so that it really flows around the rod. You want just enough to cover, without moving very much. And without any brushing of the finish in the area of the painted under markings.


Be safe

I would also think a good lacquer clear One or two dust coats This way there is no brushing When that drys brush on a nice coat of finish
Not sure what is used but auto pin strippers do sides of cars ??

Bill - willierods.com

Some great info there lads, many thanks.

You've got me thinking that painting with acrylic will be a lot easier, but can it go straight on top of the factory laquer ? or does it need some sort of primer/accelerator to make sure it "grabs"?

The images will wrap around the blank, so its gonna take a very long time regardless. I'm now thinking it might be better to put all the artwork on a "skin", then apply the skin to the rod. Any ideas what best substrate would be for a skin, and how best to affix it?

(What i ideally need is some very fine, bright coloured and opaque sharpies that dry quickly and wont react to epoxy finish!)

What about decal clear paper Then put it on just like a decal

Bill - willierods.com

bill boettcher Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> What about decal clear paper Then put it on just
> like a decal


Assuming the decal paper will take a paint or ink then that could be the answer Bill !

(cheers mate, i'll get testing)

If it will not try Fixative over the paper first then the paint There are more ways to skin a cat
This way you can lay it flat and it will be easier to paint Experiment

Bill - willierods.com