# Paint for pigment?



## Pjohnson (Feb 24, 2013)

I believe this is so, based on what I have read - want to confirm ...

Can oil based paints be used as an opaque pigment for PR casting?
I have some metallic paint (copper) that I would like to use.

Thoughts and suggestions are welcome.

Thank you

PJ


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## Bowl Slinger (Feb 24, 2013)

I have experimented with this and have found that each paint manufacture and believe it or not, color has an effect on the PR. I got this wild idea that fingernail polish would be a great  coloring agent (between my wife and daughter there is an endless supply of some awesome colors) so I did some testing. The yellow, red, green set up fine. the purple and silver never got completely hard. The blue and black felt hard but when I started drilling, the small amount of heat caused the blank to soften and warp. The best advise that I can give you is to mix up a small batch and see how it comes out. Remember that even if it feels hard to drill and turn one before you spend the $ on a larger batch. I use 3/4" PVC pipe for my molds. It only takes 3oz of resin to fill a 6"X3/4" tube


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## Pjohnson (Feb 24, 2013)

Thank you .... My plan is to experiment. I will post an update.


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## commercialbuilder (Feb 24, 2013)

I use artist oil paints to tint pr with no problems since I started using it about a year ago. I buy the mid grade from Michaels and you can catch a coupon to get the best prices. So far it only takes very small amounts to get the color I want, like 1/4" or less for any tint. I also like being able to mix colors to get the correct tint before you add it to the pr. I have not tried it with alumnilite yet but plan to try a small mix soon.


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## sumterdad (Feb 24, 2013)

If you use the artist style oil paint from michaels and hobby lobby what you want to make sure is that you use a small amount of resin in a cup then mix in your paint.  if you dont you will get clumps and paint strings in the resin.and when i say small amount i mean less than a tea spoon.  once you get it mixed good then you pour in the rest of your resin


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## Pjohnson (Feb 26, 2013)

*Paint mix update*

So my update - the PR resin/paint dried solid after 24 hours. After casting I let in sit on top of my boiler. I think the heat aided in the curing process. It cut, drilled, and lathed well.

The issue I found was that some of the paint dried on a flat side and left several dimples that were not to my liking. 

My recipe was a mix of mostly the copper paint in the resin and a small drizzle of macro pearl white. After mixing I realized that the metallic paint I used was latex not oil. 

All in all I was somewhat please with the result and may try again. I have a copper euro kit and would like to match the blank. If anyone has any suggestions for a good blank color for copper I am all ears.

Many thanks for reading.

PJ


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