Swirl Blobs

[BlackKnight]

I have been doing lots of practice swirling on bits of wood and apart from the water beading i am having one other problem, the paint doesnt seem to be dissipating evenly over the water causing blobs of paint here and there, the lighter paints seem to dissapate easier then the darker ones. is there any reason for this? You can see in the pictures below the blobbing i am talking about.

Would it go away with less paint or more borax, perhaps i am not waiting long enough between adding the black and then adding colors in. That is why I was asking about differant colors dissapating in differant ways. The greens (especially the lighter/brighter ones) seem to dissapate very easily. They also seem to 'hog' the surface area which is possibly why the black is blobbing. Has anyone else come accross any of this at all?

[amdmonster]

It can be several things, different colors will spread and react different cause the color it self being thicker or thinner. The more borax you put the more and faster it will viloently spread. Water temp can make a diffence also. Blobs usually form when colors stick togerther with another one, or if they are to thick. Are you putting dark colors then light colors? The darker colors tend to be stronger and push more and will make the color veins smaller, causing it to clump some. It can be the kind of paint. What are you using??

Try thinning the darker colors some!! And put the green in last start with dark to light on the surface!!

[BlackKnight]

Im using Humbrol Model Paint which is the same as testors i think. I didnt get on with the plasticote stuff. Im putting in the black and waiting for it to dissapate (about 30 secs) then pouring the lighter colors and waiting a bit more untill they seem to stop spreading. they i use some cocktail sticks to swirl it. I then dip after about a min or so to make sure its spread properly. The first dip is usually the worst and by the third dip its not to bad.(most of the pics are third dips).

[Daniel Sorbera]

deffinitly try thinning the darker colors until all the colors are about the same viscosity.

[amdmonster]

whats your borax mix ratio?

[BlackKnight]

I put in about 350grams per 80 litres, something like that, I was also thinking this may be the problem and I will be putting in a bit more when the weather here getts a bit better.

[BlackKnight]

I think i have finally cracked it!!! Gonna be dipping the guitar probobly today. This is the results of nearly 2 months of pratice dipping and testing.

[amdmonster]

looking good what did you find out your problem was?

[whitey]

wow,and matching green pickups,the middle one looks best,but that is gonna look really sweet,and i spose the great thing about it is that its so uniqe,until u post pics of ur guitar,i will then take ur pics,print them,stick them on my axe and...anyway lol.but that looks great,its incredible how u find the time,and other people,to do these great things

[BlackKnight]

Yes, the problem was that I was putting in to much paint to quickly and not letting it disperse properly, I also put more borax in the water. Seems to work. I put up pics of the guitar in another post.

[amdmonster]

you mentioned the 1st dip was the worst and the 3rd was better. What was the problem you had with the first dip and second one?

[BlackKnight]

By the third dip a lot of the paint had been removed from the water, laeving the correct amount of paint in the tub. It all revolved around me putting to much paint in the water etc...

[cerealk]

Looking good!