… hi crew !
Has anyone here used food colouring as a substitute tint , in either a board , or a fin panel ?
( Canned beetroot juice , which I used years ago , was a previous experiment … )
cheers !
Ben
Sydney , Australia
Food coloring is not UV stable. Fades fast.
Experiment a bit. I’ve heard that pigment used to color resin is the same pigment that they use to color paint. I spoke to a person at Lowe’s and he told me that they only use 10-13 pigments to get any color in the spectrum. There is also a product called tints-all that comes in a tube. I don’t know if either of these will work that is why I said experiment. Try to talk a sales associate into giving you some of the pigment, mix it with your resin, leave it in the sun and see what happens. Check for bonding , color retention and workability.
For years paint stores used “Uniiversal Tints”. You could buy them in 8oz. bottles in most paint stores. Only in hard core family owned paint stores these days. Paint stores used the “Q” Sytem for formulas. Since Computer matching became the norm, things have changed. Pretty sure most use “Duratech” colorants these days. Food coloring is pretty weak and as stated not UV stable. I’ve been buying quarts of Dura. As someone stated; It only takes about a dozen colors to do any color under the Sun.
Ha!
Brings back some very old memories.
Like lifting Maw’s food coloring for tint jobs.
Still have #4 so very crude to my eye today.
I will add BT is right!
What was red is now pink…
…thanks for the relies , guys !
I’ll do a tiny fin panel , resin swirled with one food colour added.
then , plan B …
my wife’s nail polish (orange) for a second mini panel.
stay tuned …
the fun continues !
cheers !
ben
I’ve often wondered about the powdered Rit dyes made for dying fabrics. You can find them in most grocery and artstores. My thought would be to mix with styrene to a thick consistancy. Anybody tried those?
Skateboard builders have used Rit fabric dye to color-stain wood. They also use Analine Dyes.
Supposedly Analine Dyes are better for staining wood.
https://www.woodmagazine.com/materials-guide/finishes/aniline-dyes
These dyes act as tints not opaque pigments, allowing the wood grain pattern to show through.
I have no idea how UV stable either is.
Analine Dye will fade pretty quickly. As a reference- Gibson sunburst Les Paul guitars were done with them originally- as a cherry color burst, which faded/fades rather quickly. If they were in a window for display - that was enough to fade them. Many of those guitars now have no cherry color at all.
Oh, now I get it.
I thought “food coloring” was something you did to your board when you were paddling out in shark-infested waters. Makes sense if you’r in Oz, eh?
More seriously, staining wood is one thing and may work if the colorant is well absorbed to the wood, but adding non-soluble colors to resin could be a major mistake.
good on ya , mate !
Please , give it a go ! … and, let me know how it went , eh ? I’d be keen to hear ! ( here in Australia , we have ’ Dylon’ )
cheers !
ben , Sydney , Oz
classic comment (about the brown trails in the ocean) , mate !
I’d give our version (Dylon) fabric dye a go …in a fin panel …first …
stay tubed …er… ’ tuned’ !
cheers !
ben
ozzy ozzy ozzy …oi ! oi ! oi !
meanwhile…
yes , I DO have 'real ’ pigments (AND tints !) , by the way …I just like experimenting with other stuff , too , sometimes , eh !! 
An Alcohol Dye Stain is what the colored stringers are stained with. Alcohol penetrates deep.
I’ve tried food coloring and it worked for my project, however it’s not out in the sun, so…
The thing that worried me the most about food coloring was that there’s water in it. I was worried about the water and epoxy not getting along.
so…revisited…
food colouring
acrylic spray paint
acrylic paint , in a tube
So far , it has been used on
fibreglass
cotton
paper
tissue paper
for fin panel fabric inlays…
I also have foam scraps , lying around , that I will colour … with all of the above three substances . ( Plus , of course , the ‘normal’ pigments and tints that I posted photos of , previously… )
cheers !
( indoor fun and games … " from where you would rather be " (?) ) Ben
…on cotton …
…on fibreglass…
…on (wax) paper …
…on a towel… ( it’s now become a " workbench " , for ‘future projects’ …aha… )
… a " foam stain " , with food colouring , next …
(it seemed to ‘soak in’ , a bit better … :) )
cheers !
Ben
Wait, is that it? Is this with the coloring in resin or just the coloring itself? I like your experiment, I want to see more of it.
thanks , Monkstar !
-
more to come !
-
just the colouring itself ( no resin used …YET !)
3) yes , you WILL …stay tubed …er … " tuned" !
cheers !
ben
