Tinting Epoxy

[haldir]

Just curious if anyone has ever tinted epoxies & if so what did you use to do it with?

 

 

[Inarah]

2 hours ago, haldir said:

Just curious if anyone has ever tinted epoxies & if so what did you use to do it with?

 

 

 

You mean like 5 minute epoxy?  I've used a toothpick to add drops of Reaper paint to tint pools....

 

Used green and brown paint in this one:

 

Painted the inside of the pool and used a tiny bit of blue in this one: 

 

Plastic picture hanging cord for the fountain effects. 

 

[mikem91]

I've watched videos of this done, but haven't done this myself.  

 

https://www.resinobsession.com/resin-resin-resin/how-to-color-clear-epoxy-resin/

 

There are specific additives for epoxies that are best, but acrylic paints are pretty well reviewed as well.  The above link I hope is a good resource to start with.

[BLZeebub]

As above, plain ol' acrylics work pretty well.  You just need to mix really well to avoid bubbles of paint (unless you want them!).  You can start with very little, and depending on the set time (resin doesn't have a huge working time) add paint until the tone/hue is what you want.  For general reference, I'd say the above pool with the wizard beside it is less than a full drop of paint, maybe a large drop or two for the well.  Doesn't take much.

[haldir]

Yah I need to make a sludge pool, so thanks everyone for the pics & info. I've always seen to use food coloring,  but never in epoxies + there are no "sludgee" colors there. 

[MojoBob]

If you want very clear, transparent results, then acrylic inks are good, and you need very little ink to tint quite a lot of epoxy. I've used both spirit-based inks and regular acrylic inks, and both seem to work equally well.

 

If you want a murkier result, then the opaque earth pigments will do the trick; again, you need surprisingly little paint to colour a mass of epoxy.

 

If you want very murky, then mixing a small amount of talc into the coloured epoxy does the job, but be warned that the tipping point between translucent-but-murky and a-solid-block-of-coloured-epoxy is very delicate.

 

• NOTE: be sure that what you're using is actually epoxy, and not polyester resin, before adding acrylic paints or inks. I have coloured polyester resin with acrylics in the past, but they can mess up the curing and leave you with a rather soft, rubbery cure if you're not careful.

 

Edited May 18, 2021 by MojoBob