I did a little experimentation tonight with the marble cap dip process.

I followed all the directions in the "how to" thread, and something interesting happened.

I put my drop of paint (testor's enamel) on the top of the water, and instead of it staying together in one round drop as expected (seeing as it's oil based), it it spread out in a weird way.  I used black and the center of the mass was a cloudy haze of black and all around that, I got a clear film that stayed all filmy-like.

I dipped the arrow down into it and the results were alright, but that film has me second guessing.  I did this in my garage where the temp is about 45 degrees, but the water was  room temperature. The paint had been sitting in the garage, so there was a temperature difference from the water.

When I pulled the arrow out, most of that film stayed in the water and I could literally pull it off the top with a ruler that I had.

When I flung the water off at a piece of plywood that I had, black paint splattered off. I'm thinking that's because of the film on top.

What do you all think?

Thanks.

Adam

Good to hear that you are giving it a try....few ideas:

1. In my experience if the "paint splattered off" after dipping than something isn't right. After a successful dip there should be nothing splattering but a little bit of water.

2. I've had what you are describing happen a few times. If I get a "funny looking" paint on top of the water I wait a bit and just dip it out and try again.

3. Lots of moving parts with the temps and paint. Was the paint mixed up thoroughly? Nothing "contaminating" the water? The paint typically stays in a relatively confined pattern until you swirl it up. Was this the very first arrow you dipped in the water? Was it the first through that particular "spot of paint"?

Any pics?

Don't get discouraged! Once you get the hang of it you will be glad you stayed after it.

Good luck and as with most things YMMV.

Thanks for the input.

Not a whole lot of paint splattered off...i think what came off whas part of that film that was on top of the water.

I shook the paint until my arm and wrist started hurting...just bought it yesterday from the hobby shop and it was pretty settled.

It was a clean containter and it was my first arrow...more of a test really.

The pattern turned out good...it's just that film had me worried.  

I'm at work all day today and I've had the paint warming up in the house all night last night.  By the time i get home this evening, it'll definitely be room temp and I'll try again and post pics.

Thanks again.

Adam

Extremely limited experience here(my wife and I did a set of arrows for her this summer) the paint and water would have been fairly close to the same temp with fairly high humidity. My wife says we got the best results cleaning the water after every arrow the paint tended to ball up and stick to the shaft if we didn't do this, a twist on the way down gave the best pattern, we've only done one set so we still have a lot to learn.

Keep us posted.

Cleaning the paint off of the water after every arrow is a must IMO.

If I notice the thin film you are talking about, I just chase it down with the toothpick that I mix the paint with...push it to the side twirl it up and pull it out with the pick.

Ok. Sounds like the film might be normal. My guess is that it's one of the ingredients in the paint that doesn't like water.

Here is a pic of what happens the second the paint hits the water. The film surrounds the hazy drop of paint in the middle



This is what it looks like if I swirl without taking the film out.



This is what the film looks like after I dip. Took it out with my test shaft.



Anyone else experience this?

hows the finished product look? the swirl looks good to me. are you dropping the drop of paint off the tooth pick from just above the water?

I as well have been experimenting with the marble dip and luckily I had some old shafts to work with instead of trying it with my good shafts. So I got the hang of it before trying it with my wooden shafts. The thing is the 'film' on top of the water is normal, what I do is afterwards add another drop of paint into the center black haze part and then swirl it. It provides a deeper color for the swirls.

Matter of fact tonight I just got done marbling my dozen surewood shafts.

Yes I am. It doesn't plop in the water.

No finished product to show.  I ran about 4 colors on top of each other just to see what would happen. It doesn't look like much.

I'll be making a set for myself in a few weeks. When I'm done, ill be sure to post. I wanted to work out the kinks before I started on my real project.

Here's a video from earlier when I started. In this instance I didn't include an extra drop after the initial one and the result came out lighter than I wanted so from then on I began including another drop after the first initial one to make the 'film haze'.

 

Another thing too, the second drop will plop and stay in a drop on top of the water after the first initial haze drop.

Alright. That looked exactly like when I did it. Thanks for the help

Adam

Not a problem. Like I said if you wanted a thicker swirl pattern just add another drop to the first one this adds more paint into the swirl.

Glad my video helped you make sure you were on track    

Trying to find pics is challenging me just a bit....







I tend to work pretty quickly...but not too fast. Drop or two of each color and swirl them around just right and in the shaft goes. I usually don't get a "film" until the paint has floated on top of the water for a bit.

Experimenting helped me a lot as it has others by the sounds of things. The tip to use some old shafts is a good one.

Good luck!

Dark colors take a lot less paint. Too much and they will overpower any lighter colors you use.

Having some open water in the paint tends to look pretty cool IMO when it is done.

Looks great.  Do you guys seal over the top of that, or do you just leave it alone?

I have some Profin so seal the rest of the shaft...just looking to see if it's that necessary.

Thanks again.

Adam