Peter, Opaque pigments and UV resin do not work together. UV resin cures with light and opaque pigments block that light. That white pigment I sent you all those years ago was titanium dioxide the red i don't remember exactly what it was, but it blocked the light enough to stop the cure. You could put very thin layers of those mixtures and you may have some success, but i would reserve opaque pigments to an A/B epoxy. P.S. i haven't missed an episode since i started watching all those years ago. I am glad that lately you have been uploading more often, and that you are still finding use of the stuff i sent (despite the fact it caused so much mayhem on this project). Also i still work in adhesives, but I am a leatherworker now too if you want to try to work leather into a project let me know.
Getting one of those nail polish UV setups that just sits on the surface will include good UV bulbs plus ease of use and larger coverage area for the light. I have used such a lamp with great success with UV resin.
You used too much mica powder. It has nothing to do with opaque colours. But powders that are too thick in application do obscure opacity for curing. 3 tips. 1. Use a 36 watt for at least 3 or 4 minutes. The time will vary depending on the brand and thickness of the UV resin. Doming resins tend to thicken and cure faster than more viscous resins. Cure on both sides. 2. Mica powder can be strengthened with alcohol inks (again, mild amounts!) and not only will you create bright new colours, but the ink will soften opacity allowing the resin to cure more thoroughly. 3. Resin brands matter. If you get a high end resin like Piccassio for example, it will be thick enough to dome well, thin enough to pour well, and cures FAR faster than many brands. Other brands such as Let's Resin will take longer to cure, is a bit thinner, and this means that work time can vary. Some resins take forever to cure. So do some comparative shopping. Good luck with future projects.
@@prcervi Materials that are mostly opaque will, however that is titanium dioxide ( i was the person who sent it to him) think of it like Zinc oxide (commonly used as sunscreen). There is TiO2 in some sunscreens as well, and in those cases you only need a fraction of TiO2 compared to ZiO2. Even in some adhesive applications titanium dioxide is specifically used to block out uv light. Enough of it will block out 99.999% of all UV light making curing a UV resin impossible. How do I know?, I have been working formulating custom adhesives for the automotive and aerospace industry for close to 20 years. I have specifically worked on custom adhesives that need to block UV light/radiation both here on earth and also elsewhere.
You need stronger UV light and translucent pigments. That white pigment is probably opaque so the moment the top layer cured it stopped the light penetrating towards the bottom of the "pool".
This. What happened wasn't due to the chemical properties of your pigments, but the optical properties. The white pigment was designed to scatter and reflect light evenly across the visual spectrum, but ultraviolet is pretty close to the upper end of our visual range and probably was also being scattered and reflected by it. You also used enough white pigment that those parts appeared to be quite opaque, blocking the UV from getting much past the surface. If you mixed the pigment more thinly the UV would have been able to scatter and penetrate better. If you still want an opaque look you may need to fill most of the space with transparent resin and cure it first, then try a thin layer of more opaque resin on top. But it may also be possible to get pigments that are more translucent in UV and thus work better with UV resin. By the same token the red segments also didn't cure as well, despite being translucent. But again, this is due to the optical properties of the pigment. In this case the pigment is designed to absorb strongly in the blue and green parts of the spectrum, thus providing a translucent red light when lit with white lite. Once again the pigment probably has the same properties in UV that it has in the blue part of the spectrum and absorbs the UV, making it harder for the resin to cure, although it was not as opaque in UV as the white was so it seemed to fare better. You'll probably need to experiment to see which pigments work better in UV resin. Maybe try less pigment density in the resin, thin pours, a stronger UV light, and patience.
@@pattiklaus9580 But it curled up. Lol. Even if it didn't, you'd just end up with a liquid filled pocket if you only cured the surfaces. Really, the entire volume needs to cure
Peter, a few tips for this. UV resin doesn't do well with massive amounts of mica powder due to it blocking the light. 2 you need to follow the amount of time the resin on the bottle tells you to cure it. You were curing way too little with the UV light you have. Also, to get a proper stained-glass look, use a resin pigment like alcohol inks or translucent colorant for it.
@@LeopardessMoon01 Alcohol ink does work in UV resin if you use very little. The problem with alcohol inks in resin though, is that they fade in indoor natural lighting in about 6 weeks. So not recommended, especially for something that is designed to be put in full sun.
Hey Peter, my wife does a TON of UV resin work, and she suggested that instead of using your torch to pop surface bubbles, a little dollar tree spritz bottle full of 91% Isopropryl Alcohol is the perfect thing for popping the bubbies. Just a light misting across the surface will make all the bubbles disappear. The reason why a torch is not recommended is that you could accidentally set the resin on fire or even burn your form. She has set the resin on fire before, and learned from that particular lesson that the smoke detector in her craft room is a good investment. She also agrees with most of the other commenters that the white and red mica powders were probably too opaque for proper curing. But hey! New tool in the arsenal!
The "super white" pigment probably has titanium dioxide in it. It's a very common white pigment, even used in some foods. But it's also in sunscreens because it blocks UV light. That would explain why the surface cured but the UV was unable to penetrate very far into the resin gel.
Next time you should make a color key that sits behind the cut out. Just a white image with a letter or number code for each color. Kinda make it into a paint by numbers.
Very cool. That lemon colour almost looks like it was so opaque it blocked the UV from penetrating all the way through the resin. Also I thought it was quite interesting how the mica resins seemed to almost bloom when you were putting them in there, like spots of mould would, but nicer looking of course. Not sure if that blooming carried through after they cured or not, or if it was just the camera picking it up where it's not so obvious in person.
I had the same question about opaque colorants in UV resin, but waited to finish the video to post a comment about it in case it was addressed. Looks like it was indirectly.
It could be, but a pigment being opaque to visible light doesn't mean it's also opaque to UV. The same way that glass is transparent to visible light but opaque to infrared.
@Squibbleses I see that kind of bloom a lot when making melt and pour soap with mica in it. I feel like it's made from how the mica settles, either from how the liquid was dropped or from the currents it kinda forms as it cures. If this is like the soaps, it stays in the finished piece but might be more subtle than while it's still liquid.
Peter, it's more valuable to fail and learn than to get it right. Look at all the discussions going on in your comments, which are as far as i can tell, mostly positive and informative. You have probably saved so many people from so much headache. Thank you for being our guinea pig and showing us that a project doesn't always go right and being an example of how to act decently when things go wrong.
Awesome salvaging of what could have been a disaster, and your colour choices at the end were great! I think one thing the copper plating has going for it, over the copper spray paint, is that the laid-down copper softens and rounds off the sharp finish of the plywood and makes it look more like real leadlighting, whereas the paint doesn't really disguise the fact that it's cut wood rather than metal and solder. That said, if the paint is both cheaper and easier, it's hard to argue with that! :)
Not from experience, but I would suggest using a bigger UV light to cover more area and leave the light sit in one place instead of waving it around. Then, when you have the top cured, you can turn it over and cure it from the bottom, too.
The darker it is, the more uv it will absorb and cure faster. It's like when people use black paint to get better results with the laser cutter, it will absorb more energy. I think you need to leave the UV light on WAY longer, and probably need a better source than a little flashlight.
@@Drummerchef13 Agreed. I started with a 6 watt UV light. Frustration abounded, I could only pour 1/8th thickness and NO green. 2 lights later (50 and then 70 watt) I can cure up to 1/2inch thick of just about any color in 3 minutes.
The answer to why it curled and you had uncured resin is because the pigments were opaque and you only cured on one side directly, the other had the tinted tape impeding it. Using too much mica or other opaque pigments means the UV light can't penetrate the resin properly and therefore doesn't fully cure. Transparent liquid pigments and much smaller amounts of powder will give you a proper cure. I'd also suggest a light you can set up above the piece (a la Evan & Katelyn) to give a more even/powerful exposure.
Also hit the piece from the bottom up (or when top is cured flip it over and continue curing that side). There is an English man doing a lot of experimenting with UV resin I’ll get his nam and put it here. Watch some of his videos. They are mostly short.
Quite likely the white and red pigments were too opaque for the UV to reach the resin. Also, I've noticed that UV resin needs a lot more time under the light than it's advertised for most brands. Lovely dragon, and excellent save, as always!
I suggested this in the first video and I was expecting him to do it here, given he mentioned viewer suggestions. I'm disappointed that he only mentioned the comments referring to it as a jigsaw puzzle.
You know this would make a great craft kit idea for resin just because it does look exactly like stained glass. Lots of resin artists would love to be able to work with a frame like that. Somebody could make some money from manufacturing the frame. I know it had me scratching my head wondering where I could find a frame like that. The tools you have are way beyond what most people can come up with.
A lot of people cure UV under fingernail lights for 90 seconds on both sides. The more opaque the color, the less light penetrates. Even opaque molds cause an issue. I'm amazed the blues cured!! 💙 Great job trying new things!! 👏 UV and Epoxy resins are very different animals! 😮
I really appreciate that you let us in on the frustrations of it not working. I think just knowing even the awesome guy on RU-vid has the same struggles on projects helps not feeling quite so crushed when hitting a stumbling point.
Others have covered the issue with translucency with using UV resin, but I just wanted to say that you did a great job with not being a regular UV user! I messed up so many of my early projects when I was learning with it haha
I like the idea of the UV resin because it is simpler to use and you aren't under a time limit. I do wonder about the cost vs. using regular resin though.
@@debramandich1462 one way to negate the yellowing in the clear UV resin is to add a single TINY drop of blue dye to the clear. Same principle as when you're not wanting 2 part resin to yellow.
I love how you addressed the pigment failure. The thought process you went through to work through each problem separately was really well thought through. And the color 'repair' was spot on. Thanks for walking through this on camera, it really taught me a couple things. Do tests on your color ahead of application and keep it as part of the label. You can even keep track of the color certain pigments are under black light or uv and have the piece be a specific look that way as well. Then you could display both ways.
The 'oily residue' you get is probably a mix of melted/aerosolized resin from the wood combined with residue of the same kind from the glue used to bond the plywood layers. Plus some other funky products emitted when the laser superheats the wood, creating gases that vapor deposit on the surface of the metal sheet.
it is amazing to me that so many people have the same panic attack/anxiety issues that I have suffered from for over 20 years. Mine certainly was stress related and since I retired I am having much less attacks, but they are still there.
Laser cutting is a craft in and of itself. When using UV resin you do need to let it sit under the UV for as long as you can, a quick flash of light isn't always enough. Letting it bake in the sun is always helpful.
That is such an awesome design! I liked the white, but once you held it up to the sun, it was clear its failure was a blessing in disguise. It looked like you were just going to fast with too wimpy a UV light. You need like 3 seconds of exposure with a decently powerful UV lamp to really get a good cure. It all worked out in the end, though, and you got an amazing piece of art out of it!
Tip/Idea for the cut out pieces, instead of tossing them, you could reach out to a local game store as there's many terrain builders LOVE those bits, I know I use them often in my terrain buildings
"I'm positive that I'm totally upset!" Omg, FELT SEEN HEARD AND SUBSCRIBED 😅 But also, loved to see the final result. Super excited to see all the new items worked! I'm hoping to try this with these products, as we have them, with a kingdom hearts design for my nibling! ❤
I love this, I just had major surgery and haven’t been able to move, you used my favorite fictional creature and my favorite colors. You’ve made me very happy thank you.
really sad when i see creators still partnering with better help after all the harm they have caused. I guess even when that kind of thing blows up, it doesen't reach everyone.
Peter i think you did an awesome job! I know you were getting a little freaked out by the end but i would have too 😂 dont beat yourself up that it didnt work the first time. You recovered perfectly and it came out great!
if you can work on a piece of glass or a pad of white silicone, you can bounce the UV light around and you'll get a better cure on the bottom. also, definitely get a bigger UV light. there are UV manicure lights you can get that are bigger than those dink little 4" wide ones, and they'll work great for this.
That lemony pigment was probably too opaque for the UV light to penetrate all the way through which is why they only cured on top. If you place the entire project on a glass surface and cure from underneath as well as on top it will help. Great result.
As someone who has used UV resin in a number of jewelry sized items, a few tips! I use these pigments for UV resin, but 1. You need a WAY brighter light. A nail art lamp is much better. Anything with any opacity, or big projects like that, I will let cure in a sunny place for a couple of days to get really hard. 2. If you want translucent, use alcohol inks (but no white!). 3. If you want to use mica, use several layers- this is way too thick. OR rub it onto a transparent layer, with another layer on top, you can make some neat effects that way. 4. If you want opaque, try UV gel nail polish as a colourant, or buy UV resin pigments. Make the layers as thin as you can. Epoxy resin doesn’t always ‘play nicely’ when layered. As long as the layers are well cured, UV resin layers beautifully. Other tips: 1. Nail art tools are your best friends, disposable brushes, lint-free wipes, etc RULE. Cheap as dirt on Ali Express. 2. It cleans up well with rubbing alcohol 3. It doesn’t stick well to a lot of things that epoxy resin does- especially metal. A super thin coat of clear across the back will lock it all in. (I think the copper plating was ‘rough’ enough, but it can pop off of smooth metal) I’m trying a larger window decoration, using brass flat brass wire right now. Definitely not as fast as this, but alas, no xtool (but lots of wire experience, so we’ll see).
You should try to make a square lampshade out of two stained glasses and their leftover pieces by pouring some resin into the gaps of the leftover pieces.
Good save, lovely dragon piece; and I really like that you show the ups and downs of crafting. I am amazed the paint worked. I really liked the look of it. I thought the uv resin would be too thick to cure , but happy surprise! It did much better than I expected. I am more likely to try that now. Thanks.
the leftover bits from the cutout would make for a nice inlay...and also, depending on how small you could cut a piece, you could make some pretty cool box lids with the faux stained glass look. leftover resin could also be used to make fun little cabochons you can use for random decoration on other projects.
Suggestions: 1) Slide a brightly colored paper sheet under the piece to help spot holes in more complex design. 2) test the colors on a white piece of paper first
The dragon turned out magnificently! I'm biased toward dragons vs princesses, but even taking that into account it really did turn out great. I wonder how setting it outside on a sunny day to do the entire curing process would work? Thanks so much for using the UV resin so we can see how it's used.
I know you like doing weird different stuff but I really like these stained glass like videos, some of my favorite stuff visually you've made and I hope you keep coming back to them. These might take more patience to make but I bet they make a good project to just do a couple pours throughout the day and slowly keep coming back to it
I think the UV resin would work better with translucent dyes for the colors instead of pigments that go opaque. In my experience, UV resin likes transparent dyes the most since the light can pass through and cure throughout. With more opaque pigments it cures and creates a sort of shell and it can be harder (and sometimes impossible) to get the middle cured because light doesn't reach it. I think in this case since it's such a thin piece it can still work (if a bit messy since you needed to peel the back tape and put UV light on that side as well) and those specific pigments just didn't like the UV resin on top of being opaque. Honestly though it came out looking pretty dang good!
I kind of like the Picasso! Since you plan to go deeper (thicker) with the resin you need to cure it in stages. UV resin can get hot and bubble if it is too thick while curing under the light. Most likely the reason the red and white didn’t cure is because they were too opaque for the light to get through. UV resin does not lend itself to opaque colors. If flipping it over and curing from the back didn’t cure it then it was just way too opaque.
I'm watching this video to calm down from a bad panic attack. Mine are caused by vitamin deficiencies due to a diet change from a long term illness. I have the resources I need, I strongly suggest anyone else dealing with anxiety gets help. Years ago I started watching this channel during the worst part of my life. I got sick, injured, and was bed ridden for two years. I watched you to keep my spirits up while I recovered. I ballooned up to over 500lbs from bad choices during my depression. I've lost a lot of it, but I recently fell off the wagon again. I'm paying for it. Like your storytime video I'm about to take a trip and I'll likely have some photo and video memories of the experience. We're meeting Josh Gates and have a special meet and greet with him. I already feel disgusted with myself for how I'm going to look. It isn't a confidence thing nor something I'm beating myself up for. Instead, it's a piss poor life choice I need to take responsibility for. Long story short thank you for being part of my journey in life. Though you're more like a billboard I see on the side of the road than someone I interact with daily, what your choose to present to your audience definitely reaches someone who's listening and sincerely thanks you for being vulnerable. I don't put people on pedestals. But, if you knew who Josh Gates was then this will hopefully make you smile. I'd be just as excited to meet you as him because I feel both of you are positive Influences (not influencers) in your communities and inspire future generations to be hands on instead of glued to screens.
I'd go very light on the opaque pigments- to bring a slightly cloudy effect while using mainly translucent colors instead. That way the UV gets better penetration. But hey, a fixed mistake teaches us more than an easy success. Your save was excellent. I agree that the transparent blue looked nicer than the pale yellow of the original pattern. Outstanding result for your first time working with UV resin. Love that dragon. I just wish we had seen it in a window. Maybe in a future video!
this is one of the things I love about your channel Peter and why I've been subbed for years now - you enjoy your projects and you also enjoy collaborating with advice and suggestions from your community to help you enjoy your projects even more.
Glad you liked the resin tape. I've seen other artists use it. That is a cool technique to make pho stained glass. As for the UV resin, it is not uncommon for some pigments to react poorly. Also, the darker (thicker) the pigment, the more it will take to cure it. Translucent colors are best.
It turned out amazing in the end!! Those other pigments either weren't compatible with the UV cure, or they were too opaque to cure with the uv flashlight. Love how it turned out!
I can across Daniel Cooper and episode #186 and thought this was a really cool technique and thought of you right away!!!! Hope you find it helpful and inspiring!!! Can’t wait to see what you create!
Different kind of project, but I keep the pieces because what I do is make coasters and such by cutting identical patterns out of different contrasting woods and swapping pieces between them. I cut out thin circles of a neutral wood to act as the base, then glue the patterns down on top. Made some very pretty Star Wars coasters by using padauk and aspen for the Rebel symbol, aspen and wenge for the Imperial symbol, aspen and mahogany for the Jedi symbol, and padauk and wenge for the Sith symbol. Get yourself a bunch of 1/8" thick woods with different colors and grains and try it out!
You could try leaving all the cut-outs on the backplate and pouring resin in the lines for a sort of inverted design! Might look super with a nice wood grain :)
What a great video! Very well done. I have been building wooden clocks from plans for several years now (Ken's Clocks on You Tube) and I have run out of room to display them. I've been looking for a new hobby and stained glass was high on my list but this is much better. I can use my well developed scroll saw skills and I can see combining both hobbies by incorporating resin parts in some clocks or gears. I'll be watching this several more times and any future ones you put out. Great job!
My experience with uv resin is its best when it is clear or not opaque, if the uv light can't pass thru it, the resin won't cure properly. That said you are the one that got me into experimenting with resin!
