Second attempt of swirling some stuff:

[Ad_Astra]

Went and bought some enamel paints, a bucket and some stuff to swirl. Looked for blue objects, coz I'll paint my guitar light blue before swirling.

First I put some black and another shade of blue:
http://ameba.lpt.fi/~vilkmati/Sontaa/Swirl/DSC00659.JPG
http://ameba.lpt.fi/~vilkmati/Sontaa/Swirl/DSC00670.JPG
http://ameba.lpt.fi/~vilkmati/Sontaa/Swirl/DSC00675.JPG

(Green is accident )

Then I put black and yellow:
http://ameba.lpt.fi/~vilkmati/Sontaa/Swirl/DSC00660.JPG
http://ameba.lpt.fi/~vilkmati/Sontaa/Swirl/DSC00669.JPG
http://ameba.lpt.fi/~vilkmati/Sontaa/Swirl/DSC00672.JPG
http://ameba.lpt.fi/~vilkmati/Sontaa/Swirl/DSC00674.JPG
http://ameba.lpt.fi/~vilkmati/Sontaa/Swirl/DSC00677.JPG

And for the last one I put all kinds of colours
http://ameba.lpt.fi/~vilkmati/Sontaa/Swirl/DSC00671.JPG
http://ameba.lpt.fi/~vilkmati/Sontaa/Swirl/DSC00666.JPG
http://ameba.lpt.fi/~vilkmati/Sontaa/Swirl/DSC00673.JPG
http://ameba.lpt.fi/~vilkmati/Sontaa/Swirl/DSC00676.JPG

Too much green but it's got it's moments.

And I didn't use any borax this time.

Comments? Opinions? Was the second time for me, remember

[jb4674]

I'm no connosseur of swirling but, as far as my knowledge goes, I'd say the paint is way too thick and borax is paramount when swirling

Jimmy

[screamndemon69]

It does look like you need to thin the paint a bit. You'd have a hard time smoothing those out for a nice clearcoat.

Keep practicing, time and patience seems to be some of the key elements.

~Bones

[Ad_Astra]

Originally Posted by screamndemon69

It does look like you need to thin the paint a bit. You'd have a hard time smoothing those out for a nice clearcoat.

Keep practicing, time and patience seems to be some of the key elements.

~Bones

I used Humbrol paints, and I guess people are happy with it because it's not too thick/thin?

How could I get rid of the dropping/bleeding of the paint? By thinner paint? Does it matter so much if there's some dropping because if I'm not terribly wrong you don't sand the paint at all but the thick clearcoat on it?

[screamndemon69]

You would have more than half and inch of clearcoat for those swirls which would probably add a ton of weight to a guitar.

I'm not an expert at all but you do need to thin the paint with a thinner of some sort so you don't get the "clumps" of paint but if you thin too much it'll be too runny to keep a pattern.

Practice your swirls on small pieces of wood with a white base coat for a more accurate idea of what it'll be like to swirl a guitar. Keep it up and you might end up getting the procedure down enough to master the art. Good luck bro.

~Bones

[Vim Fuego]

From what I've read, the real trick to swirling seems to be the consistency of the paint. Too thin and it just spreads out and mixes on the water, too thick and the resultant surface is rough!
Some swirlers (!) go through many tests each time they change paints (if, for example the one they used is no longer available).
The borax, I guess, lowers the surface tension allowing the paint to spread more, meaning you don't need to thin the paint as much. (?)
As with all things there's probably a fine balance between too think or thin paint and too much or little borax.
Looks promising, so, let's see your third attempt!
Jim

[Ad_Astra]

Originally Posted by screamndemon69

Practice your swirls on small pieces of wood with a white base coat for a more accurate idea of what it'll be like to swirl a guitar. Keep it up and you might end up getting the procedure down enough to master the art. Good luck bro.

~Bones

Yepp. Gotta try swirling once in a while. Just gotta find time when my girlfriend ain't home because she hates the idea of having tons of newspaper and me tossing paint and stuff in the bucket in our bathroom ...

When I'm better in swirling, I'll swirl the whole toilet seat :-p

[screamndemon69]

Originally Posted by Ad_Astra

When I'm better in swirling, I'll swirl the whole toilet seat :-p

I hope you are planning to use paints for that project

You think your GF gets mad now....

[losgatosrg350dx]

you can also try, to use warm water with mixed borax apropriately

then id say use a high quality automotive paint, and add more thinner to it, and about the same amount of hardener but dont add the flo stuff, i forget what its called

then mix it well, in tupperware for each color but do not pour on water yet...just have them mixed and ready
put the guitar body or item to be swirled in the water and have someone hold that solid, way beneath the surface

then have two people help u or more depending on how many colors u are using

then each person hold one color in each hand
someone takes a paint stick, and stirs up the water..maybe less violent, maybe more violent, get it to kinda make a stir in te water and quickly pull out the paint stick and slowly as he water starts coming to a still, pour in at any series or pours the colors u want to use.....this keeps the paint fully floating on the surface and makes the detail of the swirl with finner lines



ola

[Ad_Astra]

Originally Posted by Vim Fuego

As with all things there's probably a fine balance between too think or thin paint and too much or little borax.
Looks promising, so, let's see your third attempt!
Jim

For the next attempt I guess I'll do some swirls with borax and better self-mixing for the paints. Let's see if there's any improvement then. If not, I need to get some thinner for the paints. And I should level-up to use some wood.

By the way, it was a lot of fun doing those. Love the sight when the paint's on the water surface. So relaxing and therapeutic