Homebrew Layout Fluid Experiments

[ericc]

Hi Eric.
One of the things I feel a bit unsettled about is how long my 236mL (8 fl oz) plastic bottle of Dykem will last if left to itself. I would be using it up very slowly. I have heard that Dykem deteriorates if you don't use it up, but I don't know how true that is. So what you say is from direct experience, for which I thank you. Perhaps other HM long-term users can let us know whether Dykem can have years of shelf life.

Hi Graham. I will attach a picture of a blotch of my tired blue Dykem next to blue sharpie. The blue grey faded smear near the middle of the disk is the Dykem. The bottle is also in the picture. Note that I have a bottle of steel red Dykem that is brilliant. Also, this blue is still usable, but it is getting hard to see.

 

[graham-xrf]

Hi Graham. I will attach a picture of a blotch of my tired blue Dykem next to blue sharpie. The blue grey faded smear near the middle of the disk is the Dykem. The bottle is also in the picture. Note that I have a bottle of steel red Dykem that is brilliant. Also, this blue is still usable, but it is getting hard to see.

Clearly a fade-out deterioration. The colour has faded or bleached away. It looks almost as if you took the innards of the sharpie, and put it into the Blue Dykem faded varnish, it might give it a boost!

Interesting that the red is so much better. I have both. Usually, its the reds in paints and dyes that fades out, like with photos done on inkjet printers. The colour from inorganic ions, like cobalt, iron, copper tends to be permanent, so long as the chemical has not reacted. Ultra-violet light can cause chemical changes . The colour from organic dyes is harder to maintain..

I can match the exact steel red hue from injet printer ink, and couple it with a varnish that will wipe away with alcohol. Getting the varnish and evaporation rate, and spreading characteristic takes some experimentation. I am lucky enough to be in a place where I can get the stuff. I think we have gone some way down the road of enabling a home-brew version if anyone needs it.

 

[mcostello]

Clearly a fade-out deterioration. The colour has faded or bleached away. It looks almost as if you took the innards of the sharpie, and put it into the Blue Dykem faded varnish, it might give it a boost!

Interesting that the red is so much better. I have both. Usually, its the reds in paints and dyes that fades out, like with photos done on inkjet printers. The colour from inorganic ions, like cobalt, iron, copper tends to be permanent, so long as the chemical has not reacted. Ultra-violet light can cause chemical changes . The colour from organic dyes is harder to maintain..

I can match the exact steel red hue from injet printer ink, and couple it with a varnish that will wipe away with alcohol. Getting the varnish and evaporation rate, and spreading characteristic takes some experimentation. I am lucky enough to be in a place where I can get the stuff. I think we have gone some way down the road of enabling a home-brew version if anyone needs it.

I am nearing the end of My bottle of red. Could You post the recipe. I would like to possibly scale it down for a small batch. Has anyone tried nail polish? I don't want to get funny looks from the Wife!

 

[graham-xrf]

I am nearing the end of My bottle of red. Could You post the recipe. I would like to possibly scale it down for a small batch. Has anyone tried nail polish? I don't want to get funny looks from the Wife!

The series of experiments revealed that there need not be a single particular recipe. Any kind of varnish that will wipe off with alcohol, dyed any colour you like. As described in earlier postings in the thread, I went for shellac flakes from eBay, crunched up and dissolved in IPA. Methylated alcohol, of "rubbing alcohol" will do. If you can stand the smell, even a little gasoline. Look back in this thread for descriptions of what I was up to.

I used a red ball-point pen to get the colour. That was enough to dye about 40ml of shellac in alcohol. There was about 2 gram of shellac.
I started with it too thick, and kept adding a little alcohol, about 2ml at a time, until my little batch behaved better as it spread. You need the dried layer to be thin enough that it does not hang onto itself and tear a messed up line from the scriber. It needs to be a fine line, like you get from scribing over Sharpie ink.

Sharpie ink has the disadvantage of easily rubbing off, but there is nothing wrong in opening a Sharpie (see YouTube about how), and getting at the ink felt in the little plastic tube, to get the colour into the shellac/alcohol.

A ladies nail varnish is another way to get a varnish that will wipe away with alcohol. Thinning it with alcohol works, and the colour is ready made. Nail varnish remover is acetone. Mixing some of that into the alcohol gets a quicker drying mixture.

I found also the aftermarket dyes used for injet printer refills for the cost conscious also works. These come as cyan, magenta, and yellow. I found two drops of yellow with two of magenta gave a blood red that looked better than the Dykem. Those drops were in about 10ml of alcohol, but the thing was entirely empirical. It was "experiment", after all!

I found colour from a ink gel-type ball pen simply did not work. It separated, collecting in the bottom of the tube

 

[Dabbler]

they might find that the remover doesn't really mix with the polish

You thin nail polish with acetone - regular polish remover had oils and fragrances and other things to stop your nails from drying out and cracking. That's probably what's in the 'goo' ball...

 

[Shotgun]

You thin nail polish with acetone - regular polish remover had oils and fragrances and other things to stop your nails from drying out and cracking. That's probably what's in the 'goo' ball...

Time for another experiment.