First Attempt At Disc Dyeing : Glue Bed

[Countchunkula]

Lookin good Bill.

The one downside to dyed discs that I'm aware of is the camouflage factor. Those last two look like they might blend in to the desert landscape a little too well.

 

[BillFleming]

Lookin good Bill.

The one downside to dyed discs that I'm aware of is the camouflage factor. Those last two look like they might blend in to the desert landscape a little too well.

Yeah, I have been noticing that...especially with the discs that used to be white. But dang, dyed discs sure do look nice (and unique).

 

[Countchunkula]

Yeah, I have been noticing that...especially with the discs that used to be white. But dang, dyed discs sure do look nice (and unique).

Maybe just change up your color palate? Bring in some colors that will stand out in the rough in your area.

 

[Puckstopper]

It looks like you're making great progress! Your colors are so much more vivid than mine, even though I'm adding ProChem dye to the point of saturation. You're definitely using more dye per oz. than I am though, so I may try adding more to see what happens. I'm definitely going to order a heat lamp as well to try that.

I'd agree that Idye Poly will do the trick nicely. I use their Gunmetal for grey swirls and it's one of the colors that works best for me. Prochem is more cost effective in the long run, but iDye is a great way to learn.

 

[BillFleming]

It looks like you're making great progress! Your colors are so much more vivid than mine, even though I'm adding ProChem dye to the point of saturation. You're definitely using more dye per oz. than I am though, so I may try adding more to see what happens. I'm definitely going to order a heat lamp as well to try that.

I'd agree that Idye Poly will do the trick nicely. I use their Gunmetal for grey swirls and it's one of the colors that works best for me. Prochem is more cost effective in the long run, but iDye is a great way to learn.

My ProChem mix is per the sheet they sent with the dyes. 1/2 tsp dye, 1 tsp hot water, mix well, add 2 oz acetone.

I put a couple of drops of dye in each spot, let it sit for a short while to let some of the acetone evaporate, then do my design, sometimes I'll add a few more drops before doing the design - all depends on if the color looks too washed out. Once the disc is in, I let it sit for 24 hours. The disc plastic definitely makes a difference and I've been experimenting with different colors and plastics. I still can't get good colors on translucent plastics and the base plastics....forget those it will just be a very dull, faded look.

I don't use a heat lamp or heating pad, but the room we use for our art is kept around 74 degrees.

 

[Puckstopper]

My ProChem mix is per the sheet they sent with the dyes. 1/2 tsp dye, 1 tsp hot water, mix well, add 2 oz acetone.

I put a couple of drops of dye in each spot, let it sit for a short while to let some of the acetone evaporate, then do my design, sometimes I'll add a few more drops before doing the design - all depends on if the color looks too washed out. Once the disc is in, I let it sit for 24 hours. The disc plastic definitely makes a difference and I've been experimenting with different colors and plastics. I still can't get good colors on translucent plastics and the base plastics....forget those it will just be a very dull, faded look.

I don't use a heat lamp or heating pad, but the room we use for our art is kept around 74 degrees.

I bought bulk quantities, not the disc multipack, so I didn't get the instructions. I'd been using either pure acetone or a blend of acetone and alcohol as recommended by a video I found. I'm betting the lack of water is the issue I'm dealing with. I almost always wipe my discs and put a hot dye on prior to adding swirls, so I've only worried about letting acetone dissipate on the couple of occasions I've wanted to preserve the stock stamp.

Agree that opaque premium plastic is the only way to go. I like painting with worm dye on the translucent/candy stuff, and that works pretty well for a stained glass look. I've actually had decent success with hot dyes on MVP Fission, which surprised me given how much it feels like baseline. They get blurry faster than other dyes, but they seem to reach a point where they set up and don't get any worse.

I really appreciate you sharing the ProChem instructions with me. I've got a couple beautiful white Plasma MVP discs I've been holding off on doing until I could get brighter colors. Hopefully this will finally let me get cracking on those! Thanks again! :clap:

 

[BillFleming]

I bought bulk quantities, not the disc multipack, so I didn't get the instructions. I'd been using either pure acetone or a blend of acetone and alcohol as recommended by a video I found. I'm betting the lack of water is the issue I'm dealing with. I almost always wipe my discs and put a hot dye on prior to adding swirls, so I've only worried about letting acetone dissipate on the couple of occasions I've wanted to preserve the stock stamp.

Agree that opaque premium plastic is the only way to go. I like painting with worm dye on the translucent/candy stuff, and that works pretty well for a stained glass look. I've actually had decent success with hot dyes on MVP Fission, which surprised me given how much it feels like baseline. They get blurry faster than other dyes, but they seem to reach a point where they set up and don't get any worse.

I really appreciate you sharing the ProChem instructions with me. I've got a couple beautiful white Plasma MVP discs I've been holding off on doing until I could get brighter colors. Hopefully this will finally let me get cracking on those! Thanks again! :clap:

Since you don't have it, here's what ProChem sent me for General Mixing Recipes:

Hot dips: 1 tsp dye + 16 oz water. No acetone or alcohol needed
Spin dyes: 1/2 tsp dye + 1 tsp hot water + mix well + 2oz > 90% alcohol or acetone
Glue beds: 1/2 tsp dye + 1 tsp hot water + mix well + 2oz acetone
Floetrol beds: 1/2 tsp dye + 1 tsp hot water + mix well + 4oz Floetrol + 3-4 drops silicone oil
Lotion Painting: 1/2 tsp dye + 1 tsp hot water + mix well + 2oz lotion
Alcohol painting: 1/2 tsp dye + 1 tsp hot water + mix well + 2oz> 90% alcohol
Acetone painting: 1/2 tsp dye + 1 tsp hot water + mix well + 2oz acetone

The water is to get the dye dissolving. I've seen on disc dyeing sites that you should have a little bit of residue at the bottom of your container after mixing everything well. If you don't have any residue, you added too little dye.

My MVP discs are my 'go to' discs, so I've been holding off on them until I decide what kind of dyeing I want to do on each one....and while I practice.

 

[BillFleming]

Check out this website and his YT videos.

https://www.thedifferenceisdoingit.com/

On his website, there's a Disc Dye Center> FAQ page, it has lots of good info including a chart showing each brand's plastics and how well they take dye.

His dyeing videos are awesome and he has other dyers on his channel at times. I've gotten some good ideas from them. He can be a bit annoying....I usually fast forward past the intro. That said, it's his personality and I can ignore that for all the great dyeing information/examples he provides.

One of his videos highlights a 3d printed accessory for a turntable that makes centering a disc (especially for spin dyes) so much easier. It's kind of pricey ($50 or so), but if you do many spin dyes it might be worth it. It's called the Clara Chuck and here is the link to the video about it. I don't have it as I'm not sure I'm going to do enough spin dyes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxTOFbg0sKc&list=PLVpoOKKHVPLcPqktyEn2utQqgx8KcdveT&index=43

 

[Puckstopper]

Thanks again. I just pitched all my old acetone/alcohol blends and remixed according to your directions. What's interesting is that I have a very similar amount of precipitate at the bottom of my jars, but some colors (red and yellow especially) looked brighter on my dye bed than previously. The obvious conclusion is that more dye is making it into solution, but it'll be interesting to see how everything looks when my test dyes come out of the beds tomorrow. Especially the purple and green, that don't look any difference on the glue than they did previously. It also suggests that I may be able to vary color intensity by changing the amount of water used. That will be an interesting project to follow up on once the snow flies again and I'm more interested in dying than throwing.

I just checked ProChem's site and was stunned to see how much they've embraced disc golf in the couple of years since I placed an order with them. Back then they had one multipack available, so I was buying the disperse dye and hoping to get colors right. Now they've certainly made it easier with the wide selection of dye aimed at the market!

 

[Puckstopper]

For anyone else who may have backstock of the old disperse dyes, I took a minute and compared SDS's for two of my colors to the "new" DGD (Disc Golf Dye)versions of those dyes. Based on issue date and all data contained they appear identical leading me to believe that the DGD products should be functionally identical to the old version. I'll probably order one duplicate when I get some new colors just to be 100% sure.

 

[Puckstopper]

Quick update: Adding water works!

Long version: but it's confusing! The colors that looked significantly more vibrant on the glue bed (yellow, and Meadow Green) are slightly better on white star plastic than they've been in the past, but not as dramatic as the color on the glue made me think they'd be. Flag Blue and Pansy have significantly increased pop, despite looking washed out on the bed. Flame Red looked more vibrant, but is actually kind of washed out compared to how it used to be on both test dyes I did. I'll pitch that batch and start over again with it to rule out user error.

tl:dr Following the manufacturer's directions works.

 

[KrazyDad83]

Well, my spin dye didn't go well at all. It looks really sloppy, but I did learn from it.

1. I wanted the disc to spin off center so that the majority of the stamp was in the center of the dye stripes. This didn't go well as the post was too tall and the disc leaned, which caused problems trying to dye it. I'm going to get a piece of light weigh wood, drill a hole in the center and use that as a base from now on so the post doesn't cause issues.

2. I had the turntable on the slowest speed, but it was difficult to 'hit' the right spot when I started a dye stroke.

3. My timing on pulling the dye across the disc wasn't very good or consistent.

4. I used Q-Tips since YT spin dyers used them to great success, but I couldn't get it consistent enough and will probably try brushes next. (The idea of Q-Tips is that you can throw them away between colors and don't have to keep cleaning them).

Nice thing about the spin dye....I didn't have to leave it overnight. I was able to wash them off immediately.

I might order Worm Dip for future spin dyes...some of my iPoly didn't mix well and there was a bunch of powder with the liquid - especially my Lilac iPoly.

Oh well, can't be perfect every time. I might over dye it in a glue bed to see if I can 'fix' it.

My first attempt used shaving cream and Rits synthetic dye next attempt will be glue bed