What Did I Do Wrong?

[Exovel]

Alright, folks...

I've been creeping on the dyeing forums for a long while, and I've tried to learn as much as I could before I started messing with it... heck, I've just searched for all the Dan Howard posts... but I don't know what went wrong with my first dye attempt.

I used an old Soft Wizard (I know it's not a recommended plastic, but it's a disc I'm not terribly fond of) with some old Scarlet Rit that I tracked down at a local Hobby Lobby. I used contact paper and hand cut the stencil. I'm sure there weren't any bubbles or whatnot in the contact paper, but it bled all over the place.

What happened?

 

[Kupe]

did you go over the stencil with a old membership/credit card or some other tool to press down and really make sure the edges stuck good? Also, if you did a hot dip you may have had the dye too hot which can affect the adhesion of the contact paper. I use contact paper and never let my dye get over 150F

 

[Exovel]

I went over the stencil with a plastic scraper for sure. I doubt the heat was that high... my buddy dyed a Star Mako before my dip and he didn't see any bleeding... and the temp would have decreased in that time for sure.

 

[Um...]

Guessing its the plastic more than anything. That stuff is pretty porous.

 

[Kupe]

is the flight plate as heavily scratched as the rim is? they dye may have traveled through the channels from the scratches, or if the previous stamp was etched in a bit, i had an issue with a deep etched stamp that let the dye run a bit.

On the plus side I think it was a good attempt and like the wyvern.

 

[Exovel]

I'm actually rather pleased with it, and the bleeding gives it a cool effect... but it wasn't intended, and therefore I'm annoyed by it.

As for scratches, those are primarily on the rim. The flight plate looks good except for the deep scratch that I aligned with the stencil to give the wyvern what looks like a mouth.

The original DD stamp doesn't seem particularly "deep" to me... but it does bring up another question I have... is there any way to keep that logo from showing up under the dye like it did? I find the half a crown on his midsection kind of jarring.

 

[Kupe]

i think most if not all stamps will still have a ghost effect to them when the dye is applied. Dont think there is anything we can do to change that, but im not sure. Ive only just started dying and have only done 5 discs and been playing around with new techniques.

 

[Eky8]

My guess would be that this is a plastic issue. Typically to get decent color with a baseline plastic you need more heat or more time. Wizard plastic tends to be fairly porous and so you probably didn't get very good adhesion. Which time and/or temp would help break loose. Chances are this would have been less of an issue with high quality vinyl. Your friends star plastic creates a much better surface for the contact paper to stick to. Thus he didn't have any problems.

 

[LoPan12]

Since it was all over, I'm going to venture that you got poor adhesion to the disc, for several possible reasons.
1. (mentioned) Lots of scratches, and dings, make for dye pathways
2. Old disc, used, especially soft wiz plastic, holds lots of dirt, causes stuff to not stick well.
3. Did your buddy use the same contact paper and have success?
4. Did you try to lift up and reposition the stencil?

Mitigation efforts
1. Use a hairdryer on low heat, to heat up the contact paper, and then, using a ROLLING MOTION with a stiff round object, and a solid surface under the flight plate, go over the stencil. If you use a scrapper/squeegee while its hot, you'll move around the stencil and possibly tear it.
2. Wash the disc thouroughly with soap and warm water, and a good sponge or brush. This is good practice for any disc after you've removed the stamps and what have you anyway.
3. The contact paper might just not be what you needed for that disc...but unlikely.
4. Don't. Try to get it right the first time.
5. If you have time/patience, apply the stencil, use low heat, and let it cool and set for several hours, before putting it in the dye.
6. Try to keep the dye around 120, there's really no need to go higher than 130 when doing the actual dye. Maybe higher need for base-type plastics. But get it really hot (not quite boiling) when first making the dye batch, so as to fully dissolve the dye powder.

Dunno how hot or how long you did it for, but the result was adequate. If you're at room temp in the area, the dye only needs to wisp tiny tendrils of steam/vapor. That means you're around 120-130.

 

[Exovel]

Thanks for all the info. Those mitigation efforts will definitely go into tomorrow's dye attempts. To answer your questions directly, LoPan, my buddy and I did use the same contact paper... and, no, I did not try to re-position the stencil.

 

[Exovel]

The disc, however, was definitely beat and worn. I tried cleaning it as best I could before the dip, but there's no doubt that disc has been put through the ringer. It probably flies more like a Magic than a Wizard at this point.

 

[Exovel]

SUCCESS!

Well, I think it was just the disc itself (for whatever reason) after all...

Dye #2 turned out much better. Marbled a blue champ monarch and then added a stencil... I'm really pleased with it.

Thanks for the help!

 

[Kupe]

nice one, which pokemon is that? ghastly? i forget the ghost names lol.

 

[Exovel]

nice one, which pokemon is that? ghastly? i forget the ghost names lol.

Haunter

I thought the red marbling gave it a smokey purple haze, so it was a fitting choice in my opinion.

 

[Kupe]

lol, been a while since i played pokemon lol.