Ive been messing around with epoxy lately but one issue i keep coming up against is with coloring the epoxy. I have been aiming for a solid opaque color but usually end up with a more muted, transparent look. The funny thing is it usually looks the way i want in the mixing cup, but its a different story when i pour. I’ve used a few different types of dyes and acrylic paints and while i have acheived a opaque look a few times, more often then not it ends up more transparent. Would mica powder be a better choice, or any other dyes anyone can recommend?
I’ve had good results with mica. I’ve been using it for signs and chessboards. One thing I’ve seen watching others, a lot of the time their pours are very shallow and that, for me anyway, makes the pour more transparent. So I’ve settled on .25 inch for most and been happy with the results.
4 Likes
I have had much better luck with the dyes shooting for an opaque look. They tend to provide a more consistent look than I have been able to achieve with the powder.
It’s easy to under or overdo it. I kept adding some blue because was worried it was going to be transparent and ended up having it look black.
Sometimes the effect from the powder is cool and in order for the design, I have just not had luck when wanting a solid look.
I’ve found the dyes provide a more uniform color and the mica powder tends to vary a little and give more of a metallic or flaky look to it. There are various options (‘Pure Pigment’ powder has been good) that produce different results. I’ve used a white dye that sort of yellowed later where the powder seem to hold color better.
For either one, lots of mixing. They will look mixed pretty quickly, but for me the results have been better if I just keep mixing for at least the same amount of time it took to look just mixed.
If you pull the stirrer out and look at the color, you should be able to see how transparent it may look in the project and if you want to add more color media.
Another tip someone here provided that seems to work well, is if you want a bright white or even a color to pop a little more, is after sealing the wood, put an even coat of white paint on the bottom before pouring your epoxy, after the paint dries completely. I assume the same would work if you want a dark black, but I’ve only tried it with white so far.
Very Nice ! My problem is that I have a poor imagination. Give me a project and I’m golden… Leave it to me to come up with an idea, Not so much. 
A rule I found a while ago for liquid dyes, is that you should use 10% of the epoxy volume for dye. So if you mix up 50mL of epoxy, you need 5 mL of dye to make it opaque.
2 Likes