Here’s some other color experiments that I’ve done over the past week! I unknowingly stumbled upon the method in which enamel pins are made in color! I used a syringe filled with slightly watered down acrylic paint to inject color into the proper areas to color the pin on the right! The only issue, is the wood is too porous to maintain a bright vibrant color from the acrylic. The paint soaks into the wood, leaving a dark, slightly colored pin. Not too good. I tried to soak the pins in a finish or sealant before, but even after that, the paint still soaks into the wood! Too much work to use this method with a porous material… Once I get the proper ventilation, I think I’m going to start cutting some pins out of acrylic to syringe fill! That’ll get a nearly perfect replica of how enamel pins are made, all from home!

The left pin is one of my passion projects.. I hydro dipped an entire sheet of wood, which results in the speckled colors you see on the face of the pin! This was a half successful attempt. Eventually, I want my hydro dips to be nice, swirly, trippy patterns. The reason the pattern is speckled dots here instead of swirling flowy patterns is because I didn’t use hydro-graphic activator. This means that the ink in the paint dried upon contact with the water. Since it dried, I couldn’t swirl the paint into pretty patterns. I was able to liquify the ink in a later hydro dip with some success using hydro-graphic activator, but I still have a lot of attempts to go before I get a feeling for the right amount of spray paint to hydro-graphic activator ratio. It’s a complex mix, especially with cold water mixed into it! Hydro dipping loves to have warm water, or so I’m told. Since I don’t have proper ventilation inside for spray paint, I need to do it outside in the cold.. I’ll figure it out eventually!! Here’s to fun experiments! Stay creative friends!!