I’ve started using UV resin to ink the numbers instead of acrylic paint. It makes the numbers last longer but takes longer to finish because I have to cure a few numbers at a time. It takes about 6 or 7 trips to the curing light before all the numbers are inked.
I do my best to fill them in completely but they remain slightly concave. Sometimes they end up flush and I’m not sure why. I’m still experimenting with it but it does require that the whole die go through sanding and polishing to remove the excess so it’s way more labor intensive. I’m still brainstorming ways to make it easier and more consistent.
I tend to paint my numbers using airbrush paints for miniatures (thinner and heavily pigmented so they coat well). I paint them before the final polishing paper so the polishing removes any overspill.
Regarding the UV resin, I would think viscosity might control the concavity. Doing a warm water bath of the bottle might be able to control things a bit. I know it impacts the end result of my “dragon scale” dice.
Good call, it could be that my room was warmer when I did the ones that ended up perfectly even. I do water down my acrylics so the coat better when I use them and a lot of them are model paints, I do the painting before the polish the same too, the UV resin just leaves tougher residue so it has to go on first and get sanded.
I’ve started using UV resin to ink the numbers instead of acrylic paint. It makes the numbers last longer but takes longer to finish because I have to cure a few numbers at a time. It takes about 6 or 7 trips to the curing light before all the numbers are inked.
Interesting. Do you fill the numbers completely (allowing for perfectly flat facets), or just put in a thin coat?
I do my best to fill them in completely but they remain slightly concave. Sometimes they end up flush and I’m not sure why. I’m still experimenting with it but it does require that the whole die go through sanding and polishing to remove the excess so it’s way more labor intensive. I’m still brainstorming ways to make it easier and more consistent.
I tend to paint my numbers using airbrush paints for miniatures (thinner and heavily pigmented so they coat well). I paint them before the final polishing paper so the polishing removes any overspill.
Regarding the UV resin, I would think viscosity might control the concavity. Doing a warm water bath of the bottle might be able to control things a bit. I know it impacts the end result of my “dragon scale” dice.
Good call, it could be that my room was warmer when I did the ones that ended up perfectly even. I do water down my acrylics so the coat better when I use them and a lot of them are model paints, I do the painting before the polish the same too, the UV resin just leaves tougher residue so it has to go on first and get sanded.
I would like to see your dragon scale dice, you should post them.