The Official First Dyes Thread

[agent_peebody]

here's the first dyes i did with my plotter

1st:

2nd:

Favorite plotter dye, traded to fismich:

 

[UnitedPuppySlayer]

I want to do things to that GL that even I would be ashamed of...

 

[devin_707]

here's the first dyes i did with my plotter


Favorite plotter dye, traded to fismich:

Ive done that one hand cut before lol jk

 

[agent_peebody]

that would SUUUUUCK

that one took my plotter longer than any other dye i've cut out to date.

 

[basketcase15]

friggin sweet

 

[Eky8]

Not my first dye. Which was pretty awful. But these are very early in my learning curve. I got better.....Promise. :\

This one I burned the crap out of. Too much heat not enough dye. I learned a lot from these. Mostly what not to do.

 

[koogs]

I did a couple basic marbling jobs before this, but this was my first cut job, very simple.

 

[AKormendi]

After some bad shots I figured out a tree frog was probably not the best choice... So I followed it up with a fairway beetle.

 

[barneco]

Posted this in the dye-a-day thread, but it was my first true multicolor and I learned a lot so I'm going to share it here as well so I can pass on my lessons learned. This was done on an Elite X comet. For some reason, even tho I REALLY spent a lot of time prepping for the masks and burnishing my cuts, this stamp really got me. I was very surprised, since I'd just done an Elite Z with the infamous black-on-z stamp, which came out perfect. In this case , you can see many areas of bleeding. I don't really know what to do better for this next time, other than perhaps just don't dye X, or work around the stamp better.

Another thing I learned was regarding bubbles on remasks and additional dips. On my additional masks(much like I do with the first mask) I didn't give much thought to bubbles in areas that weren't near a cut line, since I didn't think they would really affect anything. However, if you look at the blue of the pillow, you can see splotches that correspond to these bubbles. The remasks, after hot dipping, do end up pulling up a little bit of the previous color. If there's a bubble, this won't happen evenly and you'll get splotches. My solution was actually to use a tiny bit of vaseline on the already colored parts, so that the vinyl would NOT adhere to those sections. The only challenge with this method is that you have to make sure to use enough vinyl that will wrap around the edges to stick. You also need to make sure there is ZERO vaseline anywhere near a cut line(especially at a cut line at the edge), or you'll end up with a bleed for sure. The safest bet is to leave a good "buffer" between your protective vaseline and the edges of the mask.

I'm also now thinking that any time you take lines or cuts to the edges, that it'll pay off to make a dark border around the entire edge of the disc. MOST of the time i can take a cut line to the very edge and everything work out ok, but it just takes one to screw up the edge if you don't get it prepped just right and get a nasty edge bleed(which happened to me this time, although it's not easily seen from this angle). Not a HUGE deal, but really detracts from the professionalism and the "clean" look of a nice crisp dye job.

Lastly, this was the first time I cut my remasks on the disc itself. I'm having a hard time finding the delicate balance between not cutting deep enough to make for a clean weed, and cutting deep enough to leave a mark on the disc. I erred on the side of too deep(the alternative can end up pulling up the mask which you have to restick and burnish which can lead to bleeds if you screw up). The marks really aren't the apparent if you don't look close, but again, it doesn't look all that "clean" to me.

Overall, however, I dig the result. Sorry for the long post, just wanted to share my lessons with those who might learn from my mistakes. I'm looking forward to another round in the quest to perfect this addiction.

 

[BigBadBid]

I have been creeping this forum for a while, a big thanks to everyone who has posted pointers. Here are my very first dyes, all hand cut.

 

[Nuke]

TROGDOOOOOOOR

 

[NoThingness]

BURNINATING THE COUNTRYSIDE!!!!1!!

 

[MOON]

Hand cut out of bumper sticker paper and brush on with acetone/dye

 

[Megalodon60]

My first I did last week was a simple one but it turned out pretty good. It was a white Inferno and I dislike white so I tried it. Technically my first was a mini but instead of purple it came out blueish purple even after 1/2 hr in the pan. I hunted for a good mask material today in several stores, what are y'all using? i got clear contact paper but not sure if it's sticky enuff. I saw this white stuff for one of those puter printers that prints a sticker and cuts it out. I think that would work better and it's removable. This Inferno I put a piece of clear tape accross it just to break up the purple and then decided to take the tape off and put it back in for light purple cuz the white stripe looked awful! Thx!

 

[Brall]

hey slacker

gratz on first post

 

[Fishy]

ok so here's my first fail. guess it's not total fail I did learn a lot. combining my other great passion.. will work on it more at some point.

next one will be either the bats, or I saw a walking caver...

 

[Megalodon60]

hey slacker

gratz on first post

Tanks Brudder! :hfive:

 

[tmahan]

ok so here's my first fail. guess it's not total fail I did learn a lot. combining my other great passion.. will work on it more at some point.

next one will be either the bats, or I saw a walking caver...

So you're a caver? You gotta come out this way, both Virginia and West Virgiia have some bodacious caves. I'd be interested in picking up one of your dyes when you get the process down.

 

[Fishy]

So you're a caver? You gotta come out this way, both Virginia and West Virgiia have some bodacious caves. I'd be interested in picking up one of your dyes when you get the process down.

Thanks, gives me more of an inspiration to work on it.. With most of the National Forest caves shut down at the moment because of white nose syndrome it's given me more time to work on my disc game. If everything goes well, I'll be back out east late in the summer or fall.

 

[RUSSELL]

first try. on pro-d, but i wanted to experiment on something "expendable". don't know how long it will last, but much darker than i thought it would be.