Dyed Disc Changes Over Time

[twistedmangled]

So I wanted to start this thread to have you guys post your pics of dyed discs as they were right when you dyed them and then years later. Also include how it was dyed disc mold / plastic type and how they have spent the years that have passed. I just want to see how different they are and if they have faded and how dye has continued to move and blur the lines and make them thicker etc. I want to compare plastics and techniques and see if we can narrow things down to get the longest lasting dye. Plus I just think its interesting to see how the dye changes over time.
I have my last 3 OKTHROBERFEST entries to start things off.

The Joker was dyed in October 2016 and has been bagged and thrown since it was dyed. It is on a Dynamic Discs Lucid Verdict and it was a combination of Dip Dyes and Laundry soap painted dye. The top picture was taken in October of 2016 the bottom was taken today.

The Scavenger was dyed in October 2017 and was bagged an thrown for about 2 years before it got bumped out of my bag. It is on a Dynamic Discs Lucid Evidence and it was a combination of Dip Dyes and Laundry soap painted dye. The top picture was taken in October of 2017 the bottom was taken today.

Pretty Princess was dyed in October 2018 and has been box kept in the house since the day it was dyed. It is on a Dynamic Discs Lucid Justice and it was a combination of Dip Dyes and Laundry soap painted dye. The top pic is form October 2018 and the bottom pic was taken today.

It is crazy to me how much some of the dye has migrated the black on pretty princess has more than doubled the thickness of the original lines. And the blue on BB8 is the same thing and the jokers red lips moved beyond the black outline.

I wonder if changing the dye concentration (less dye to the same amount of water or laundry soap) or something like that would make a difference. I also wonder about plastic types and brands when I do an extensive dye like this I generally use DD Lucid because I can get it in white and it seems to hold the color good. I wonder how different they would look dyed on star plastic or goldline or champ?

I have some more comparisons on different plastic that I will be adding as I find the pictures. Feel Free to add your own comment and whatever!

 

[roggenb3]

I'll take some new pics this weekend when I can do it in the sunlight.

A couple random thoughts for now though....

Talking only about plastic types that dye well (i.e. champ+), I believe that the harder they are to dye (the longer it takes for the dye to take), the better they resist bleeding and fading over time. Which makes sense....

Imagine a plastic "resistance" number based on how readily it takes dye. Those plastics with high resistance take longer to dye - you must leave it on longer, or use higher temps. In turn, they also resist blurring/fading for the same reason - the plastic resists the movement of the dye. I haven't dyed a ton of champ discs, but the few I have support this theory. One of my very first dyes like 6 years ago looks remarkably good still, compared to star discs from that same time period.

I also believe that curing discs aids them in resisting blurring and fading.
Discs take dye because the dye, in liquid form, is seeping into the pores of the plastic. I imagine that curing them with heat is drying out the dye inside the plastic. The dryer the dye, the less it's able to move around further in the plastic.

This is something I noticed because my recent, more complex dyes, seemed to survive a little better than my earlier ones. And I attribute that to the fact that I would get 70-90% of the dye on, and then spend multiple hours working on that last 10-30% - all the little details and shading, etc. Because of that, the 70%+ of the dye ended up spending a number of hours in a warm oven, and I think that helped.

Also, I confirmed something that DyeingToPlay taught us years ago: temperature is the main driving force behind blurring/fading. If you do a dye and immediately store it in a freezer, it will remain in pristine condition indefinitely. We'll see if there's any noticeable difference when I take a picture and actually put them side by side, but I have had my spongebob okthrowberfest disc in the freezer ever since I did it, and it still looks perfect to my eye.

 

[roggenb3]

Turns out I still have a couple pics from an older thread....

The Clutch one is really old. Like 2014? It's been hanging on a wall the whole time. But it was a really early one, so while extremely complex, I don't think it's my "best" in terms of longevity.

Brock is a thrower, been in my bag for years now. It maxed out on the blurring and fading a while ago, hasn't changed much in recent years.

Bruce is also a thrower. And I think had this been done on start, it would have blurred more.

 

[roggenb3]

And some okthrowberfest ones.

I can't find the initial pic of my ren and stimpy one.
They've all blurred quite a bit. But the spongebob one is amazing still (stored in a freezer). The light is different, so the pics look different but you can tell how little the dye has moved.

 

[roggenb3]

And the spongebob one.

 

[roggenb3]

And random note. If you look at Oblina's lower eyelashes on her right eye in the Ahhh Real Monsters one, you'll see that those eyelashes have faded WAY more than any of the rest of the black. That's because I forgot to do them initially. Just never drew em on the stencil and never cut em. So I went back and added them later, but only left the dye on long enough so that it looked good. Not nearly as long as the rest of the black. Hence why it faded quicker.

 

[Casey 1988]

And the spongebob one.

That Spongebob one will fade to the original style of the TV show.

 

[twistedmangled]

A couple more on what has to be the worst plastic for dye migration. Gateway Evolution is by far the worst plastic that I have encountered for dye migration.

I cant believe how much the dye has migrated. It was so sharp and so nice now it looks like I dip dyed it all black. Original dye was October 2015 bottom picture was taken a couple of days ago.

This dye was crappy to begin with and the disc has been in the leave in the yard pile that my kids play with all of the time so its been in the sun, left on the lawn, on the roof and in trees for days and weeks at a time and I am sure that environment has added to the deterioration. This one was dyed in October 2017 and the bottom picture was taken a couple of days ago. Migration, blur and fade . . . its a wreck!

 

[Jimb]

That's gotta be terribly frustrating... all of those wonderful dye jobs washing out like that.

 

[roggenb3]

Idk what Evo is like...is it sort of base line like? Kinda pro-y?

I feel like most champ/star dyes max out at an acceptable level. Like my Bruce and Brock discs above, and Twisted's Okthrowberfest ones - those are still pretty good.

Brock I intentionally went darker than I wanted, trying to anticipate the fade. The outlines have stayed sharp, relatively speaking. Given that it's been like 5+years and it's been in my bag the whole time.

Far better than that Evo plastic, at least

 

[twistedmangled]

Idk what Evo is like...is it sort of base line like? Kinda pro-y?

I feel like most champ/star dyes max out at an acceptable level. Like my Bruce and Brock discs above, and Twisted's Okthrowberfest ones - those are still pretty good.

Brock I intentionally went darker than I wanted, trying to anticipate the fade. The outlines have stayed sharp, relatively speaking. Given that it's been like 5+years and it's been in my bag the whole time.

Far better than that Evo plastic, at least

EVO is more like Star plastic.

 

[roggenb3]

EVO is more like Star plastic.

Interesting. Then that's so far the only champ+ plastic I've seen that doesn't really dye well. It's super interesting to me that it did seem to work so well initially and then faded so horribly. That's unlike any other plastic I have encountered.

Usually it just works or it doesn't.

 

[Casey 1988]

Interesting. Then that's so far the only champ+ plastic I've seen that doesn't really dye well. It's super interesting to me that it did seem to work so well initially and then faded so horribly. That's unlike any other plastic I have encountered.

Usually it just works or it doesn't.

No not the worst, The Discraft Z is very hard of you get the slick crap or the waxy stuff as is the current style or old Titanium too. I have seen players try to dye the old Titanum and the new Titanium is like some modern Proline from DGA the Zipper top stuff, not the stuff that feels like old Pre 2008 ESP. Also in same vain the Proline is hard to get dye to stick to it if it is like modern Titanium stuff, not the stuff that has the old pre 2008 ESP feel to the plastic.

 

[twistedmangled]

Turns out I still have a couple pics from an older thread....

The Clutch one is really old. Like 2014? It's been hanging on a wall the whole time. But it was a really early one, so while extremely complex, I don't think it's my "best" in terms of longevity.

Brock is a thrower, been in my bag for years now. It maxed out on the blurring and fading a while ago, hasn't changed much in recent years.

Bruce is also a thrower. And I think had this been done on start, it would have blurred more.

So an interesting observation that I have made comparing our dyes. It seems that your dyes the color seems to fade more where my dyes the color seems to stay better but the black on my dyes seems to migrate more as my lines seem to more than double in thickness. All of my black dye is a dip dye so I'm wondering if the concentration of the dye or the amount of time it sits in the dye makes a difference. Your black has migrated but its a slight migration compared to mine. I have been using one quart of water to one I-dye packet I'm going to try adding more water and watch my results. What kind of plastic are the clutch, Brock and Bruce dyes dyed on?

 

[roggenb3]

So an interesting observation that I have made comparing our dyes. It seems that your dyes the color seems to fade more where my dyes the color seems to stay better but the black on my dyes seems to migrate more as my lines seem to more than double in thickness. All of my black dye is a dip dye so I'm wondering if the concentration of the dye or the amount of time it sits in the dye makes a difference. Your black has migrated but its a slight migration compared to mine. I have been using one quart of water to one I-dye packet I'm going to try adding more water and watch my results. What kind of plastic are the clutch, Brock and Bruce dyes dyed on?

Ahh, spongebob, zim, brock, and clutch are Prodiscus Ultrium
Bruce is DGA's champ type, idk what they call it

I used detergent mixes for all of these besides bruce. And my ratio is ~4oz of detergent, to ~3/8 teaspoon of dye.

For water, I mix a whole packet with only like 24oz of water (one mason jar).

I think the black stays so well because it's the first thing I do, and I usually let it go for a long time in the oven, usually overnight. It's not warm the whole time, I get it warm by setting the oven as low as possible and turning it on for a few minutes at a time, but it sits a long while. And then it also goes back in the oven for many more hours while all the color gets done.