Powder Coating with Rubber Stamps

Hi there – from the other half of TOA.  It has been several months since I have experimented.  Gone are the days of the powder coating, sifting powders and toaster oven baking out on the patio.


So down to the basement studio I go.  Our basement is not heated, so I prepare for an expedition.  On go the two layers of turtlenecks, flannel-lined blue jeans and down slippers.  I am ready.

Can you powder coat a rubber stamped image onto a piece of metal?

• Coat a metal blank with powder and toast to cure.
• Stamp an image onto the cured piece with clear embossing ink.
• Sift a contrasting powder color onto the image.  
• Shake and blow off excess – and toast again.

So does it work?  Yes with mixed results.

First off – find appropriate rubber stamps to fit the metal blanks – get sidetracked looking at the stamps – return to basement an hour later.

I choose a geometric image that fits the metal blank. 

I pick colors that are pleasing and that are already open, since we are both experimenting.

I sift on the pale green and bake for 10 minutes at 400 degrees.  After it cools I stamp the image onto the green with the clear embossing ink pad.  Then I sift a light coat of the curry yellow over the piece.  I knock off the excess and blow on it.  It looks good.   No excess powder on the unstamped surface.  This then bakes for 10 minutes at 340 degrees, the curing temperature for the curry yellow. 

Out it comes from the oven and cools.   Curry yellow over the pale green worked.  It has a matte finish, which I like, but not much contrast between the colors. (Note to self, pick colors with more contrast.) 
 
I flip it over and try again, this time using the curry yellow as the base coat, and pale green on the stamped image.

The effect is again subtle, but this time there is more shine.  



Yep, this piece baked 4 times.  Nothing melted or stuck to the baking rack.  You are pretty safe once the piece has cured.


Part 2.  More Contrast

We have snow here – and are expecting more, so I figure I could still use my snowflake rubber stamps.  My set of Martha Stewart snowflake stamps is still out, used in holiday projects.

My colors of choice blue beacon  and wet bright white, which bake/cure for 10 minutes at 400 degrees.

Once cooled, I stamp the snowflake image onto each piece using a clear embossing ink pad.

I sift the contrasting color onto the stamped image. I try not to make the sifted coating over the stamped snowflake design too thick.  I knock the excess off and blow on it slightly to remove more.  

Since it doesn't blow off as cleanly as I want, I wipe it off and try again, and again and again.  Then I thought, this is just experimentation, so go with it and see what happens.



I like the effect of the excess powder, (kind of a snowstorm look) but I still would like to get a clean image with no excess, so the experimentation will continue.  


 Keep your oven door closed, A&J 

Two Tone Experiment

We've been working with 2 tone or mixing colors lately and it seemed like a good way to explain how we are using powder coat and to explain the different states of coating. The first photo shows the 4 states of powder coat curing:

• Powder: The coating is sifted on to the metal square.
• Eggshell: The piece is placed in the oven for a few minutes till the powder begins to melt.
• Flow Out: The piece is left in the oven a bit longer till the powder melts completely and begins to flow.
• Cured: The piece has been full cured for 10 minutes after the flow out stage.
• Half Coat: For demo purposes we coated half of the metal with white powder and then will add the red.

To add the red we simply covered half of the metal square with a business card (LBbyJ of course) sifted the powder on to it and removed the card leaving half red / half white. We have used a corrugated metal piece here to make it easier to pick the piece up with tweezers and wax paper so we can reuse the excess powder.

So how did it turn out, looking at the last photo here are some thoughts:

• Powder: Some white came through the red giving it a speckled look.
• Eggshell: Again some white speckles came through might need a heavier coat.
• Flow Out: Still a few speckles of white again a heavier coat would be better.
• Cured: Looks good with no speckles.
• Half Coat: Also looks very good.

In the end we think that putting a heavier coat on any of them would have help reduce the speckles of white. For ease of use / design though we say that either flow out or cured would be the best. Why, well let's say you made a mistake, happens sometimes, with the background cured already you can clean off the mistake and reapply the second color without having to start over or waste powder.

Keep your oven door closed, A&J

New Colors and Kits

Sorry it has been awhile since we updated, we both have been busy with our regular crafts but decided to take time off for the holidays.

A few months back we ordered new colors and they've been patiently waiting in the box for us. Well we finally have posted them to our website as individual colors or in collections of colors. The ones we are most excited about are the Fashion collection, the photo to the right.

So what did we get:

Fashion Colors:
Antique Pink
Blue Lilac
Curry
Pale Green
Lemon Yellow
Pale Turquoise
Salmon Pink
Black Cherry

Metallic Collection: (The red and green are new colors and then we grouped the metallics together for a collection of colors)
Red Metallic Vein Copper Vein
Green Metallic Vein
Penny Metallic Vein
Bonded Silver Vein
Gold Metallic Vein

Primary Color Collection:
Signal Green
Traffic Yellow
Traffic Red
Signal White
Jet Black
Signal Blue



We've also created a Collection Starter Kit with sifters and scrubbing pad to make it a little easier to get up and going. Keep your oven door closed, A&J