solution to epoxy bleedthough- at least for me

[Alan L Carter]

My last post about dyed epoxy bleeding through resulted in several suggestions so I did a little experiment to see what would work. I turned some shallow slots in a maple blank and prepared them as follows, from close to center on out. 1- thin CA, 2- shellac, 3- lacquer, 4- nothing. I then filled one side of the blank with epoxy blackened with india ink and the other side with epoxy mixed with acrylic paint- red in this case.

The photos below show the results but I don't know if you can really see them or not. The india ink bled regardless of how I prepared the blank. The paint bled a just a little with the CA, a little more with shellac, not at all with the lacquer, and quite a bit with nothing.

Consequently, I'll use lacquer to seal the slot before I put in the epoxy with acrylic paint. Not too scientific but it works for me, since I use a lacquer finish anyway.184100 184101

[Richard Madden]

Not the results I would have expected. I'm surprised the CA and shellac didn't do a better job, at least with the acrylic colored epoxy. Thanks for sharing.

[John Keeton]

Alan, glad you did this!! It is certainly easy enough to use some lacquer vs. the shellac, so I just switched!! Did you use brush on lacquer? Would seem easier to control.

[Dennis Ford]

Thanks for posting this, I have had some problems with bleed-through.

[Thom Sturgill]

I had not noticed any bleeding, but I use either a dry powder coloring agent that I mix directly into the epoxy, or acrylic paint that I mix in. I have also done bowls where the inside was sealed and sanded, painted with acrylic, and then sprayed with lacquer. I typically use a lacquer based sanding sealer, and on the few times I have done something like this (groove filled with colored epoxy) I may well have sealed it - I just don't remember. I have also used colored epoxy to set a small charm or stone into a circle cut in the top or bottom of boxes, often the inside top.

Thanks for posting, I will try to remember to seal first in the future!