Disc dyeing video tutorial

[AciDBatH666]

Cool vid. That was a big ass pot on the left. Lol. Looked like it would barely fit.
I needa get back into dyes. I owe a guy a Punisher one that I've had for several months.
<-- = teh lazybones.. Well busybones...but still lazy.

[mzuleger]

Great vid... I picked up a couple pointers here, thanks.

[Fritz]

Which side does the transfer tape go on? and do you put that on after cutting? That's the only part, I'm having problems grasping. I'm an on the disc cutter, but I think I need to try this new way.

[AciDBatH666]

Which side does the transfer tape go on? and do you put that on after cutting? That's the only part, I'm having problems grasping. I'm an on the disc cutter, but I think I need to try this new way.

Transfer tape goes on the front of the vinyl. You cut the shapes out of the vinyl, peel away what you want dyed, then apply the transfer tape to the top of that. I.E. The sticky part of the transfer tape goes on the non sticky part of the vinyl.

[Fritz]

Thanks! Think I'll be paying http://www.signwarehouse.com a visit when payday gets here.

[jnecessary]

The local sign shop thing actually worked...I called mine up and he was happy to give me an old roll of vinyl, a few scraps that were 4ft long or so and even a mostly used roll of transfer tape! Now I just need a light box or some way of getting images to the vinyl, I'm terrible at free hand drawing so I gotta be able to trace my image onto the vinyl for cutting.

[Fritz]

My local sign shops were greedy and wanted to charge me 15$ for their scraps. I can buy an entire roll from sw for that.

[some call me...tim?]

Just heed our advice about getting cheap vinyl! It really does pay to get name brand stuff...3M, Avery, and Oracal I believe are the 3 top names. I had a stack of plastic to give away as prizes, one of the discs was a champ firebird that Chuck and I dyed a while ago, using some bargain bin vinyl. The residue is nearly impossible to get off. I've scrubbed it with a sponge under hot water, wiped it down with alcohol, even ran it through the dishwasher, and it's still sticky.

And yeah, having the lightbox is pretty sweet. I made a ghetto version for myself, took one of those halogen reading lights and clipped it onto my glass coffee table, so it was shining up from the bottom. Then just taped the image down, and the vinyl on top of that. It worked all right, not as nice as Chuck's lightbox, but it was functional. The main issue was that it got to be super uncomfortable bending over the table to do all the cutting.

[jnecessary]

Ya no glass tables here I flirted with the idea of hooking up a clip on desk lamp to my back door and doing it that way! That was a little to McGyver for me.

[ChUcK]

Before I invested in a lightbox, I begged a scrap piece of glass about 8x10 from a frame shop and would just build sides for my "lightbox" out of books (starting from a desk, not from the floor with twin Pisas), and use any old lamp. This is a good way to do it for free/dirt cheap to see if you really like dyeing discs before you go shelling out bucks for pieces of gear you'll use twice and then closet away forever...

A couple of drawbacks- not as sturdy as a store-bought lightbox, but definitely doable. The other thing is that most bulbs you have in your house get too hot. I think a fluorescent tube bulb will work best. I remember the vinyl getting warm and soft and stretching with the blade instead of just being cut. I suppose distance from the bulb would help, too.

Still, I did about twenty or so this way before I realized I wasn't going to quit dyeing discs, and suddenly the price tag for the small lightbox at the art supply store read "free" to me. I decided it was worth it.

Oh yeah, frosted glass would probably work best. I had a clear piece, and it doesn't lend to tracing as much as a slightly opaque surface does.

[rusch_bag]

I'm kind of confused with the transfer tape. So with the gun on the dye you did in the video, you cut then out and then have to place it and then tape over it or how does it work if that is wrong?

[ChUcK]

Well, at the outset you have a sheet of vinyl stuck to a sheet of backing. I cut away the vinyl leaving the backing uncut. The vinyl pieces (hopefully) stay where they are relative to one another on the sheet of backing. The transfer tape then covers everything, acting as the new "backing" (fronting?) for the vinyl pieces, keeping their placement and position to one another constant when you remove the original backing.

It's similar to how some start with a sheet of vinyl stuck to a sheet of plastic (the disc) and cut away pieces of the vinyl leaving the disc uncut. The main difference is you have to transfer the vinyl to the disc before cutting instead of after. I prefer keeping the xacto blade as far away as possible from my ESP Pulse, so I transfer the vinyl after cutting.

Does that make sense? It's a little hard to explain without a visual aide, and I haven't had a cup of coffee yet, despite the after-11am nature of the morning. Mmmm...caffeine....

[Shaolintrained]

I couldn't find any red powder Rit, so I picked up the liquid Rit instead. Does anyone know if this is going to work the same as the powder and, if so, what ratio of dye to water should I use? Thanks. Scotty

[Fritz]

I couldn't find any red powder Rit, so I picked up the liquid Rit instead. Does anyone know if this is going to work the same as the powder and, if so, what ratio of dye to water should I use? Thanks. Scotty

0% is the ratio, no need to mix water. And it will work just the same. a Couple of my friends claim it works better. They do the soak method.
Don't think they do the heat method. and I know for a fact they don't do the acetone method.

[AciDBatH666]

I couldn't find any red powder Rit, so I picked up the liquid Rit instead. Does anyone know if this is going to work the same as the powder and, if so, what ratio of dye to water should I use? Thanks. Scotty

If you want REDREDRED, make a 50/50 mix of Fuschia and Scarlet.
It's the color combo for the red I used on my Capt America shield dye, and for this The Shining one.

This was a white disc.

Just a warning tho. If you use it and expose that disc to sun, it will fade to a nasty pinkred color.