# Misadventures in Swirling



## Element0s (Mar 13, 2017)

WARNING: Lotsa text ahead. It's about the journey here.

My girlfriend broke up with me a couple weeks ago and I've been feeling pretty crummy lately. I decided to teach myself to swirl paint about it. 

This thread will be a log where I can post my tests, progress and results along with notes, thoughts and general musings/rants/cries for help as I descend into a pastime of huffing mineral spirits and oil enamels. Follow along as I ruin my garbage cans and completely nullify the damage deposit on my basement suite. Feel free to comment, cheer, jeer, insult my ancestors, ask questions or offer advice if you feel so inclined, 'cuz swirling is lonely hobby and I need folks to hold me accountable for my progress--or lack thereof, such as the case may be.

*Materials.*

So this is probably the most important part of the whole shebang. I spent hours upon hours pouring myself into the YouTubes, looking for answers on Paints, primers, thinners, Boraxes and water heaters. My favourite how-to video had an Asian guy who swirled an electric cigarette. Those things are massive; like sucking on the input jack of an Fulltone OCD. Whatever makes your cherries squirt, I guess.

Anyways the paint needs to float on water, so you gotta use oil paints. _Of course_. And Enamel paints make a nice, hard surface when they've dried which lends itself well to guitar finishes._ Ok, sure_. A bunch of faceless goons on the Ultimate-Guitar forum recommended Humbrol enamels. Like any reasonable 20-something-year-old, I listen to what the strangers on the internet tell me. The same goons also posted extensively about not using glossy paints&#8212;flat colours only._ Huh_. And don't even *think* about metallics unless you want a lifetime of pain and suffering. _Well ok then._

Hop on Amazon. Humbrol paints run for about $27.89/ml in Canada. .... _that_. I see a starter pack of Testors with 9 colours and thinner running for $15 so I snap that up, plus an extra pack of badass (or fruity, depending on your Views) fluoro colours as well. A few people mentioned Testors being decent to work with, so why the hell not. A little more internet searching brings me to https://www.sunwardhobbies.ca and they'll get me Humbrols for $3.29/14ml. _Much_ better. They've got a lot of colours, but the flat/matte selections are pretty bleh. Everything's all &#8220;military-_this_&#8221; and &#8220;Aircraft-_that_&#8221; and I'm aiming for more &#8220;_Tasteless and Obnoxious_&#8221;. 

Screw it&#8212;I order a bunch of gloss.

An hour of wandering around Canadian Tire (Lowe's with an entry-level car shop) bags me the rest of the gear I need: Rubber gloves, Borax, pipettes, little paper cups, poly clear coat, rattle-cans of primer/paint, toothpicks, mineral spirits (thinner) and a parts organizer, plus a big 'ol box 'o rags. No dice on a tiny-ass water heater though. I'll just freewheel it.

I drive behind a Home Depot and nab myself about a billion scrap chunks of MDF and pine wood. Some people can chuck a bunch of paint in a can, dunk a guitar and come out with solid gold on their first try, dust of their hands and call it a day. I'm not one of those people. There's gonna be some serious R 'n D on my end. Plus, as I warned you, this is about the journey. 

Testors and Humbrols arrive at my office a few days later. 

Oh, baby.



*Prep.*

So this is probably the most important part of the whole shebang. After more hours spent combing Jemsite and squinting at videos by Deanswirled I feel about ready to worship at the altar of razzle-dazzle 'lectric djent-sticks. But first I gotta prime my wood.

Rattle-cans make me nervous. Partially because I'm an inept buffoon who's likely to unintentionally give himself a dose of black-face. Also, I'm worried that the nice Croatian lady upstairs is going to hear/see/smell my racket in the backyard and start asking questions. She's a sweetie, but I'm pretty sure the sight of a Vai-swirled Jem would fly her straight into Cardiac Arrest Land with no return ticket.

I do a few pieces in black and a few pieces in white. The white primers doesn't run so much as _sprint_ off the MDF pieces. Each piece gets two coats of primer. Some look less like crap than others. Too embarrassed to take photos of this step. _ Memo to self: scuff pieces up with medium-coarse sandpaper before blasting them. Forty lashes for my lack of foresight._

I grab the grab bin from my bedroom and line it with a plastic shopping bag (probably the smartest thought I've had in a decade), fill it with about 1.5 gallons of water. I nuke a heaping tablespoon of Borax in the microwave for 30 seconds, dump it in and stir up the mixture with said spoon._ Memo to self: use a different spoon to eat the instant noodles looming in my grim not-so-distant future. _

Going for Yellow and Blue Humbrols on white. Glance at the clock. I've got tickets for Uli Jon Roth, and the gig starts in under an hour.

Pray for me.


*Paint.*

So this is probably the most important part of the whole shebang. I scrolled through Ben Eller's old blog page, reading the text in his signature Tennessee drawl until the jelly from my eyeballs dribbled onto my shirt. 

I go without thinner. Gotta start somewhere, so let's start at "Zero". A few drops of blue, about half an inch above the surface of the Borax'd water to kick things off...............

ZAP. Thin tendrils of livid sapphire whip across the surface of the water and the colour slams against the sides of my container faster than you could say &#8220;jet fuel doesn't melt steel beams&#8221;. _Damn._ Ok. I think I read that too much Borax will cause that. So let's add some more water... m'kay, the next coupla drops look much better. Add a few drops of gloss yellow and you got yerself a nice little fireworks display in that there garbage bin. Neato.

I relax, and give it another squirt of blue and yellow and they wisp around a bit more. In goes a toothpick, and I start swirling... except it's not really swirling. It's globbing onto the tip like a totally tubular tye-dye booger. Pretty sure that's not supposed to happen. ABORT ABORT ABORT ABORT

Lose the toothpick. The paint's already starting to develop a surface &#8220;skin&#8221;. .... it, it's now or never.

In goes the piece of wood, primed white. She dives deep, nice and slow. I can see veins of colour through the water. It's very cool. She's completely under there now. I splash the leftover paint away with my free hand like the monkey I am and hold my breath.

_Swish._







I've convinced myself that this is what my sad, sorry destiny looks like.

More test runs real soon.


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## LiveOVErdrive (Mar 13, 2017)

Looking forward to more of this.


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## Leviathus (Mar 13, 2017)

Yo, heard your ancestors were a buncha lames!

Seriously though, this is ballin and I'm lookin forward to more of this thread.


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## downburst82 (Mar 13, 2017)

Nice I love threads where people go through learing stuff from scratch. Your test looks pretty good for your first ever attempt


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## electriceye (Mar 13, 2017)

You don't learn if you don't make mistakes.  At least that's what I have to tell myself all the time.


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## FrznTek (Mar 14, 2017)

Nice! I too lookin forward to more of this thread.


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## bostjan (Mar 14, 2017)

This is the most important part of the whole shebang: practice makes better.

Also, and this is the most important part of the whole shebang: clear your mind of expectations and let the swirl become an extension of yourself in that exact moment when you dunk the guitar.

Finally, and this is the most important part of the whole shebang: have fun with it!

I mean, it doesn't look super professional, but it looks fantastic for a first try.


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## raadoo (Mar 14, 2017)

Is it wrong that I think that tiny piece of white / blue / gold MDF looks really, really cool?
To me, if this is just a _test_, then I'm sure to love whatever comes next.


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## marcwormjim (Mar 14, 2017)

He could get away with sneaking it into a gallery and leaving it there.


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## bostjan (Mar 14, 2017)

Man, the upper-left of that swirl is just bananas! 

Seriously, this is a really cool thread. I love the premise of this and the humour contained within is a nifty bonus appeal.


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## LiveOVErdrive (Mar 14, 2017)

Dammit now I want to try this. I have too many projects already. 

Keep it coming.


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## Element0s (Mar 15, 2017)

I'm writing when I should be sleeping. Was up 'til 2am last night setting up Gatekeeper's new jam studio with Tom-Tom and I'm staggering on about 4 hrs sleep. slightly less than I usually get these days. 


*Attempt #2: Green Gloss + Metallic Silver on Black*

_&#8221;Oh, to dream...
To lay with you in meadows,
Baked in the warmth of solvent-based fast-dry paints...&#8221;_

One thing I see consistently in swirl threads made by freaks (mostly on Ultimate-Guitar) who never EVER post pictures of their swirl attemps is &#8220;Metallic paints don't work,&#8221; and &#8220;you'd be better off drinking the thinner&#8221;, so I figured why rain on that parade next?

I went for ~192oz of water in the bucket with 1 tblsp of Borax plus change. Used warmer water this time, no idea about temperature. More than room temp, I'm sure. Couldn't be bothered to use a thermometer because I'm lazy af & I hate myself.

Noticed some tiny specs of dust and debrise in the bucket. Hmmmm......... will deal with later???

The next victim: a scrap chunk of long, hard wood primed black. 

If that sounds dirty, it's because it ....ing _is._

Went for the Humbrols again. Still no thinner&#8212;already changed the amount of Borax + the water temp. Don't want to get ahead of myself more than I already have...... 

The green paint liquid separated quite a bit from the solid gunk and even after a vicious toothpick shanking, I couldn't get it mixed to a completely satisfactory level. HHHHHHHHHHhhhhhmmmm...... whatever let's give it the drip anyway

_Bloop, bloop_

The green hits the water, sets up a little shanty town where it landed with only a coupla wispy tendrils of paint spreading across the surface. Prodded it with the eyedropper and it started to shuffle around a bit. 

Now for the real test...

_Blip_

Metallic silver did *not* sink to the bottom like the Ultimate-Guitarists warned. Little buttons of silver bobbed up n' down like baby specks of mercury. If my heart wasn't already an empty husk, it would have skipped a beat in sheer joy. Downside? The silver completely failed to spread what-so-ever. 

After some more stabby-stab persuasion, I got the little bastards to dance in the bucket a bit more. Didn't get to swirl with much effectiveness as the damned stuff had already skinned over on me. 

&#8230; and _this_ little piggy went for a swim.

_Swish_








So let us analy-size, shall we?

Obviously, swirling onto a black base is gonna leave yer hues subtle and if that's your goal, then have at 'er. If you want one of these colours, such as the green, to _POP_ then you're gonna want to basecoat in green. Maybe even white. The dark green blotches are the spots where the liquid element of the paint spread out and the brighter bits are where the solid parts clumped. The colour is interesting at points but it texturally-speaking it's kinda lumpy and feels about as amateur as Cameron Canela (ask yer dad). 

The grey (or &#8220;lighter black&#8221; if you must) must be a thin film of silver paint... It's not metallic but it kinda gives the black base a bit of depth.

Pattern-wise? Not completely ....ing awful. A little more &#8220;Parthenon&#8221; than &#8220;Passion and Warfare&#8221;.

*Lessons Learned:*
Paint needs to be mixed properly to float evenly. Metallic enamels _can_ float. Surface skin = world of PAIN.

Ok. Onward to sleep. Perchance to dream.

More soon.


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## Lemons (Mar 15, 2017)

Loving this thread so far, it'll be a great source of info for other members once you get it right!


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## WiseSplinter (Mar 15, 2017)

Yes! This is so great!
Thank you for letting us vicariously partake in your misadventures.


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## Petar Bogdanov (Mar 15, 2017)

Keep on stabbing!


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## FrznTek (Mar 15, 2017)

I dig it, looks like black marble.


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## LiveOVErdrive (Mar 15, 2017)

Yep. A black marble guitar would be sweet.

Also, thanks for actually sharing what you're trying. So many of the swirling threads out there are like, "its a super secret club so I won't share my borax ratio or how much I thin the paint".


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## bostjan (Mar 15, 2017)

Looks pretty good to me. Thanks so much for trying this out!


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## LiveOVErdrive (Mar 15, 2017)

Now what if you put a sparkle clear coat over that, then swirled it again. Then repeated that process a few more times. Might get a cool 3d marble swirl pattern.


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## bostjan (Mar 15, 2017)

LiveOVErdrive said:


> Now what if you put a sparkle clear coat over that, then swirled it again. Then repeated that process a few more times. Might get a cool 3d marble swirl pattern.



Cool idea. I've had the thought myself, but I don't know how well the swirl sticks to clear coat.

My thought was actually to do something like a transparent white finish over some really grainy ash, then swirl a medium gray and cleacoat heavily, then swirl an ice blue over that, to give a sort of winter swirl, where it looks like the gray could be ground showing under the ice. It'd be a lot of work, though.


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## odibrom (Mar 15, 2017)

... or how about swirling colors independently. One color swirl, let it dry, a second, let it dry and a third... or more...

BTW, this thread is very promising...


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## Element0s (Mar 16, 2017)

LiveOVErdrive said:


> Now what if you put a sparkle clear coat over that, then swirled it again. Then repeated that process a few more times. Might get a cool 3d marble swirl pattern.


Fer shuuuuuure. Not a bad idea. I imagine success/failure will have a lot to do with choosing the "correct" clearcoat. I'll put that idea on the list... and believe me, I've got a LIST of .... I want to do. 

Someone save my ass my myself.

New post coming TONITE


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## Element0s (Mar 17, 2017)

Greetings fellow Forumites. 

I'm prepping to cut Gatekeeper's debut record _and_ go on tour in less than two months which means my spare time is at a record-breaking nadir and my sanity is non-existent. Which probably explains how I got into this mess in the first place. Managed to find a few minutes between trips to the rehearsal studio and the bathroom to do a bit 'o dippin' and blab about it.

Two pieces tonight. 'Cuz I love ya.



*Episode III: The Testor Becomes The Tested.*

That's RIGHT freakos, we're switching brands. Curiosity got the better of me and I busted out the Testors for the next perilous pair of planks. A smart man would write up a chart and do this RnD stuff NASA scientist style&#8212;trying out every single variable in one realm before moving onto the next. But you got me instead, so buckle up. ....'s gon' get bumpy.



Let's zip straight to the goods:

*Yellow + Red on Black*







Interesting stuff here.

As you can see, we've got some dead-serious syrup going on here. The red and yellow reacted with gusto and zipped around like a swarm of Albertan mosquitos after dark, but again, I got in too late&#8212;Skin City, asshole. This time we ended up with huge red globs of bloody mucus in various spots. Not only that, but the thin sheets of yellow resemble freshly-spewn vomit over the black primer. 

Look at the picture again. See them? Look a third time if you don't. 

Bubbles. 

Little bastardy bubbles.

The guy who runs the woodshop next door to my workplace brought in some bootleg apple vodka for us to take home and try. I uncorked that stuff immediately after pulling this piece out.

_(~192 oz water, ~1.25 tblspn Borax)_

*Lessons Learned:*

Testors and Humbrols will both &#8220;work&#8221;. It's time to experiment with thinning our paints now.

***

Okay, now that I've downed a few oz. of fun juice it's time for the second bout of the evening.

*White + Gold on Black*






Christ on a bike.

What the .... is THAT?!

This, my dearest Stringers 'O Seven, is what happens when you don't have a single ....nugget of sense when it comes to ratios Paint and Thinner and the use thereof.

Now, I knew this was true before I even started this project. It's partially why I didn't thin the paint down until my fourth shot at this. I didn't have the _guts._ And now I have to live with this... _thing._ This monster of my own making. 

Formulas of Death.

Since I lack (as mentioned above) a single ....nugget of sense in the Pain:Thinner dept., I went 1:1 on both white and gold. Gave each thinned hue a proper stir, then took them for a dribble into the drink.

TOTALLY different reaction to previous tests. The paint practically _falls_ out of the eyedroppers and patters to the water's surface like raindrops and go completely-....ing-hog-WILD in the bucket. It's everywhere. Gold driplets spazz along the surface of the water and dress the specks of white like bedazzled semen. It's weird.

The paint is, again, beyond swirling at this point, but in the completely opposite way.

It's too damn _watery_ to control.

I stare flabbergasted at the cyclopean circus act occuring in the bucket, unsure of what to do.

Hell with it. Let's go for broke.

_Bloop_

The gold runs like hell when I pull the subject from the torture chamber. The white is a mottled galaxy of fungus. It's completely not what you're looking for in a swirl. It goes against nature. It looks like an Incubus album cover. It probably has its own ecosystem. It's _dank, bro._

Despite all this... I find it strangely compelling. 

Most importantly, there wasn't a single trace of the &#8220;skinning&#8221; which plagued my last two pieces.

That's a &#8220;W&#8221; in my books.

*Lessons Learned:*

Thinner makes an incredible difference to how your paints react to the water and to each other and to your swirling apparatus and in the way they contact your subject. Metallic paints will separate the pigment from the metal flakes if you thin them more than a tiny amount, so not recommended. If your paints are too thin, they will run across your subject when they should be sticking to it.

Many points to ponder tonight. 

If you're lucky, I might stay sober enough to bang out another entry this week. 

No promises.


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## neun Arme (Mar 17, 2017)

The last two look very good, imo.


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## Petar Bogdanov (Mar 17, 2017)

The metallic orgy is dope. You're onto something.


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## stevexc (Mar 17, 2017)

I think I might have a project for you next time I'm (further) out west...

These experiments are looking great, man! Having fun following your exploits here and on facebook.


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## robski92 (Mar 17, 2017)

This is amazing and inspiring. I love it.


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## Hywel (Mar 17, 2017)

The white, gold and black one is awesome. Loving this thread. Keep it up!


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## Beefmuffin (Mar 17, 2017)

Hywel said:


> The white,gold and black one is awesome. Loving this thread. Keep it up!



^^^ this so much!!

Keep them coming! I'm loving this thread as well


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## Element0s (Mar 20, 2017)

If I had a heart, it would be warmed by the reception my foul-mouthed swirl-diary has received. Much appreciated.

I spent most of the weekend drunk at a bush party in Langely, BC but I managed to drag myself back into the sultry glare of Testors fluorescents this afternoon. I was even able to get around to setting up the '87 Model 3 Charvel that I've been tinkering with. Sunday Funday!

OH OH OH!

I had one of them _ding ding_ lightbulb moments on my drive home. This particular _ding_ involved controlling the water temperature in the bucket.

Up until this point I've experimented with water that was &#8220;cool&#8221; and &#8220;warm&#8221; and &#8220;barely lukewarm&#8221; and I've heard tell of 75-79 degrees being prime-time. But where would one find a small submersible water heater with an accurate temperature controller that doesn't cost hundreds of dollars?

At _Petsmart_, you absolute shambling _twit._ 

(Referring to myself)

D'oiiiiiiiiiioioioioioi

Your local petshop will have an aquarium section, and in that aquarium section you will find a host of small, submersible tank heaters and most of them have some sort of accurate control system. Mine cost about $34 bucks. I forgot the make/model but it's made in Germany and it's got a fun twisty knob (much like your own) which controls the temp coming from the provocatively-shaped element.

I reviewed a few more Youtube clips and found that 78 F is a preferred temperature amongst Borax-users. Fill 'er up, plug 'er in, set a timer and pray.



Another two'fer. 

*Colours: Black 'n Blue.*






Awright awright awwwwright.

Ok. Cool. I don't hate it. Though I'll admit that the picture looks more vibrant than the actual piece.

So this piece of wood was initially primed black, which, as you _all know_ from a previous installment, means we're going to get subtle hues in our final product. 

The water heater seemed to do a good job of... whatever it is that the water temperature has an impact on. You'd probably get good enough result by leaving your (full) water container for a few hours (or overnight) to reach room temp. But for those of you in a hurry, this is the way to do it. 

I gave the water about 30 mins to sit and warm up.

This time I went for much less thinner. Approx 10%. 

In went the paints. _Double double toil/trouble etc etc_

Still got some gnarly skin-zone going on in the bucket at swirl-time. More thinner probably required to stave off the skinning of the paint.

As a side-note, I'm using less and less Borax in my tests, while keeping the water level relatively similar. I think I'm at a single heaping tblspn Borax in about 192oz of water. I have yet to notice a massive difference in paint &#8594; water relations. *None* of my paints have fallen thru the surface of the water, thought it's still anyone's game out here, folks.

LESSON LEARNED: Get a cheap fish tank heater from your local pet store and set to 78 F. And thinning ratios will likely take a few tries to nail down.



*Colours: Black 'n Blue. (ON WHITE PRIMER)*

It might be worth mentioning that whenever I had black paint to be swirled, it's the first colour to get chucked in the bucket.

One thing about Deanswirled is that his bucket is ALWAYS black when he starts dropping colours in. At first, I thought that was just the tank he was using. But nay, good Seven-Stringers, the only sensible answer came clear after a few more careful watches:

Good 'ol Deaner Deaner Pumpkin Bleeder blackens up his water a few steps in advance to any other colours being introduced to the bucket. Starting with that nice, even layer of black before any colours go in is what keeps his patterns looking rich and full. You could probably get similar results in swirls without black paint. Maybe a good rule of thumb is to always start with your darkest colour???? 

Paragraphs To Ponder for $500, Alex. ^^^^^

With this idea in mind, I thinned my black ink down like a sleazy bartender and dumped bunch in and waited a few minutes for it to spread.

Then I went in with the blue and more black, also thinned, a bit more than previously.







Now *THIS*, is Pod-Racing.

I giggled like a raving buffoon when I withdrew this piece from the drink. _Giggled_, people.

FINALLY! A design that I would actually put on a guitar and take onstage with me. Took about 6 kicks in the can (or drips in the can if you will, ohohohho) but here we ....ing ARE.

I wish I'd kept better track of the paint:thinner ratio. I really wish I had. Whatever I did, it worked so much better&#8212;very little skinning(*) when I got all up in there with the toothpick and started swirling the paint. Thinned paint is so much easier to push around the surface of the water, it's not even in the same area code as some of my previous pieces.

The blue and black also _POP POP *POPS*_ something fierce over the white primer. 

Eeeeeeexcellent, Smithers. 

(*) *ATCHUNG: * Let it be known that I left the heater in the water while swirling this piece (on the outside of the plastic bag lining the little trash bucket I'm swirling in) and the paint closest to the heat DID begin to dry out and skin over in that particular area. IF YOU DO DECIDE TO LEAVE STUFF IN THE BUCKET WHILE YOU SWIRL... _Please_ for the love of sweet, sanctified Christ, line your bucket with a plastic bag to keep the paints from getting ....ing everywhere. For real, this will cut down on headaches, clean-up time and divorce by about 5000%. PLEASE DO THIS. 

The reality here is that you only need to "section off" The surface of the water. Lotsa pro swirlers have these massive tanks but they used a wooden "frame" (or similar) to create a good-sized square area for the paints to sit in. If you want to do swirl-painting on a semi-regular basis, this would probably be the way to go.

LESSON LEARNED: Gotta NAIL that thinner amount to get nice designs happening in the bucket. Also, get your heater the hell OUT OF THERE when you start dropping paints. LASTLY, put your black paint (or your darkest?) in FIRST, let it spread out and create a pre-coloured surface in the bucket for you to start playing with. 

That's all my time 'til the next time.


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## LiveOVErdrive (Mar 20, 2017)

Beautiful.


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## Eptaceros (Mar 20, 2017)

This thread is amazing, and your writing is hysterical in the best of ways!


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## marcwormjim (Mar 20, 2017)

Every swirl tinted with purple prose.


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## wrtp (Mar 20, 2017)

haven't read anything only seen the photos 
I think you should use a different brand (or type) enamels and make sure they are all of the same product line so they have similar properties (weight)
got similar effect from using paints that just didn't work


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## LiveOVErdrive (Mar 20, 2017)

wrtp said:


> haven't read anything only seen the photos
> I think you should use a different brand (or type) enamels and make sure they are all of the same product line so they have similar properties (weight)
> got similar effect from using paints that just didn't work



It's worth the read


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## Hammertone (Mar 21, 2017)

The balance between control and randomness is fascinating. More, please.


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## Element0s (Mar 23, 2017)

wrtp said:


> haven't read anything only seen the photos
> I think you should use a different brand (or type) enamels and make sure they are all of the same product line so they have similar properties (weight)
> got similar effect from using paints that just didn't work



I'll be _dipping_ into the subject (OHOHOHHO) of different paints pretty soon here. I'm using exclusively oil-based enamels (Humbrols and Testors, butmain Testors) right now which seems to be the norm for these DIY efforts. What paints have you tried?

I've got a piece to show you sad bastards (I'm sad too, it's all good) here that illustrates some of the most defining, crucial, flat-out _un....withable_ points that will determine the success/failure of your swirls when dealing with the materials I'm using.

Observe:










Red + Black over Red Basecoat using Testors paints.

People went ape.... over this one when I posted it on my Facebook page. A bunch of folks loved it for some reason. And yeah, I guess it looks kinda cool in the photo but...

*in person it's a lot more &#8221;Blood Sausage&#8221; than &#8221;Sound of Perseverance.&#8221; *

I personally consider this to be the most brutally-failed piece of all my attempts thus far. Why exactly? Well just look at it. Like, _really_ look at it. The blotchiness. The tiny orange-peel bubbles on the black spots. These are the results you get when you completely stick your dick into the potato-salad that is &#8220;Paint-Thinner Ratios&#8221; and &#8220;Surface Drying Times.&#8221;

So here's the skinny:

If you don't thin the paints at all, the paint will dry on the surface of the water quickly. Probably before you'll have time to swirl your colours into a satisfactory design + dunk the object of your swirling fancy. You ever left Campbell's Cream Of Chicken Soup sitting out for ten minutes? It's like that. Imagine dunking yer guitar in old-ass soup. ....in' GROSS, right?

If you thin your paints over-much, then you'll end up with a runny mess that will blend _too_ easily on the surface and you'll end up with an overly-detailed bucket of ....&#8212;which may work if you're swirling something small (stay tuned for an upcoming post with an example of this).

Now, here's the kicker. De clinch. The jesuschristwhydidittakemesolongtoclueintothis point of the whole fiasco:

If you dunk yer junk without letting yer thinned paints settle into a *semi-dry state*, then you're gonna end up with the same blood-vomit disaster that I did in today's example.

Meaning....

*IF YER PAINT IS THIN, JUST LET 'ER SKIN.*

(an artistic simplification. whatever)

To extrapolate on that, you basically need to find the _perfect_ time to dip you materials based on how thick/thin your paint is. There's probably a lot of other factors that go into this, such as water temp, but if you're using yer handy-dandy fishtank heater like yours truly then thankfully you can keep that variable much less varied.

If your paint is too thin when you dunk, then it won't dry on the face of your dipped subject quickly enough, and it'll just run across the newly-swirled surface (the water you're submerging the item into don't help matters either), leaving a trail of turmoil and destruction in its dribbley wake. This has happened in a few of my pieces if you look carefully enough (the Gold/White orgy etc), but this most recent test is a pretty brutal example of just how ....ty your .... can be shat.

What I've started doing is &#8220;testing&#8221; the paint surface with a toothpick. You can eyeball the thickness of your paint based on how greedy and grabby it gets. As an added bonus, you can use the toothpick to do fine-tuned edits of your swirl pattern. See an opening between colours you want to fill? Give it a prick. Bit 'o dust or debris floating in there? Stabby McStab that ............. Keep some paper towel handy so you can wipe it clean between pricks. 

Anyways, thin your .... down, get your patterns happening, then give it a few minutes. Walk yer dog. Take a dump. No rush. Whip up some Ichiban like the lazy sack of .... you are. No hurry. Rewatch season 5 of _Game of Thrones._ *NO ....ING RUSH.*

Don't believe me? Watch some of the Deanswirls videos again. The later ones. You can see him drop the paints, swirl his design, then the camera cut for an undisclosed amount of time, bringing us to the dipping phase. VERY ....ING CLEVER DEAN, BUT I'M ONTO YOUR CRAFTY ASS.

Don't dip until you're on the cusp of surface skin. 

We all want to get our junk wet, I know. I _know._ But you gotta wait until the last possible moment. 

Got a few more goodies (and baddies) coming up. Will probably try a guitar body soon, just gotta build a drying rack/dummy neck.

<3 <3 <3


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## ElRay (Mar 24, 2017)

Petar Bogdanov said:


> The metallic orgy is dope. You're onto something.


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## DslDwg (Mar 25, 2017)

42


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## prlgmnr (Mar 25, 2017)

Element0s said:


> a pretty brutal example of just how ....ty your .... can be shat.



Truly you have a way with, er, ....


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## HighPotency (Mar 26, 2017)

I've found this entire thing to be both informative and of high comedic value- bravo! Reminds me of AVG from Youtube.


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## mpexus (Mar 26, 2017)

Element0s said:


>



Best one for me, different than the JEM like clones we see all day and it has an Organic look on its own.


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## marcwormjim (Mar 26, 2017)

It's my favorite, too - Reminds me of the slick of grease floating on one of my blood-free BMs. I'd happily send in a body to be refinished in it.


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## ElRay (Mar 27, 2017)

DslDwg said:


> 42


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## kigorri (Mar 27, 2017)

I love this thread. Thanks for posting up all the trial and error and making it a good read.


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## Element0s (Mar 28, 2017)

I've been ran off my feet and I'm fresh outta luck so here's a quick filler post until I get a chance to scriven up some fresh BS. Maybe tomorrow morning unless I'm too hung over. Tuesday night, right?

*Behind-The-Scenes AXXXION*








^ NEW TERRORS AWAIT! I buy my Testors on Amazon and Sunward Hobbies dot see eh.








^ Quick screencappie of how the water looked pre-dip on my last test. Very marbley. I haven't been able to really nail the classic "swirl" look yet. Not sure if it's my paints, my actual swirling technique, or if it's because I don't have a big enough bucket to play in.








^ Quick shot of my humble workstation. I commandeer the laundry/entry room for my Testor tomfoolery. Not recommend cuz it's dusty and I'm expecting the dryer to overheat and explode the chemicals in the closet any day now but it's the best I got until Vancouver's monsoon season ends and I can start doing this horse.... outside. 

Oh yeah, I swirled a stapler last week. .... it. Maybe I'll start an Etsy store.

Talk soon,


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## Element0s (Mar 28, 2017)

marcwormjim said:


> It's my favorite, too - Reminds me of the slick of grease floating on one of my blood-free BMs. I'd happily send in a body to be refinished in it.



Sounds like we both need a doctor.

Interesting that people seem most interested in the Gold/White/Black slop-fest that I came up completely on accident. I'll have to fool around with those colours a bit more.


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## LiveOVErdrive (Mar 28, 2017)

How do you clean up the swirling bucket afterwards? Skim the paint off and then dump the water down the drain?


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## bostjan (Mar 28, 2017)

Element0s said:


> Oh yeah, I swirled a stapler last week. .... it.



Pics?


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## Eptaceros (Mar 29, 2017)

Element0s said:


>



You recreated Misþyrming's album art for Söngvar elds og óreiðu:


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## SteveFireland (Mar 29, 2017)

Those are the best swirls I've ever seen! Top notch. I know you say you don't know what you're doing but I'm surprised you don't have people queuing up to have you do their guitars.


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## Beefmuffin (Mar 29, 2017)

SteveFireland said:


> Those are the best swirls I've ever seen! Top notch. I know you say you don't know what you're doing but I'm surprised you don't have people queuing up to have you do their guitars.



I was just getting ready to say....I've got a 7 string Jackson with a reverse headstock coming my way soon and I believe a swirl might be in order haha. Something like a black, purple, with a touch of lime/slime green (huge joker fan).....


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## KnightBrolaire (Mar 29, 2017)

one of these days I'm going to swirl some guitars. this has got me gassing for a good swirled destroyer or iceman...


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## Element0s (Apr 3, 2017)

Sorry for the silence. I'm playing hooky on the work computer right now, staving off the endless toil as long as I can. I'm sore. I went to hot yoga on the weekend for the first time. Promptly undid the session with a trip to the pub. Got food poisoning afterwards so all in all it was pretty interesting and I might go back. Great way to sweat yer balls off. If you've got game you could maybe pick up chicks, i dunno


Okay so I teased my last post with hints of swirled staplers (cuz I'm a total Loonie-Tune) and the good scholar Lord Bostjan requested a picture so here ya go:










So this is a Stapler that staples things together (with staples) and I bought it at Staples.

I scuff'd it up with some 220 grit sandpaper until it was a scratchy dark grey colour, masked off the metal areas with painters tape. Primed it with white spray-bombs until I had a solid, relatively-even layer of white on there. Took about four coats. Wait about 10-15 minutes between coats of spray paint unless you're in a humid climate. Watch _Star Wars: Rogue One_ theater recordings between sessions, cringe every time a character from the original series shows up. Guzzle vodka when you realize that the new characters are mostly crap and there's really no saving the film. Watch it three more times anyway.

Give about 24 hours (or 12 dead-eyed viewings of Star Wars, whichever comes first) to dry and then you're ready to go. You could lightly scuff the primer a bit prior to swirling if you feel thus inclined.

So this actually turned out alright, all things considered. 

Colours: Fluoro Blue, Fluoro Green, White on White primer

For the first time EVER, I had paint fall through the surface of the water and land in a little ball on the bottom of my bucket. _Fock_. Granted, I've been using less and less Borax in my water these days without noticing much difference. Went back and added some more and added more thinner to the mix than I probably should have. Whoops.

NOTE: Different thinners are strong/weaker than others. The Testors-branded stuff that comes with the combo-packs is weaker than my mineral-spirits, it seems.

Okay, let's try this again...

White went it first and I gave it a good few minutes to really spread and create a film. The first colour always seems to spread nicely. The blue goes in next and it doesn't spread all that well, despite the fact that it's thinned a bit more than needed. I try dropping some green in there to help push the blue around but instead I end up with a hippie's acid flashback in there. 

When you're paints are thinned TOO much then the droplets end up spattering all over your water surface instead of coming out in more controlled areas. Water surface ends up looking like a clown orgy. Ah well, I'm already knee-deep in the .... so might as well see what lies beneath the mire.

Because the paints are so thin, the paint mixes really easily and you ended up with a stomach-turning ant-colony of squiggles. 

I probably waited close to 10 minutes before dunking the stapler. As mentioned before, use a toothpick to test the surface of the water for viscosity. After ....ing this process up as many times as I have, you'll be able to tell when it's ready. If the paint dribbles off the tip of the toothpick and leaves a wet stain where it was, wait longer. If the has skinned over and clings to the toothpick like a gnarly wad o gum then you've waited too long. 

Now here's where it gets ....ed up:

*Every colour requires a different amount of thinning.*

Yes. Every colour. Different levels of thinner.

Take a look at the picture again. See how the blue and white have mixed together in a pleasing way? Now look at the green. It's all weird and blotchy and doesn't match the rest of it. Looks like radioactive slime got dumped on it after the fact. Cowabunga, dude

This is because the green was still &#8220;wet&#8221; when the white and blue reached the &#8220;sweet spot&#8221;. This caused the green to contain too much water and made it sprint across the surface of the stapler, taking some of the nice blue and white with it. 

Meaning you gotta figger out the &#8220;Prime&#8221; ratio for each paint.

_Every_ individual colour.

....

Have you .... your pants in terror yet?

I don't have my notes on my right now but I can tell you that you'll want to thin your blacks + whites more than your other colours (as a rule) because they'll usually be going into the water first. And they generally do seem to skin over sooner than lots of my other colours. Green and yellow should be thinned to a small degree. Blues and reds a medium amount. 

But I'm not a doctor nor a professional.

As a point of interest, I bombed this guy with 3 coats of spray-on glossy clear coat after letting the swirl dry for a couple days. Looks pretty good and is surprisingly smooth for a spray-gig. You could wet sand and buff and go that extra mile of you wanted but I don't have the gear and for a small piece like this it looks just fine.

*ONE FINAL PARTING NOTE:*

The stapler actually looks kinda cool. I was worried that the &#8220;high detail&#8221; of the extra-thin paint would look like ass but on a small object like this, you can get away with it. I don't think this would work on a guitar or a larger piece. 

But we'll burn that bridge when we cross it.





SteveFireland said:


> Those are the best swirls I've ever seen! Top notch. I know you say you don't know what you're doing but I'm surprised you don't have people queuing up to have you do their guitars.



Well slap my ass and call me Halford, that's awful kind of you. Cheers.

I don't have the means to swirl bigger stuff yet but when I do, I'll want to hit a couple of my guitars first. I'm sure that moving up to a bigger amount of water, a larger item and higher volumes of paint will end up being a living hell so let's take things in baby steps.

I'll take your stapler orders though. This one is fully functional, which is a bonus.

Back to the salt mines.


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## Element0s (Apr 3, 2017)

LiveOVErdrive said:


> How do you clean up the swirling bucket afterwards? Skim the paint off and then dump the water down the drain?



yeah I skim the surface with scrap paper, garbage that, then I take the bucket outside and dump it in the gutter. I'm sure a drain in your house (assuming you've got all the paint out) would be fine. 


(to the rest of the thread: )
I'm sure this goes without saying but for the sweet love of G-sus (our Chord and Saviour) wear a ....ing *MASK* and rubber gloves when working with paints and solvents. If anyone is going to die as a result of this, it' better be me.


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## Lemons (Apr 3, 2017)

The reason you need different ratios of thinner based on the colour is that different types of colours start from a different base material, depending on this base and as a result how much tint is required to reach the colour means one colour is already thinner than another from the start. Like you said, blacks and whites need the most thinning because they're *depending on the shade* likely either an un-tinted base colour or have minimal tint mixed through. So generally brighter and more "out there" colours should need less thinning, that still being dependant on what base colour they're mixed from to some degree.

Hope that helps, keep it up!


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## penguin_316 (Apr 3, 2017)

I've had my dabbling in swirling phone cases and other assorted items about 5 years ago, also using Testors paint and borax.

Let me help you out with a few things I learned that is vital to a good swirl. 
1. Use warm water and a good handful of borax, don't be stingy with the borax. As long as it can dissolve in the water it's not too much imo, it helps the paint float on the surface better (creates more surface tension).

2. Whatever you dip, your dipping "bucket" or whatever needs to be deep enough to fully submerge the object. Then clear the surface paint away with your hand or whatever and pull out the object through clear water. Aka, it only gets dipped as it gets dunked into the water, not as you remove it.

3. Some paint will sink as you try to float it on the surface, it's all good. Make sure you don't have any gaps in your paint that you float on the surface, or your swirls will have gaps(maybe you like gaps I dunno, I didn't care for them).Just make sure before you swirl your object that you have applied a primer coat of spray paint and that the surface is even. I would usually use white primer.

4. Clearcoating the swirl with clear automotive paint gives your swirls a lot of depth and scratch resistance. Those phone cases would last over a year, people really dug them, if I wasn't so busy working it could have been a side business. 

Good luck.


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## wrtp (Apr 4, 2017)

Element0s said:


> I'll be _dipping_ into the subject (OHOHOHHO) of different paints pretty soon here. I'm using exclusively oil-based enamels (Humbrols and Testors, butmain Testors) right now which seems to be the norm for these DIY efforts. What paints have you tried?



some of the shelf all purpose enamels you can find in Greece.


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## Element0s (Oct 4, 2017)

I've gotten a couple messages about the photos in this thread no longer available but luckily I found them on my computer, so I'm dumping them here for now. Will hopefully get back on the swirl train this fall!












Number 8



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Number 9



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Number 7



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Number 5



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Number 4



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Number 3



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Number 2



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Number 1



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swirl stapler



__ Element0s
__ Oct 4, 2017


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