Friday, July 10, 2009
Mark C fron BC Dyes
Wow! Mark is on a mission and we likey. Check out some of the work Mark has done.
Disc Dyeing Step by Step
Submitted by Will T.
I had always wanted to dye a disc. I had seen other peoples cool designs and I didn't really like most of the stamps put on the discs by manufacturers. I happened to finally read a post about dyed discs at www.odsa.com, my local disc golf forum, which described the following technique. I did not invent this method. I just decided to put together a step by step with pictures to help anyone else interested in using this technique.
Items Needed:
Cut out the stencil using an xacto blade. When cutting out your stencil remember that the cut out areas will be the dyed areas on the disc. 
Putting the Stencil on the disc: This part gets a little tricky but I will try to explain it the best I can. It is one of those things that you need to do once to understand but once you do it is fairly easy. First remove the paper you taped to the vinyl to help cut the stencil. Then cut a piece of tranfer tape slightly bigger than the piece of vinyl. The vinyl has two sides, a shiny white side and a backing side with lettering (in this case it is 3M). You want to apply the transfer tape to the shiny white side. Make sure the vinyl is flat when you do this part. Lay the transfer tape on top of the vinyl and use a credit card to rub the tranfer tape onto the vinyl. You want to make sure the tranfer tape is stuck to the vinyl, especially in the fine detail areas. This is what will allow you to transfer the stencil onto the disc without the stencil moving around and getting stuck to itself. 
This show the backside of the vinyl/tranfer tape. Note the lettering. 
Now put this onto to your disc where you want the stencil to be. The transfer tape will stick to the disc a little so I use this to help with positioning. It is easier on clear discs as you can just turn them over and place it onto the stencil. Once the stencil is where you want it place pieces of tape basically in the center of the stencil. I have shown where my tape is in red. 
The idea is that you are trying to create a flap. 
While holding onto the flap peel the backing off the vinyl. Be very careful at the point. If the vinyl gets stuck to something or bent and stuck to itself there is not much you can do to fix it. 
Very carefully cut the backing off. I did a somewhat bad job here. You don't want those ragged edges. The scissors I used aren't great so I just kind of tore it off after a certain point. A clean cut as close to the center is what you want. 
Now start lowering the flap back down smoothing it onto the disc as you go. Try to smooth out any little bubble or lines at this point. Any bubbles or lines in or around your design can cause bleeding. 
Turn it around and do the other side but this time you don't need to cut. You will probably have to remove the tape you used in the center. That's okay though because the stencil is already half applied and will stay in place. You are removing the rest of the backing from the vinyl. Smooth as you lower the flap down. Try to get all bubbles and lines out now. 
Now the stencil is on the disc. 
Remove the transfer tape. It will pretty much pull right off. Grab a corner and pull. 
Masking: Now the rest of the disc needs to be covered so it doesn't get dyed as well. I use contact paper for this part as it is a lot cheaper than the sign vinyl. Start cutting pieces and put them on the disc overlapping the edges as much as possible. You don't want dye leaking through onto your disc. You want to completely wrap up around to the bottom side of the disc. 
Ready to dye. 
Dyeing: Take a pot big enough to fit your disc into and fill about 1/4 with water and add your dye. I used about 2/3 of one package of red for this. I am still not sure exactly how much to put in. If it isn't dark enough the first time though you can just add more dye to the water and do this part again. Bring the water to a boil and then remove it from heat. Let it sit for about 15 - 20 minutes. I usually feel the side or bottom of the pan to make sure it isn't too hot. You want it to cool to a lukewarm temperature. I imagine that if the water is still too hot it could warp or melt your disc. So again be careful!! If you warp or melt your disc it certainly won't be the same anymore and would definitely not be useable in a PDGA tournament. BE CAREFUL!! 
Place the disc into pot. I try to make a couple of little handles with the contact paper when I am masking the disc. Note how I have wrapped the contact paper completely around onto the bottom. 
The disc will just float on top of the dye. Let it sit for 10 - 20 minutes. 
Take the disc out and rinse it off with water. 
Remove the contact paper and vinyl. Be careful while doing this as there can be dye water that has splashed into the folds of the contact paper. I keep some paper towels handy when removing to wipe up any excess dye water. Once you are done you will have a nice custom design dyed onto your disc. Good luck!! 
I had always wanted to dye a disc. I had seen other peoples cool designs and I didn't really like most of the stamps put on the discs by manufacturers. I happened to finally read a post about dyed discs at www.odsa.com, my local disc golf forum, which described the following technique. I did not invent this method. I just decided to put together a step by step with pictures to help anyone else interested in using this technique.
Items Needed:
- Available at hardware store:
- Acetone
- Gloves for working with the Acetone
- Contact Paper
- X-acto knife
- Available at sign store:
- Sign Vinyl
- Transfer Tape
- Available at thrift store:
- A stainless steel pot large enough for a disc to fit in
- Available at art supply store:
- Rit Dye or some other comparable dye
The first step is to remove the manufacturer's stamp from the disc. This is done using a very strong solvent called Acetone that will very quickly remove the stamp. I very much recommend doing this outside. Use gloves and follow all directions for safe use on the can of Acetone. I use a small rag and pour a very small amount onto the rag. Then very quickly start wiping away the stamp on the disc. This solvent will start to eat into proline plastic if you take too long. I didn't notice this problem with champion, kc pro, esp or z plastic. Be careful with lighter colored discs because the solvent mixing with the ink of the stamp can start to dye your disc that color. This happened on a white proline disc with a blue stamp. As I was trying to wipe the blue stamp off I could see that it began to tint the white a little. Work quickly!!
Make and Cut the stencil: Create a stencil that you want to put on your disc. Here is a geometric design I made in fireworks and printed out. Tape the stencil to a piece of sign vinyl. Cut out the stencil using an xacto blade. When cutting out your stencil remember that the cut out areas will be the dyed areas on the disc. Putting the Stencil on the disc: This part gets a little tricky but I will try to explain it the best I can. It is one of those things that you need to do once to understand but once you do it is fairly easy. First remove the paper you taped to the vinyl to help cut the stencil. Then cut a piece of tranfer tape slightly bigger than the piece of vinyl. The vinyl has two sides, a shiny white side and a backing side with lettering (in this case it is 3M). You want to apply the transfer tape to the shiny white side. Make sure the vinyl is flat when you do this part. Lay the transfer tape on top of the vinyl and use a credit card to rub the tranfer tape onto the vinyl. You want to make sure the tranfer tape is stuck to the vinyl, especially in the fine detail areas. This is what will allow you to transfer the stencil onto the disc without the stencil moving around and getting stuck to itself. This show the backside of the vinyl/tranfer tape. Note the lettering. Now put this onto to your disc where you want the stencil to be. The transfer tape will stick to the disc a little so I use this to help with positioning. It is easier on clear discs as you can just turn them over and place it onto the stencil. Once the stencil is where you want it place pieces of tape basically in the center of the stencil. I have shown where my tape is in red. The idea is that you are trying to create a flap. While holding onto the flap peel the backing off the vinyl. Be very careful at the point. If the vinyl gets stuck to something or bent and stuck to itself there is not much you can do to fix it. Very carefully cut the backing off. I did a somewhat bad job here. You don't want those ragged edges. The scissors I used aren't great so I just kind of tore it off after a certain point. A clean cut as close to the center is what you want. Now start lowering the flap back down smoothing it onto the disc as you go. Try to smooth out any little bubble or lines at this point. Any bubbles or lines in or around your design can cause bleeding. Turn it around and do the other side but this time you don't need to cut. You will probably have to remove the tape you used in the center. That's okay though because the stencil is already half applied and will stay in place. You are removing the rest of the backing from the vinyl. Smooth as you lower the flap down. Try to get all bubbles and lines out now. Now the stencil is on the disc. Remove the transfer tape. It will pretty much pull right off. Grab a corner and pull. Masking: Now the rest of the disc needs to be covered so it doesn't get dyed as well. I use contact paper for this part as it is a lot cheaper than the sign vinyl. Start cutting pieces and put them on the disc overlapping the edges as much as possible. You don't want dye leaking through onto your disc. You want to completely wrap up around to the bottom side of the disc. Ready to dye. Dyeing: Take a pot big enough to fit your disc into and fill about 1/4 with water and add your dye. I used about 2/3 of one package of red for this. I am still not sure exactly how much to put in. If it isn't dark enough the first time though you can just add more dye to the water and do this part again. Bring the water to a boil and then remove it from heat. Let it sit for about 15 - 20 minutes. I usually feel the side or bottom of the pan to make sure it isn't too hot. You want it to cool to a lukewarm temperature. I imagine that if the water is still too hot it could warp or melt your disc. So again be careful!! If you warp or melt your disc it certainly won't be the same anymore and would definitely not be useable in a PDGA tournament. BE CAREFUL!! Place the disc into pot. I try to make a couple of little handles with the contact paper when I am masking the disc. Note how I have wrapped the contact paper completely around onto the bottom. The disc will just float on top of the dye. Let it sit for 10 - 20 minutes. Take the disc out and rinse it off with water. Remove the contact paper and vinyl. Be careful while doing this as there can be dye water that has splashed into the folds of the contact paper. I keep some paper towels handy when removing to wipe up any excess dye water. Once you are done you will have a nice custom design dyed onto your disc. Good luck!!
Disc Dye Method
Submitted by Patrick
*Disclaimer*: Acetone is on the list of known/suspsected carcinogens. Be very careful and health conscious and make sure this is done in a well-ventilated area. Also of note, Acetone will take the stamps off of discs.
Alright guys ive been messing around with some dyeing tecniques from this site and a few new ones, alright heres what i find.
for champion, pro, elite z and x ive found that the acetone and rit dye mix works best, for portions i tend to fill the bottom of a cut open soda can with the desired amount of dye, and pour in just enough acetone to soak all the dye, this will make a more liquidy mix than powder and liquid dye but not too runny or too pasty for my dying tecniques.
best masking glue good ol elmers glue, write your name, do som cool patterns whatever the hell you want! see difference in sharpness in lines the red white gator champ was masked w/ elmers and i masking taped the yellow red buzzz wish i had glued...
advantages to using a more runny dye is smoother finish and you can put it on over a hotstamp and if not rubbed much the hotstamp will show up OVER the dye and look like a factory dye, this does cause the hotstamp to fade sooner, but it looks aswome this mainly works on elite z and champ plastic (the red/yellow-green champ eagle in photo was used two rounds as main driver including rubbing against other discs walking and removing from bag, and the stamp wore to the condition in the pic)
now i decided i will share my special spin dying tecnique... alright i tested some spinning buckets with ropes (green/yellow z glide test subject) and all that stuff i was trying but i found something that really works. all you need is a drill, a hole saw bit for the drill a bucket with a larger diameter than the disc. drill a hole in the bottom of the basket. Use the hole saw bit upsidedown and tape it to the center of the bottom of the frizbee now put the bit through the bucket and connect it to the drill, so the drill spins the frizbee inside the still bucket. You either need to stand the bucket on bricks or something to make room for the drill underneath, or have someone hold it for you. now you can either take two routes, splash some thinner dye on the disc then spin it with the drill so that it spins around or use a thicker dye mix and drop it on while the disc is spinning. as any craft, practice is necessary to get the results you want. (see champ eagle pic i feel the dye is over done, i was carried away in the new tecnique...)
now what everyone has been wondering is how the hell do you dye a dx plastic disc? well i have found a formula that will bond to dx plastic, yet still tends to fade a little much, which results in a cool look, but you cant get the vibrant colors you can on more expensive plastics. even though i would love to find a way to get more vibrant colors on dx plastic, this is what works best so far. mix 75% acetone, 25% white vinegar with the desired amount of dye, well microwave (covered if you eat out of the thing) for about 25-45 seconds and apply asap...
*Disclaimer*: Acetone is on the list of known/suspsected carcinogens. Be very careful and health conscious and make sure this is done in a well-ventilated area. Also of note, Acetone will take the stamps off of discs.
Alright guys ive been messing around with some dyeing tecniques from this site and a few new ones, alright heres what i find.
for champion, pro, elite z and x ive found that the acetone and rit dye mix works best, for portions i tend to fill the bottom of a cut open soda can with the desired amount of dye, and pour in just enough acetone to soak all the dye, this will make a more liquidy mix than powder and liquid dye but not too runny or too pasty for my dying tecniques.
best masking glue good ol elmers glue, write your name, do som cool patterns whatever the hell you want! see difference in sharpness in lines the red white gator champ was masked w/ elmers and i masking taped the yellow red buzzz wish i had glued...
advantages to using a more runny dye is smoother finish and you can put it on over a hotstamp and if not rubbed much the hotstamp will show up OVER the dye and look like a factory dye, this does cause the hotstamp to fade sooner, but it looks aswome this mainly works on elite z and champ plastic (the red/yellow-green champ eagle in photo was used two rounds as main driver including rubbing against other discs walking and removing from bag, and the stamp wore to the condition in the pic)
now i decided i will share my special spin dying tecnique... alright i tested some spinning buckets with ropes (green/yellow z glide test subject) and all that stuff i was trying but i found something that really works. all you need is a drill, a hole saw bit for the drill a bucket with a larger diameter than the disc. drill a hole in the bottom of the basket. Use the hole saw bit upsidedown and tape it to the center of the bottom of the frizbee now put the bit through the bucket and connect it to the drill, so the drill spins the frizbee inside the still bucket. You either need to stand the bucket on bricks or something to make room for the drill underneath, or have someone hold it for you. now you can either take two routes, splash some thinner dye on the disc then spin it with the drill so that it spins around or use a thicker dye mix and drop it on while the disc is spinning. as any craft, practice is necessary to get the results you want. (see champ eagle pic i feel the dye is over done, i was carried away in the new tecnique...)
now what everyone has been wondering is how the hell do you dye a dx plastic disc? well i have found a formula that will bond to dx plastic, yet still tends to fade a little much, which results in a cool look, but you cant get the vibrant colors you can on more expensive plastics. even though i would love to find a way to get more vibrant colors on dx plastic, this is what works best so far. mix 75% acetone, 25% white vinegar with the desired amount of dye, well microwave (covered if you eat out of the thing) for about 25-45 seconds and apply asap...
How to Dye a Disc By Blake Takkunen
By Blake Takkunen
Ingrediants:
Other Recommended Materials:
Mixing the Dye:
Add some of the powdered rit to a mixing container. Pour in some Pigment Ink of the same color and stir. The powdered Rit will not dissolve and you should get a thick, gritty paste. This mixture will give a very dark color. To lighten it up a bit you can dilute it with Dye-based Ink or Liquid Rit, or a small amount of water. Too much water will make it bead on top of your disc and not set very well.
Applying the Dye Mixture:
You are now ready to dye your disc. Apply any contact paper designs you want to the top of the disc. If you want deep solid colors, brush a little bit of the dye mixture onto the regions you want. Try to evenly spread the Rit grains. The dye will run if you put too much of it on. For streaks you can drip it on and blow it around with a straw. I do recommend doing all the dye process you want before letting it set. For example, if you cover one section with yellow and drip blue drips onto it before you let it set, it will be yellow with blue drips, but if you cover one section with yellow, let it set, and then add blue drips later, the drips will end up green.
Finishing Process
Let the disc set with the dye on it on some newspaper or tarp etc. Blow a fan across it if you want it to "dry" faster. I'm not sure if a fan is necessary but we used one. If you want deep, dark, bold colors, let the dye set for 20-45 minutes. For lighter, faded-looking colors, let it set for 5-10 minutes. When the time is up, take the disc to the sink and wash it off. Hot water will cause the dye to set better but will also leave streaks. Cold water will not streak but the dye will set less. I recommend finding a happy medium. Wipe the disc off with a rag when you are done to get all the excess dye off the surface and voila, you have a dyed disc.
You will probably need to experiment with colors, mixtures, etc. to get exactly what you want. From our experience, DX plastic wouldn't set at all, KC set decently, but SE and Elite Pro plastic seemed to be the best. Please let me know if this process worked for you if you give it a try. If you come up with any revision or specific combination you found to work well, I will post those here if you like. If anyone wants to send in pictures of discs they have dyed I will post those as well.
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