The Hunt For Big Fish with Larry Dahlberg

Hello Larry,

I have a couple questions to ask you. First, I noticed that when I poured my plastisol, the plastic comes out with little air bubbles througout. What causes these air bubbles and how can i prevent that?

Also, the plastics that I made, painted, and re-dipped came out to be heavier than i anticipated. I just ordered some softener hoping that it will give me less weight and more flexibility. Is this true?

Thank you for your time,
Tyler Kain

hi t
the bubbles are simply air trying to escape. They can be reduced greatly by just by letting it sit for a few minutes or continuing to heat it at a medium temp with a gentle stir if you have stubborn "foam".
Adding softener will help in achieving a thinner clear coat. The temperature of the clear makes a big diff also. The hotter it is the thinner the coat will be.
In some cases where I know I will be dipping in clear I will make my master just a bit smaller/thinner to anticipate the added clear material after dipping.
hope this helps,
best
L

If you are heating in a microwave, use small increments of time. Start with a minute or so, then heat in 30 second increments until ready to pour. Also, I found that when I changed to a non-porous stirring implement (I used to use tongue depressors) to a metal stick, I had fewer bubbles.

Larry is, of course, dead on about the clear dip. The hotter, the thinner.