This is my first attempt at marblizing and I have been practicing on an old blank. I have noticed that many of my practice attempts have gone from a nice marble look to a mixture of colored stripes. I am presently using flex coat lite and an 18rpm drying motor. Could a slowing turning motor help keep the pattern from washing out or will a high build finish fix my problem? I tried letting the base color set up for about twenty minutes before adding the other colors, but the pattern would still change a bit before setting up. Any suggestions would be helpful.

Steve,
I had this problem on my first one and the problem was that I had to much finish on the blank. When you have to much the finish will have a tendancy to "roll" around the blank as your motor turns resulting in the colored stripes. Put a little less on and I bet it will look just fine.
Hope this helps,
Noel

I think you just have to wait a bit longer. The longer you wait the less the colors will blend and more distinct the marble pattern will be.

Steve , another trick is to put down a thin layer of clear wet epoxy , then put your colors into it , gives it some depth over a base of a different color. Have fun, the possibilitys are endless , John

Noel: I didn't realize how true what you said is until I thought I'd leave a small area unmarbled and put a sticker on top of the rod. When it was done turning and dry (and I'd let the mixtures tighten up some before putting them on the rod) the "clear area" for the decal was now on the bottom of the rod.

Putter

I like the thicker epoxies like Glass coat or Flexcoat high build. The thicker viscosity helps to keep the colors from running as much. As others have stated if you don't want the colors to run as much put a thin base coat down first and let it set up a bit. Let the secondary colors set up too before you put them on. If you want them to run a little more or if you let them set up too much you can heat the stuff up and it will level off. I like to use a hair drier for that. Also make sure your rod is level.

I should clarify what I said; the "clear area" for the decal was to be just the base color of the marble. In the above case, the base color was white (blank was matte black).

Putter

Thanks guys for your suggestions. This site has been a great help to me.

Another option to skinning the marble cat!!

Try underwraping with A size thread in the
base color. Apply a coat of clear and swirl
in the second, third fourth, and fifth (Happy Jack)
color.

Gon Fishn

Personally, I think that a High build epoxy (whis has set for awhile) is much better for marbling..

Mike

I like the FC rod-builders epoxy..once mixed theres no wait.

Ya just need to put on HB or lite for the final finish.