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Hi all, I am scouring the web for decorative fabrics to use on my kaholo 14. I plan on applying it to the wood and glassing over it using the technique described here:
http://www.clcboats.com/shoptips/finishing-tips/fabrics.html
I found one design that I am interested in but it says it is made of "lightweight polyester". I could not find a lot of information on what type of fabrics are best, but I suspect that polyester is not the best choice. It seems like it might not absorb epoxy that well.
Does anyone have any experience using a polyester fabric, or have any tips on materials?
Thanks!
Seth
5 replies:
RE: decorative fabric selection
Thanks, yeah, I will definitely test it, but it is not cheap and I was hoping to find out if it at least has a shot at working before I purchase it.
RE: decorative fabric selection
Polyester fabric is used as Peel-ply to make your glass fabric smooth and will not stick to your cloths. It is heat treated when manufactered. If you want to use cloths, try cotton or something along that line. Test-Test-Test. Good-luck.
RE: decorative fabric selection
It's not so much about epoxy sticking to the fabric as getting through it. The fabric is entombed in the epoxy, but enough needs to link from the one side to the other to keep the fabric from weakening the bond between the fiberglass and the wood.
In other words, waterproof is bad, but a synthetic with lots of holes is probably fine.
I used a cotton weave on mine, and it came out fine. The thing to keep in mind is that the fabric will appear as permanently "wet". On my cotton cloth, this means that areas that were white are pretty close to transparent now, just like a wet shirt.
-Matt
RE: decorative fabric selection
Depending on how you define 'decorative' have you considered some 'highlights' using twill weave carbon fibre cloth ?
It is naturally compatible with epoxy resin and catches the light well
Obviously for highlights the old adage "less is more" applies :)
RE: decorative fabric selection
» Submitted by Mark N - Thu, 2/9/17 » 7:30 AM
The only sure bet is to do a test with the exact cloth you will be using. Glass some onto a scrap of wood and see how it looks.