[Katherine Swift]

This question comes through email from Stephanie

This is a super odd question, and it looks like no one has asked it before anywhere.  Ive scoured the internet for weeks!

One of my favorite pigments, the castin craft opaque pearlescent pigments has actually dried up a bit!  Its chunky and doesnt mix correctly anymore. 🙁  I dont want to ruin it by adding in something that doesnt belong, but I dont want to throw it out either!  Is it dead Jim or can it be salvaged/reconstituted?

[Katherine Swift]

Stephanie,

I have not had this problem, so I am going to speak with someone at Castin Craft to see what they recommend.

[Katherine Swift]

This is the answer from Castin Craft:

I scraped out some pearl pigment and added a tiny bit of alcohol; 90% rubbing alcohol seemed to loosen it and also tested some mixed a bit with just the resin portion of our epoxy and it seemed fine so either one or even mix some with a drop of acetone. If it is dried and hard inside the bottle and if bits or chunks cannot be pulled out then just add several drops of alcohol, let it sit overnight and see if it loosens up. If not, then like paint and glue, it isnt going to be salvageable.

[Stephanie]

I tried it with my polyester resin and while it appeared to mix better after I used the alcohol, the pigment settled to the bottom and never allowed the resin to cure correctly.  It left a big mess in my mold, lol.  Ah well, we tried!  I really do appreciate you testing it out to see if it would work!  However, I threw out the bottle and bought new pigment today.  I have to mix the new bottle pretty hard core before using it as all the pigment settled to the bottom, so whatever dried out in mine must have been the liquid-y stuff I see floating at the top of this new bottle.

Thanks again!

[Author]

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