"Marble" Dip

I have seen a few crown dips over the past several years that were really unique in that they had a marbling effect where there is a base color and a contrasting color giving the dip a veined appearance (see photo of finished arrow). At the PBS arrow building contest in Seattle in 1998 there were several arrows with this kind of dip.

I was curious as to how it was done and set out to find out. Actually, I think it was Brian Cole who talked to one of the arrow artists and discovered the method to make this unique looking crown dip and it really isn’t hard to do.

I start by putting on two coats of clear finish and a base coat of white. Make sure that you have rubbed out the finish with steel wool after each coat. Next, get a short dip tube or you can even use a glass vase or jar to make your marble dip. The secret is to float the paint on water and then dip through the paint and water. The paint will float on the top of the water. I am using a fast drying enamel called "Odds and Ends". The paint needs to be thinned quite a bit until you get a real runny consistency. If the paint is too thick you will end up with globs of paint and air bubbles. Pour in your base color first. In this example I am using yellow. Then slowly pour in your contrasting paint (or paints if you’re using more than one color). As you are pouring it in let it come out in a small stream and swirl it all around the base color. Once you have done this mix it up a little, but not enough to totally blend the two colors. Just take a tooth pick and swirl it around a little. (See photo for mixed paint). Now you can dip your shaft through the paint and water. You may have to dump this mix out after a couple of shafts if the paint blends together and you are no longer getting the marble effect. In the example shown I used a combination of yellow and blue and ended up with a yellow/green looking color.

Experiment with different color combinations and use your imagination for something that is really unique.