Tiny air bubbles in acrylic?

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Kitten

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Hi geeks, hope some of you can help me. My tutor did a demo on me last Saturday and I've noticed some tiny bubbles that look like teensy weensy air bubbles in the acrylic. I practised on myself too (did a couple of pink & white, and a couple clear) and there seems to be the same - are they likely to actually be air bubbles or am I just not refining & finishing off correctly or thorougly enough? Am I working too wet/dry? Any ideas?

Another quick question, while I'm here - is it me, or is sculpting much easier (and quicker!) than blending tips? I always seem to blend the actual tip away until it's virtually non-existant - and on my nail trainer hand I usually break them off cos they are so brittle by the time I've finished with them. Am I probably using too harsh a grit - I usually use a 180 until I'm nearly down to the natural nail plate (or the nail trainer nail plate!) and then a Koala or white block.

I've got six weeks left (of my 12 week course) and I must start my case studies soon, so any help is very muchly appreciated! xxx
 
Dpending on your product air bubbles could be a couple of things

either

Make sure you press your bead into place to press out any bubbles formed and give good adhesion

or

You're not giving the bead enough time to 'set up' before pressing it into place - it needs a moment to two for the chemical reaction to start polymerisation

or

You've overworked the product and pressed air in to it again

Any of the above help?

Trin
xx
 
Forgot the other questions :smack:

Sculpting is quicker yes, but much harder to do

Really thin tips is perfect for overlays, the strength is in the product not the tip, just be careful when working round them until you've done your overlay.

Trin
xx
 
Trin - brilliant thanks - v helpful on both counts! Firstly, I'm probably not giving the bead enough time to settle in before pressing it into shape, and on the tips - maybe I'm being too heavy handed with them once blended before putting the acrylic on them. I'll give it another go! Thanks hun xxx
 
Kitten said:
Trin - brilliant thanks - v helpful on both counts! Firstly, I'm probably not giving the bead enough time to settle in before pressing it into shape, and on the tips - maybe I'm being too heavy handed with them once blended before putting the acrylic on them. I'll give it another go! Thanks hun xxx

I was Nsi trained and my tutor always used to say when placing the brush into monomer burp the brush twice by this she ment press the brush down to bottom of dappen dish twice and watch the air bubbles rise then do your wipe before going into powder, works for me!
 
another way o eliminate air bubbles is follow as both Trinity and Carol have said, but also, not drawing through the powder too fast. Just dip slightly, draw very slowly and not as far.

Really dip and press at the botttom and wipe your brush firmly on the edge of dappen dish aswell.

Don't wipe your brush as you are working too. This will dry your brush and put you back to the beginning with air bubbles in your brush.

Hope I haven't repeated anything anyone else has said.
 
For tip blending ... check out the tutorial on File Control (part 2) in the premium geeks tutorial section.

You should never need heavy grit files to blend tips. Also if the tip is crumbling away, it is because you have air trapped in the adhesive so the tip is not really adhered at all. A well adhered tip would not crumble away with filing.
 
Hi,

I was taught to blend with a 240 or 280 grit file. I don't know why but i made the mistake of using 180 when i first started as i thought it would be quicker but then when my tutor told me i was doing it wrong and should use 240 i started to use it and i liked it better, it didn't look as messy and when i was blending and then wiping it looked smooth, when using 180 it always looked scratched and i would have to use my white block loads to get it to look smooth.

Hope this helps
 

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