Dyeing Clay/Paulson Poker Chips (1 Viewer)

[qiu_lijie]

Picking up some $1 Indiana Grand Chips from Apache, and I have the idea of dying them more pink and murder/relabeling them to make fracs. Price is reasonable enough to experiment. Just wondering if anyone has done it here and what are the results. I found a couple of posts about dyeing chips, but none of them have result with clay/Paulson chips I don't think. So any suggestions would be welcomed

My thought is that clay being a porous material, a water based paint/dye should do, and maybe oil them afterward to lock in the colour. I don't mind the labeling getting damaged in the process, as they will be removed anyways

 

[AlbinoDragon]

Clay chips aren't clay like you think, but are actually a composite. I haven't heard on anyone successfully dying Pauslons, but my guess is you probably won't see a large change.

Maybe worth a sacrificial chip or two to see what the result is??

 

[qiu_lijie]

Clay chips aren't clay like you think, but are actually a composite. I haven't heard on anyone successfully dying Pauslons, but my guess is you probably won't see a large change.

Maybe worth a sacrificial chip or two to see what the result is??

Yeah that's the part about experimenting that I would like to do.

I have a few sample clay chips here and there, they feel quite similar tbh. I think that's why you can oil them vs plastic/"ceramic" chips. I saw a post of ppl using sharpie on Paulsons, and the result look quite satisfactory to me https://www.pokerchipforum.com/threads/dying-poker-chips.8040/

 

[Jawnie]

Water based dye wont penetrate, ive tried. Oil based dye may but prob not evenly.

 

[BGinGA]

Best permanent color-change result might be obtained by using Rit fabric dye on light-colored chips.

A light coat of air-brushed water-base paint has also been used in the past to make counterfeit chips.

 

[qiu_lijie]

Water based dye wont penetrate, ive tried. Oil based dye may but prob not evenly.

May I ask what have you tried? How about air brushing light coats of acrylic paint as I saw suggested somewhere?

 

[Skagglio]

May I ask what have you tried? How about air brushing light coats of acrylic paint as I saw suggested somewhere?

I mean this will only work temporarily as it will wear unevenly with use.

 

[Jawnie]

Water based warm rit dye was what i tried. I got into fine cracks and soft parts of the chip. Left it in there for days, never penetrated at all evenly.

 

[qiu_lijie]

Best permanent color-change result might be obtained by using Rit fabric dye on light-colored chips.

A light coat of air-brushed water-base paint has also been used in the past to make counterfeit chips.

Yeah the chips I’m getting are white, and going for a light pink so I think I’m okay here. Between the two approaches, which do you think is best for permanent results?

 

[Jawnie]

Paint will ruin. Paints either thin and transparent or thick and opaque

 

[Jawnie]

Found bcc chip i tried on. Cant find paulson. Did this 15yrs ago. Purple dye on mustard. Gold oil pen looked terrible too and dirties when rubbed.

 

[allforcharity]

I wouldn't recommend this and the results may look uneven and horrible.

 

[qiu_lijie]

Paint will ruin. Paints either thin and transparent or thick and opaque

I tend to disagree, not an airbrush guy but even spray paint when applied correctly (multiple thin coats) can have surprisingly decent result, plus think and transparent is acceptable

Found bcc chip i tried on. Cant find paulson. Did this 15yrs ago. Purple dye on mustard. Gold oil pen looked terrible too and dirties when rubbed.

Yeah those are pretty rough, probably try airbrush first then. Thanks for the pics

I wouldn't recommend this and the results may look uneven and horrible.

If you check the link where the guy used a sharpie, the result are actually quite alright. Like I said the price are reasonable enough to try to experiment with a few chips before looking into labels and cranking them out. Will update if I find satisfactory solution

 

[Colquhoun]

I made this post in the other thread, but another member tried using stain, and the result was that it didn’t really penetrate enough:
https://www.pokerchipforum.com/threads/wood-stained-chip-science-project.73456/

I guess it’s worth trying with dye, but I’m not optimistic.

 

[qiu_lijie]

I made this post in the other thread, but another member tried using stain, and the result was that it didn’t really penetrate enough:
https://www.pokerchipforum.com/threads/wood-stained-chip-science-project.73456/

I guess it’s worth trying with dye, but I’m not optimistic.

If you go to the very end, someone got pink to look quite vivid. If I can get that result I would be a happy camper. Now Im contemplating yellow or pink...

 

[AlbinoDragon]

If you paint the chip, you are adding a layer on top. The chip will sound different, handle different and in time the paint will wear down to the base underneath.

Painting might be OK to try to slip a counterfeit chip past the cage, but they won't play well, or if they do, they definitely won't play like a Paulson chip despite the chip underneath being one.


P.S. Look at any casino used ceramic chip. The fading you see there is the printing being worn away by use. Any paint on a chip, clay or otherwise will do the same.

 

[Colquhoun]

If you go to the very end, someone got pink to look quite vivid. If I can get that result I would be a happy camper. Now Im contemplating yellow or pink...

The beauty of clays is that as they wear down a bit, the feel gets better. My biggest concern is that the dye won’t penetrate deep enough so that you can use these for any length of time without it wearing off.

 

[benjaminbreakfast]

Just make a white frac?

 

[qiu_lijie]

Okay, after a year in the making and a few experiments, here are the results using DyeMore Rit Dyes (the yellow ones are done with regular Rit Dye)

Here is my process that I ended up with, incase anyone is interested to do the same. 1L of tap water heat to boil, add 60-80mL of dye and 1 teaspoon of dish soap, allow to cool to close to room temperature. Add desired quantity of chips to the solution, mix and flip periodically, keep submerged for up to 16 hours. It is worth noting that you will get better colour and adhesion if you keep the solution in higher temperature (with much shorter submersion time), however you risk warping the chip. YMMV

In terms of durability, they are only skin deep, and will come off it you chip them or rub them hard against a solid surface. Will see if they hold up in regular plays thou, if there are noteworthy development, will update again

 

[Phoe9x]

It actually turns out pretty nice, I’m curious to see how deep it seeped. If you had one you’d be willing to snap in half.

Maybe also see if it will seep deeper if you keep it submerged longer?

 

[qiu_lijie]

It actually turns out pretty nice, I’m curious to see how deep it seeped. If you had one you’d be willing to snap in half.

Maybe also see if it will seep deeper if you keep it submerged longer?

As mentioned it is only skin deep. You can rub them off against a hard surface if your try hard enough. Similar results are found in the other thread with other method of dyeing

 

[Moxie Mike]

A light coat of air-brushed water-base paint has also been used in the past to make counterfeit chips.

Someone's obviously be watching a lot of 'Forensic Files' LOL.