: Really surprised that the real leaves didn't work.

: The trick with metal flake is to keep it suspended while the
: material it's suspended in dries/hardens. It tends to settle to
: the bottom and the sparkle goes with it when it does. It's all
: the edges of the material and the flakes sitting at various
: angles that create the effect, laying flat they aren't as
: pretty. I'd want a very fast setting epoxy if I were to try
: this. Works well with clear coat though, dries pretty quickly.

I think for the large maple leaf I am ok with a flatter layout. I have since modified my art idea after taking to Linda a little. She thinks the remaining real maple leaves I have on the deck do not look very good anymore since they have let go a little from the epoxy and looking kinda spotty. I think she is right so I am thinking to sand them out and to either create more metal flake maples leaves of a smaller size to replace the real ones or to create a pattern using a fleur-de-lis, Metis symbol and the big metal flake embedded maple leaf. The Metis infinity symbol can be "yellow" or "white-with-a-royal-blue-background" while the fleur-de-lis is a royal blue color. I am thinking of using automotive paint and the metal flake to do the fleur-de-lis on the front deck, then letting its blue color bleed to the rear of the kayak along the sheer panel and flow into the Metis symbol with a few flame-like spikes flowing out of the sheer panel wherever I am inspired to make 'em go. The blue color would then flow further to the rear and basically fill in the knob ends of the sheer panels as per Nick's design. This would create a fairly flashy final appearance but maintain my trademark logos, all symbols previously mentioned. This project is turning into something fairly bigger than I originally thought. That said, I haven't started my new job yet so I have time to make it work.

Robert N Pruden