I just saw this thread for the first time. I may be missing something, but I did try to read through the entire thread for the driving incentive for this project.

It seems, Mitch, that this is something you just wanted to do. I kind of get that, though not as much as I'd like to. Tell me it isn't because you had a run-in with a wrap supplier and swore never to buy from them and now have had to find a way to get some glass glitter wrap.

Haha, no run-in Dan. Just one of those things that sort of occurs to you and then takes hold - "I'm convinced I can make glitter wrap out of these products!" lol.

These modern art products are high-tech and made to remain stable for decades, The Dura Lar is so cool and comes in rolls [no double seams] and in 0.010 mil as well [I'm using 0.005]. The emulsion is like a magic potion the way it goes on white and dries crystal clear...and sticks so well to the Dura Lar. And of course the star of the show is the artisan-made glass glitter. I've always enjoyed fabricating stuff and with materials like this how could I resist? :)

It's been a blast seeing it come together and actually work. It really is pretty spectacular in person, kind of a cross between ginger glitter and vintage nickel sparkle colour-wise. The glitter is real silver so it tarnishes nicely from the back of the sheet where it's exposed to air.

The one drawback so far is needing more than 1lb to cover the kit. I suppose what I'm doing here is making and sharing my mistakes so if anyone else wants to try, they don't have to make the same mistakes. Being in Canada, 1lb of glitter is $40 US with shipping - if you live in the US it's probably easier to source for less...so part of the deal is making your own wrap to save some bucks. I will say I have seen the Delmar silver sparkle in person and I do like mine better - the colour is more ginger-ale and the glitter is less blurry, probably because the Dura Lar is thinner...

Mitch

Man that looks amazing! Quite the process too..... but well worth the effort from seeing your results!

Thanks Glenn. Specifically, the discovery yesterday of the thick emulsion phenomenon has made it 100% worth it. I would not have been satisfied with the look of the wrap if not for this simple solution to the problem of non-random suspension/orientation [too many bits flat up against the Dura Lar]. Luckily as I say it looks great on the floor tom but for the bass drum I needed to fix the problem. As usual, the clue to the answer was in a previous "mistake"...:)

The bad angle I mentioned occurs with the bass drum between the observer and a light source; the "kick", or glare, area on the top of the bass drum should be just the glassy surface of the Dura Lar reflecting back, not a million speckles like spray paint...I'll try to get a picture of the problem, which I've now trounced. :)

Here's a pic of the small section for the FT, drying after thick emulsion+glitter application. You want that pure cloudy look which tells you the glitter didn't all sink down to the sheet.

Here are some of the colours you can get the glass glitter in...

https://www.meyer-imports.com/index.php?cPath=34

Mitch

Your right the extra thick layer that suspends the glass glitter really helps it pop. I always like the first silver glass glitter Slingerland did many moons ago. Have never seen a kit in that color. Would like to try this someday on some old stripped orphan RK shells. Or if you go into bizz your hired! :)

Wow! you have done it!

SO, do you have a kit in mind to wrap with this method?

I see a head and hoop on the floor tom so thickness is not an issue?

Step by step tutorial would be great, keep up the good work, you sure are a crafty young man.

Yes the emulsion thickness is the key, and it occurs to me that I did in fact realize this, earlier in this thread, but can't be bothered to go back and confirm. :)

The older glitter wraps were indeed amazing, that's what I'm going for. I'm using 80 grit glitter and stuck with it now that I've done the FT sheets, but you can get 70 and even 60 or 50 I think. The lower the number the bigger the glitter......next time! :)

I had thought of maybe setting up to sell this wrap but given the need for 2 [possibly 3] pounds of glitter for a Club Date set I'll have to figure out if there's a margin there....certainly if you follow the Meyers link there are some wicked colours to choose from. No backing paint is needed.

It seems I have indeed done it Jeff, thanks! This wrap will be going on my "Rustic Mahogany" Club Dates. Attached only at the seams until I've lived with it for a while - if I love it, I'll take it off and glue it down all around, though I hesitate to glue homemade wrap onto Ludwig shells, but these are some pretty battered shells, so....on that note there is only one type of glue for this wrap [to avoid wrinkling during the glue drying], and that is water-based contact cement.

Wrap thickness is an issue on these shells - I needed to cut the wrap back 1/4" at each end so I took 1/2" off of one side...which I can use for BD hoop inlay! This is actually a recommended [by me] tip - mark your sheets with an extra couple of inches [or whatever's needed] for inlay. It's a great idea which again happened in my case by accident.

I will indeed post a condensed step by step once the new batch of glitter arrives...

Mitch

You have indeed done it, outstanding!! Thanks for the updates.

Creighton

Thanks Creighton! The wrap itself is just super gorgeous.

Now I have encountered wrinkling in certain areas after installing on the floor tom. Mostly around the leg brackets [Gretsch replacements]. This could be avoided by gluing the wrap down tight before installing hardware I suppose...but I've decided I don't want to do that - I like keeping it easily removable to ease my ever-changing mind. Who knows when I might miss the mahogany finish? Also the shells are nothing like consistent in their "topography" - aside from the old Ludwig bump, they've been cracked, sanded, gouges where removing the original wrap lifted outer mahogany ply [not me!], so that no matter what wrap I used, it would not go on there nice and flat.

Anyway I decided I just don't care about the wrinkles - basically they look like weird reflections anyway. And while I attached the two sections with latex contact cement at one seam, I'm thinking of simply using 3 or 4 brass thumb tacks for the final seam - easier and no messing with glue.

...also I realized the whole deal could be made way cheaper simply by using the more common hex glitter available at any large craft store. So I will be experimenting with that in future. The Dura Lar sheets and polymer emulsion are not expensive - the jug of emulsion I bought would do 4 or 5 kits easily.

Attached are two pics of the wrapped floor tom. The red cast toward the bottom is an artifact of this crappy cell phone. The badge is fake - I cut it out of a sheet of brass, palm sanded and toned down by finger-rubbing with raw umber oil paint.

I realize many members here will not jive with my super low stress attitude to this wrap job. :) My philosophy has for a long while been this - splits, cracks, missing pieces, wrinkles, whatever; if there's wrap on the drum, that's what colour/finish it is. And in this case the wrap, even though wrinkly here and there, is an improvement. The only truly cool and amazing deal is when the wrap is original to the drum - so given that this wrap is "fake", as I would also consider wrap from Delmar, I don't really care about imperfection.

[edit] I've attached a pic of some Ludwigs wrapped in Vintage Nickel Sparkle to give the closest idea to the actual colour of my wrap. Mine is just a tick lighter.

Here's the step by step -

1) mark and cut sheets leaving extra material for handling and to avoid emulsion sucking under the edges of the piece you're working with. mark sheets on what will be the front/top so markings can be removed after cutting [sharpie/isopropyl cleaner]

2) apply thick layer of polymer emulsion, smooth as best you can

3) sprinkle glitter until surface is just evenly covered - do not overload as this will push/weight down the glitter to the surface of the sheet

4) wait at least 24 hours or until emulsion is no longer milky

5) lightly scrub off loose glitter

6) wrap the drum

Pretty easy eh?

Mitch

Tom looks nice.... Been watching your progress.. interesting information.. Thanks for posting it..

Cheers

John