Oil slick effect

[artist]

I am an artist trying to cover a very bumpy plastic surface with a paint or combination of paints that will give me the dark rainbow effect of oil on water.
Is there a black iridescent paint or formula that could help me with this?

[Harry Phinney]

I'll be interested to read others' opinions and experiences on this. I don't know of a way to achieve what you're looking for. The effect you describe is the result of reflected light being refracted by varying thicknesses of the oil layer on top of water. In some ways this is similar to the different colors you can get on heated metals, which are caused by varying thicknesses of oxide layers refracting the light. There are color-changing pearls such as House of Kolor's Kameleon pearls, but these only shift between two colors, and they are quite expensive. In general, it's pretty hard to duplicate in solid paint effects that are seen regularly in liquids or glasses.

Harry Phinney

[alaskajeff]

Duplicolor carries a 3 can rattle-can chameleon paint set. I doubt it's very durable, but it might be close to what you're looking for.

[Len]

I would think that you could achieve something close by spraying the object black then dipping it in water laced with pearl colors then clearing it after it dries. This would be similar to the guitar dipping we did on the link below with different colors.

Guitar Link