Silica Testers

* Note that 1/2 Gram dry testers are $5 each and in full sets.

WHAT'S ACTUALLY IN YOUR $1 DRAGON BLOOD TESTER?

One of the questions that naturally comes up with our Dragon Blood silica testers is:

“Why isn't my tester bottle full?”

The answer is simple: we aren't selling you a bottle full of product. We're giving you enough product to test approximately one cup of plastisol.

The bottle is simply the delivery method.

LET'S DO THE MATH

A full gram of this type of silica pigment currently sells on the open market for approximately $15.99.

The Dragon Den price for that same one-gram quantity is $8.99.

That is a savings of $7.00 per gram, or approximately 43.8% below the $15.99 retail price.

But how much does a bait maker actually need?

Through our own testing at the Dragon Den, we have determined that one gram of silica pigment will make approximately eight cups of plastisol at what we consider a good working concentration.

So the math becomes very simple:

1 gram ÷ 8 cups = 0.125 gram per cup

That means a one-cup test requires approximately one-eighth of a gram of silica pigment.

At the Dragon Den's $8.99 full-size price:

$8.99 ÷ 8 = approximately $1.12 per cup

And that is the basis for our $1 Tester program.

DON'T JUDGE YOUR TESTER BY THE BOTTLE

This is probably the most important part to understand.

Depending upon the density and physical characteristics of a particular material, your tester bottle might look full, half full, or even considerably less than half full.

Don't judge the tester by how full the bottle looks.

The bottle is not the unit of measurement.

The cup of plastisol is the unit of measurement.

We portion the tester based upon the amount of material we believe you need to properly test that product in approximately one cup of plastisol.

For our Dragon Blood silica powders, our working formula is based upon approximately 0.125 gram per cup.

That is what you're buying for your dollar: a chance to put the product on your own bench and test it in approximately one cup of your own plastic before buying the full-size product.

START LIGHT — YOU CAN ALWAYS ADD MORE

There is one other important thing to remember.

We're bait makers. We're artists. This isn't much different from cooking.

One person likes a little salt. Another likes more. One bait maker wants just a subtle highlight or color shift. Another wants that effect screaming out of the bait.

Our formula is our best working recipe, not an absolute rule.

When testing a new pigment, we recommend starting with a little less than a full cup of plastisol if you want a stronger initial result.

Why?

Because you can always dilute a mixture that is too strong by adding more plastisol.

It is much harder to evaluate a product if you start too weak and have already used your entire tester trying to build the concentration back up.

WHAT THE $1 TESTER IS REALLY FOR

The purpose of the Dragon Den Tester program isn't to sell tiny bottles of pigment.

It is to give bait makers an inexpensive way to answer the question that actually matters:

“What does this product do when I put it in MY plastic, using MY molds, making MY baits, on MY bench?”

For Dragon Blood silica pigments, we've determined through our testing that approximately one gram will make eight cups of plastisol.

Therefore, the tester is portioned to make approximately one cup.

Whether that amount fills the tester bottle, fills half of it, or barely covers the bottom isn't important.

Don't measure the value by the bottle. Measure it by the test.

One tester. Approximately one cup of plastic. One dollar to find out whether this is something you want on your bench.

That's what the Dragon Den $1 Tester program is designed to do.