My 1st Attempt: Casting Resin
There are a lot of trends in art and one of them is working with resin. I am also a wood worker so I have seen a lot of cool projects that combine the two. I got the supplies in early 2021 but hadn’t taken the time to try it yet. I read somewhere that you write the book you need, so I am creating the blog and YouTube channel I need to take on all of my project ideas. Join me as I try resin for the first time and showing what it really looks like from a beginners perspective.
Supplies & Materials
Resin: Make sure you have one that is appropriate for casting
Silicone Molds
Additives: Glitter, Dye, or Anything else you want to add
Protection: Gloves, Parchment paper or other surface protection,
Depending on size of project and type of Epoxy – safety glass/respirator. The resin I used was no VOC & low order so I didn’t use one.
Prep: Measuring Cups, Stir Sticks, Ruler
Other: Heat Gun
Casting
Calculate Volume
Resin isn’t cheap, so I wanted to make sure that I have enough to fill the mold, but not any extra that would go to waste. There are a couple of ways to check the volume, as an engineer this was just second nature.
Measure the Dimensions: For easy shapes, it is simple to calculate the volume.
For a rectangle it would be Width x Length x Height. With inches – you need to take the Cubic Inches x 0.554 to convert to US fluid ounces. In centimeters, one cubic centimeter is equal to one milliliter so for the rest of the world the math is easy.
For a cylindrical shape, you would figure the area of a circle which is Pi (3.14) x Radius Squared then times the height to get the volume.
Fill with Water: For odd shapes, you can also fill the mold with water then pour it into a measuring cup to get an estimate. This is easy for smaller molds so I will have to think on it if I take on something big and oddly shaped in the future.
Tip: I use a clip board with a paper showing me my instructions, diagrams, and any measurements written down that I can easily reference during the project. In the manufacturing world we call this standard work and have it for every job.
Prep the Mold
Make sure that your molds are clean, you have all your supplies, and the mold release has dried before you star to mix since you do have a limited working time. I din’t have any mold release so I tired vegetable oil that I sprayed on (Spoiler: Don’t do this). I am ordering some mold release so that I have it next time.
Measure, Mix & Pour the Resin
Now that I know the volume and my mold are prepped, it is time to pour my resin. The resin I got is a 1:1 ratio, so it was easy to mix. I used plastic measuring cups and added the base first then the hardener. The key I learned is to pour slow and keep mixing it to get it clear and to get the bubbles out. I had watched videos on making sure to get the sides and bottom so that it is all well mixed and doesn’t cure sticky.
I now slowly poured the resin into the mold. To get rid of the air bubbles I used my heat gun but keep it a little bit aways since if too close you cause the resin to come out of the mold and create a bit of a mess. This was a lesson learned.
I also used the pop cycle stick to help break the bubbles, I need to get some toothpicks to make it easier to pop the bubbles.
For layer two I added some glitter then for the final layer I added some blue dye. I didn’t wait that long between pours so it all kind of mixed together.
Curing
Make sure to cover up your project while it cures so that no dust, bugs or pet fur get into it. I used parchment paper since it doesn’t stick.
This resin has a cure time of 8-12 for summer and 12-20 for winter depending on the ambient temperature.
I was impatient and un-molded at 10 hours to see what happened and was set but a bit “pliable” which could be good to know depending on the project.
Un-molding
I had one mold that I used the vegetable oil and one I did not. It was a good test to see how they compared that I decided to do on the fly (see the video).
Oil: It came out of the mold easier - BUT it didn’t hold it’s shape as well, was cloudy, lots of odd texture and inclusions in the resin and overall I will say was a “FAIL” or First Attempt In Learning.
No Oil: Was harder to get out of the hold but the quality was a lot better and I am calling it a “Nailed It” for a first attempt. I am happy how it turned out as a beginner. Is there some tiny bubble? Yes - but overall it don’t look too bad at all.
I am ordering actual mold release and then I will try that to see if the best of both worlds.
I do know that to get “layers” I wanted, I do need to wait a couple of hours vs the short amount of time I did wait and I should have waited longer to un-mold since a tiny bit pliable but this was more of an experiment.
Conclusion
I am glad I finally took the time to experiment with resin. I am not actually sure why I held off for so long since working with chemistry is right up my alley.
I am already deciding what I want to try next! So get out there, try something new, and create!