[Katherine Swift]

Hi Jon,

Welcome to the world of resin! Here are my thoughts and suggestions with your situation:

1. The best way to keep debris out of your resin while it’s curing is to cover it after you pour the resin. I don’t know how large your pieces are, but a large plastic container placed upside on your piece works best. If your pieces are extra large, a plastic swimming pool can work. Keep your piece fully covered until the soft cure stage.

2. If you do get dust into your resin, you may be lucky enough to cover it with another layer of resin and no one will notice. From time to time, I would find a stray hair in a resin casting only because the surface would look uneven. Another coat of resin smoothed everything out and the hair ‘disappeared’. If you do find you need to sand the pieces, start with a coarse wet/dry sandpaper. Continue to sand until you end with a 1000 grit or higher, otherwise, you may see sanding marks underneath your new layer of resin. Wear a dust mask and be careful not to inhale/ingest the dust. Once you have the piece sanded, recoat the entire piece with a new layer of resin. If you don’t, you will be able to see your patches. By doing it this way, you will get the glossiest and most even finish possible.

3. For resin pouring, you want to be sure you are using a resin that conforms to ASTM D-4236. These are resins that have been reviewed by a toxicologist and are deemed suitable for art purposes. That doesn’t mean there aren’t safety precautions (like wearing gloves, having good ventilation, etc.), but at a minimum, it means that someone has reviewed them knowing they will be used in an small-scale artist environment (home or otherwise) and have found them to be able to be safely used for that purpose. Once you settle on a resin you would like to use, ask to see the safety data sheet (SDS) for that resin. There will be specifics in that document as to safety precautions, how to dispose of it, etc. We also have several safety articles that may be helpful to you: https://resinobsession.com/tag/safety

[Katherine Swift]

Hi Tom,

You will want to use a resin that has a short curing time. Once a resin has soft cured, you can demold it and set it aside to allow it to fully cure. It will be soft and indentable at this point, so handle it carefully.

For the resins we sell, there is a PDF link on this page that details their soft cure (demold time) and full cure. https://resinobsession.com/resin-frequently-asked-questions/resin-casting

[Katherine Swift]

Hi Tom,

Yes, you can pour the resin and add the decal as above, but you will see line between the layers. If you wait until the first layer starts to gel, and not fully cure, you can add your decal, pour the next layer and the line should be minimized or gone altogether.

You can speed up the curing time of a resin by putting it in a resin ‘hot box’. You can see an example of one here: https://resinobsession.com/resin-resin-resin/resin-casting-in-cold-weather We have several plastic coaster molds here: https://shop.resinobsession.com/collections/molds/coaster Molds 431 and 584 are most popular.

Good luck!

[Solomon]

I had the same issue (I think) I had a bunch of tiny bubbles (maybe less than 1/8 of a millimeter each in diameter of the bubble) in my cured resin that appear to be randomly scattered at different levels throughout the resin layer. I would usually sand it down and repair but these microscopic bubbles look to be as deep as the very bottom of the bottom of the pour. (I do layered paintings with epoxy resin) Ive used a butane torch after pouring and it looks to be completely clear and I also covered the piece as well for curing. Maybe it is particles left from sanding the prior layer?

[Katherine Swift]

Hi Jade,

I’m sorry to hear your resin isn’t curing. At this point, it is unlikely to cure. We have a troubleshooting article here that may help you pinpoint the cause of the problem. https://resinobsession.com/resin-frequently-asked-questions/resin-troubleshooting-tips

In the meantime, if your resin is gooey, there is no way to save it. You will need to scrape out of or off your project and start over. If it’s only sticky in a couple of spots, you can recoat with another layer of resin and do okay.

[Katherine Swift]

Hi Wesla,

I’m guessing you are trying to add the next layer before the first layer cures so you don’t see a line? For that, twenty to thirty minutes (depending on how fast it appears to be curing) works best.

[Katherine Swift]

Hi Matthew,

I’m sorry to hear about your bad luck with the resin. I’m afraid at this point, putting it in the oven won’t do anything to make it cure. If you want to try again, having your room temperature in the low 70’s F is ideal for resin curing.

[Katherine Swift]

Hi Chris,

I’m afraid all resins are going to shrink after curing. Your best bet is to overpour by the amount of the shrink, knowing it will pull back once it cures/cools.

[Katherine Swift]

The Killz should be okay, but I wouldn’t use a deck stain. Those may contain oil which could affect the resin curing.

[Katherine Swift]

Hi Kris,

I am not aware of silicone molding material that won’t work with epoxy resin. Some polyurethane molding materials may stick to epoxy. Alginate molds may cause a problem as they tend to retain moisture which can effect epoxy curing.

Would your mold maker be using either of those products?

[Katherine Swift]

Hi Kelsey,

What a nice idea, but I’m afraid resin isn’t going to work well for this. Resin hates moisture, so assuming you could catch the snowflake in the resin, it could affect curing. Even more complicating, resin heats up so it would melt the snowflake before it ever had a chance to cure in resin. 🙁

[Katherine Swift]

Hi Rita,

I have not done anything like this, but here is how I would approach it.

It looks like the surface shown in the picture would have been the surface touching the petri dish. i.e. think about this while it is ‘flipped over’

The colors are not blending with the resin at all which makes me think they are oil based. Too thick and they wouldn’t flow, but if they had a water or solvent base, I would expect them to blend into the surrounding resin more.

I would try putting down a clear layer of resin first, then dropping in the colorant and rotating the dish. Put more clear resin on in a layer, then add more color. I don’t know how these colorants effect curing. Sounds like something to try.

Is this helpful at all?

[Katherine Swift]

Hi Devin,

In a short answer, yes. Any two part clear epoxy resin should work for your purpose. There are a couple of caveats though.

If the acrylic is flexible enough, it may cause the resin to crack or pop off. If I were doing to do this, I wouldn’t want the acrylic to be able to move.

If the acrylic is thin, the heat from the resin curing may cause it to warp depending on how much you use.

Does this help at all?

[Katherine Swift]

Hi Bill,

You can put swirls in resin, but I don’t know that I would use paint to do that. Paints attract moisture which may keep the resin from curing. What you can do though, is use paint (or something else) to color extra resin, then use that colored resin to create the swirls. You can see what I’m talking about in these videos from our youtube channel:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=InsHyvO0lNE&t=134s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-90Jpl_ZiPI

We have resin colorants in our shop that may work for you: https://shop.resinobsession.com/collections/colorants

[Katherine Swift]

Hi Kelly,

Low 70’s F is the best temperature for resin curing. You can warm your resin in a water bath before starting, which will help, but your room temperature is still going to be a problem.

Once your resin painting has cured to the soft cure point, yes, you can move it so it can continue curing for the full cure time.

This article might give you some ideas on things to try to bring up the temperature of your resin casting area: https://resinobsession.com/resin-resin-resin/resin-casting-in-cold-weather