[Katherine Swift]

Hi Sally,

I like to use nitrile gloves.  The nitrile gloves we sell on resinobsession are also approved for use for medical personnel when administering chemotherapeutic agents.  (meaning they are not very permeable to chemicals)   

In general, I dont like to use latex gloves because sometimes latex can inhibit curing (mostly with silicones), and it is also more permeable than nitrile.

I also wonder if youre having a reaction to the latex instead of the resin?

[Katherine Swift]

Hi Denise,

As soon as you mix your resin and hardener, the chemical reaction starts.  Whether you pour it in the mold or leave it in the cup, it’s going to start curing after the specific pot time.  You either need to find another use for the resin left in the cup or plan on mixing less.  If you need ideas for leftover resin, here are some:  https://resinobsession.com/resin-resin-resin/leftover-resin-small-resin-projects-to-put-it-to-good-use/

[Katherine Swift]

Roberta,

There are many reasons why your resin isn’t curing.  The two big things that I would suggest you start with are that you are

1.  Measuring accurately
and
2.  Mixing thoroughly

I would say these account for approximately 75 percent of curing problems that I help people with.  Beyond that, its almost case by case dependent.  Heres a link on our blog with some other troubleshooting articles: https://resinobsession.com/tag/troubleshooting/

[Katherine Swift]

Terri,

Here are my thoughts:

1.  The mold release may not have been dry.  I like to use a light mist, then let it dry for about 20 to 30 minutes before using the mold.

2.  Even though youre using a space heater, resin does best when the room temperature is in the low to mid 70s F.  Maybe you could try to create a tent or hot box to hold the heat for the resin while its curing.

[Katherine Swift]

Hi Lan,

Heres a few of my thoughts:

I don’t think you need to go to the trouble of putting the caps on wax paper and gluing them all together.  I think you will do just fine gluing them to the bottom of your tray after you fill them.  You will for sure want to glue them to the tray to keep them from floating up when you pour the resin.

As for filling them, you can certainly do resin, although that much resin can get expensive.  I have seen others use glue or caulk, but I dont have any experience with that.

I would not use polyester resin for this project.  The surface that is exposed to air will be sticky, even after curing.  That means your entire tray will be tacky once you’re done.  I would go with Envirotex Lite (you can find it in our rein section) and pour it in two layers.  One to get mostly up the sides of the bottle caps, but not completely cover them.  The second layer would be enough to cover the caps completely.  When this resin cures, it will be very glossy and shouldn’t need any sanding.  I recommend two layers here because this resin is very syrup-y.  It can be difficult to get bubbles out if the layers are too thick.  If you’re wondering how much resin you will need, I would suggest using the guide on the blog on how much resin to cover a painting:  https://resinobsession.com/resin-art/how-to-apply-a-glossy-resin-layer-to-a-painting/

Good luck!

[Katherine Swift]

Hi Tracy,

I would suspect that the heat of the curing resin could melt your parrafin wax.  However, you could make a model from parrafin wax that you could then use to make a silicone mold from.

[Katherine Swift]

Hi P,

Here a couple of comments in ALL CAPS from the manufacturer:

1. When  the polyester resin starts to gel and harden in the silicone  mold (approx. 2-3 hr.), the resin edges receded from the  silicone mold edges. I understand that resin shrinks while  curing, but in this case the shrinkage left the sides of the  resin with a coarse surface and scratches, much like scrunched up paper. How can I make the sides of the resin  smoother? THE SIDES OF THE CASTING WILL BE DRY WHEN ENOUGH CATALYST IS USED SO CONSIDER INCREASING CATALYST BY ABOUT 20% AND KEEP NOTES OF WHAT YOU DO TO BE ABLE TO REPRODUCE THE SUCCESS 

2. I have both silicone molds  shiny surface and those with matte surface. Does this factor  affect what I wrote in 1.? It looks like the one with a  matte surface, which happens to be a large circle, is most  prone to scratches. MATTE SURFACE ON A MOLD RESULTS IN MATTE SURFACE ON THE CASTING. A GOOD QUALITY POURABLE SILICONE LIKE EASYMOLD BRAND SILICONE WILL RESULT IN A GLOSSY SMOOTH SURFACE WHEN THE ORIGINAL ITEM IS GLOSSY.

3. I have experimented with both plastic and silicone molds. It seems the plastic  molds creates smooth resin sides. I am puzzled as to why has  not been the case for silicone molds. GOOD QUALITY PLASTIC MOLDS ARE POLISHED 

4.  When working with polyester resin, Ive heard that you  should prevent air from entering for proper curing, and I  saw you cover the silicone mold in one of your videos. Does  this also help make the sides of the resin smooth, rather  than scratched? COVERING THE MOLD HELPS ALL OF THE CASTING REMAIN A BIT WARMER DURING THE CASTING PERIOD – WORK AT 70-75*F.

5. Does mold release agent/spray help maintain smooth resin edges in silicone  mold? Or, does it only prevent resin from sticking and  extending the life of the silicone mold? RELEASE SPRAY HELPS PREVENT RESIN FROM PULLING BITS OF SILICONE FROM THE MOLD WHEN REMOVING THE RESIN CASTING

[Katherine Swift]

Hi Shannon,

It sounds like what you’re seeing is where the resin is shrinking a little bit as it cools.  It produces an edge on resin charms. This commonly occurs with resin (even with brands that aren’t Ice Resin) as the surface tension between the resin and the side of the mold keeps the resin creeping up the side of the mold while the center shrinks during curing.  Im afraid sanding the cured edges is the best way to take care of this.

I talk more about it here: https://youtu.be/S6xlrNQDp_0

[Katherine Swift]

Hi P,

Here are a few of my thoughts:

The scratchy surface you mention is something I have had happen as well when casting polyester resin.  It sounds like the polyester resin is getting too hot.

The surface of your mold is going to impart onto the surface of your casting, so a mold made from a matte finished model is going to make castings with a matte finish.

Covering the molds while curing or whether or not you use a mold release will not impact it. 

I’m also going to send a note to our polyester resin manufacturer to see if they can shed some insight on whats going on.

Here’s an article about polyester casting resin: https://resinobsession.com/resin-resin-resin/polyester-casting-resin/

[Katherine Swift]

Hi Melissa,

What a neat idea!  Ive seen others do those and I think it would be super cool.

Yes, I would do what youre thinking in that once I had my template, I would make a silicone mold of each half.  To join them together, I like your idea of using some clear resin.  I think the E-6000 would hold, but it can break if someone really wants to try to get the two pieces apart.  Completely covering both ends with resin as a glue, then pressing together, is the way I would go.  (Be prepared to sand your seam to make it look pretty and even.)

As I was thinking about this, I thought of another design dilemma….

If this were me, I would be worried about how I was going to keep the ends together while theyre drying/curing.  Yes a rubber band will help, but you want to make sure the ends are absolutely flush and together.  I would anticipate taking a woodworkers approach to get the ends to lock together — like a dovetail when putting two ends of wood together.  That would certainly give the bracelet a neat look!  (If I wanted to try this, I would have one of my woodworking friends use one of their neat-o table saws to cut the template to make sure everything was even.)

If you wanted to have the ends look like they are coming together without a join, then I would try having a male/female approach.  I would have the female end of the bracelet be a depressed rectangle and have the male side of the bracelet have the same rectangle but it is raised.  This would let you lock the two sides together so that they will line up nicely when youre gluing without anyone (hopefully) being able to see how.  To make a model like this with your own eyes and hands would probably be tedious.  If I knew this was something I wanted to make and make a bunch of, I would go to the trouble of having someone CAD a wax model for me.  You could then make a silicone mold of the wax model.

I hope I didnt burst your bubble about trying this.  Maybe I shouldnt think so much…..

[Katherine Swift]

The official comment from Envirotex tech support was:

If they are using actual oil based fragrance then I dont think itll work in the resin; it?s likely not to blend in and maybe just sit on the surface or rise up out of it during curing.

[Katherine Swift]

Hi Pete,

We do not sell fiberglass resin.

A lot of jewelry is created with epoxy resin.  Some are harder than others when they cure, so I would suggest trying another resin other than ICE resin.  (For example, our Resin Obsession super clear resin cures very hard, while the Easy Cast epoxy resin can still be dented with a fingernail after curing).

You can also use polyester resin to create jewelry.  This is very useful if you want a very hard cure (like it sounds you want) that can be polished with a buffing wheel.

[Linda]

 Mmmm… The castings are pretty thin, they have around 8mm or so, it shouldnt be a problem. Theyre not large either, and I use only dry materials such as glitter or sprinkles, didnt even try with flowers yet. 

Maybe itd be a good idea to heat up the mold before pouring the resin? Or heat up the resin a bit before pouring? Or before demolding… (till the day she sets the house on fire!).

The plastic molds feel very hot while theyre curing, tho. So does the resin, I worked with a bit of it when it was jellyish.

Im using a 2% ratio for the mix, Ill try with a few drops more, maybe a dehumidifier. Such bad timing, it just started raining when my materials arrived! =[

[Katherine Swift]

Good luck with the spray!

As for the molds, silicone is generally inert, so Im wondering whats with the mold thats keeping the resin from curing.  If the mold was made from a sulfur model, leftover sulfur can keep things from curing.   Outside of that, I dont have any good thoughts.  Food grade silicone should be fine….

What is the thickness of the castings?  Polyester resin is such a strange beast.  Perhaps you need to add even more hardener to get it hotter to cure a thick casting.  (The manufacturer should be able to help you with this.

[catrina]

 to give you an idea of what has happened before when ive tried this

something else to note i am using a pearlescent powder pigment but still keeping it translucent: 

These are all full pours;

1: i Used to much catalyst it shrunk this was exactly 16 oz of the clear cast resin.

[URL=http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/853/imag0976c.jpg/][IMG]http://imageshack.us/a/img853/6317/imag0976c.th.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

2: I tried a different resin for this one because the local hobby lobby didnt have a larger size of the clear cast not realizing at the time why i had issues with the first one.

[URL=http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/38/imag1045i.jpg/][IMG]http://imageshack.us/a/img38/6315/imag1045i.th.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

i used envirotex i didnt like the color even though i was going to use it because the LED was in there but the peg on one side snapped clean off.

3: This was my final attempt at the time it looks all nice and pretty just after the pour. lit up with the diode

[URL=http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/267/imag1051.jpg/][IMG]http://imageshack.us/a/img267/5263/imag1051.th.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

after curing 

[URL=http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/692/imag1056mr.jpg/][IMG]http://imageshack.us/a/img692/3643/imag1056mr.th.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

i had an issue with this one and the second trial bubbling over the side of the top of the ornament… i left the third one in the ornament because the stuff that bubbled over was still kind of gooey, and there were alot of air pockets left inside too. I ended up using this one and coated it with a couple of clear coats but three months later its still sticky.

which is what has led me to remake it by doing the multiple pours