[Katherine Swift]

Hi Kaye,

Here are my answers:

Are you able to tell me which is the most cost effective and which I should use for bezels and shallow castings?  

I recommend an epoxy resin.  While not as hard as polyester or polyurethane, the bezel will protect the resin.  Epoxy resin is also easier to use versus the other two. We have several epoxy resins in our store here: https://shop.resinobsession.com/collections/resin/epoxy

Is there a difference between ice resin and epoxy resin?  No, ice resin is an epoxy resin. 

Is polyester resin the least popular for jewellery making and if so, is this due to it being more toxic, or just that they others are easier to use and more reliable?

I would say it is because polyester resin is meant to go in molds and not bezels. It is a casting resin and doesn’t dome. The surface exposed to air remains tacky, even after fully curing. I talk more about polyester resin in this article: https://resinobsession.com/resin-resin-resin/polyester-casting-resin

Would I just be better off with a different type of resin?  Are other resins more reliable (for beginners anyway)?

Yes, I always recommend epoxy resins for beginners.  Easiest to use.

Im hoping to order some items from you soon, but had noticed that there may be extra charges when delivered.  Is this usual or something that doesn’t happen very often?

Duty charges may be incurred when purchasing items from Resin Obsession and them being delivered to a different country.  I don’t know exactly how much they are, but I know it varies between countries.

[christy]

i glossed the resin, but now that you said that, i wonder if that would work.

i found a product called oomoo 25 a silicone rubber two part liquid 1:1 ratio.

it copies exact and things come out shiny too.

I am having issues on curing also, the top shiny part of the cast is sticky.
sometimes just a little and dries in a day or two, other times it doesnt dry at all.  put on a gloss coat of sculpey and that works to end tackiness, but sometimes i want it to be less glossy as in cameos.

going to try another brand and see if it works better.

i bought a few molds from mold muse on etsy and these are pink in color where mine were blue, her molds dont have this issue, i asked her what she uses and all she would tell me was that it was a 10:1 ratio product.

i dont mind buying her molds, but i want to cast my custom pieces, so i need to make my own.

[Katherine Swift]

Katie,

While you may not have seen the bubbles after you poured your resin, they were there while it is curing.  Unless you’re creating extreme heat to sand your pieces (an industrial belt sander or something similar), they were there all along.

I have also had this happen with some of my castings.  I don’t know the exact physics of this, but there is enough surface tension (or something like it) to get the bubbles to cling to the edge of your casting rather than rising to the top.  (see how all your bubbles are along the edge?)

The best way to fix this in the future is to make sure you mix your resin in such a way as to get as few as bubbles as possible in your casting. 

Since your resin is colored, it may be difficult to see the bubbles.  I like to use a very bright LED nightlight to shine like a spotlight over my castings after I have poured.  It has helped me a lot to find bubbles that I didn’t see before. 

As for saving the project you have here, you have two options:

1.  Continue to sand until all the bubbles are gone.
2.  Try to repour resin into the holes the bubbles have created.  This way is a bit more tricky as it is almost impossible (for me anyway) to recreate the same color in resin from one batch to the next.  Your project appears to be dark, so just dabbing in a bit of clear may work just fine for you.

[Katherine Swift]

Hi Kevin,

I wouldn’t expect this to work very well. I don’t know that it will take the heat of curing resin, plus, I would expect it to release a lot of bubbles into your resin casting.

We have mold making supplies in our store here: https://shop.resinobsession.com/collections/mold-making-materials

[Katherine Swift]

Heres a few of my random thoughts about things to try differently:

Sometimes if there is sulfur in the original model for the silicone, it can cause problems with curing (even if the silicone looks cured).

Are you sure the molds are silicone? I haven’t had a problem with silicone molds sticking to resin, but polyurethane molds, yes.

Here are two mold release we sell in our store. Both work very well for silicone molds:

https://shop.resinobsession.com/collections/tools-and-supplies/products/petrolease-non-silicone-food-grade-mold-release

https://shop.resinobsession.com/collections/tools-and-supplies/products/ultra-4-polyester-parfilm-paintable-mold-release-12-oz

Are your molds old? Unfortunately, they don’t last forever. It may be that they are starting to breakdown.