[Jade]

Will state up front that I’m a n00b, have done less than five batches of resin altogether. I’m working with Amazing Clear Cast, and am using Castin’ Craft Mold Release on my plastic and silicone molds.
My latest creation is a bangle bracelet done in two pours. The first had a touch of Pearlex powder for glimmer which worked beautifully! The second I colored with oil paint. Overall it looks good, but there are a few spots where the paint didn’t get completely dissolved despite my thorough mixing, and some tiny air bubbles from all that mixing. I know a little patience and letting the resin sit will get a few of those bubbles out, but I had another idea and I’m wondering if there’s any reason it wouldn’t be advisable. I noticed that with the Clear Cast, the “B side” component is far less viscous than the “A side” or the mixture of the two. I’m thinking that if I measure out my portion of “B side” first and then mix my oil paint into that, I’ll be able to mix it far more thoroughly without worrying about bubbles or running out of time before anything starts to set up. Once it’s mixed to my satisfaction THEN I would add the other part of the resin and start the chemical reaction.

So, does this sound good? Are there any intricacies of resin chemistry that I’m not taking into consideration?

Also unrelated but I’ll ask here instead of starting a bunch of different threads: even though I topped off my bangle mold, the top ended up concave instead of domed, which was actually quite sharp. I had to grind it down with my dremel so it wouldn’t hurt me when I put it on. How do I achieve that dome, is it a technique or is it something some resins do and some don’t? I’m remembering the first bezel pendants I did and those ended up concave too. I have a syringe of Ice Resin, would I get domes with that? And would it be okay to do a coat of Ice Resin on a fully cured piece of Clear Cast? (I’ll stop now, I promise! See why I didn’t want to start a thread for each question?)

[Katherine Swift]

Hi Jade,

I don’t have a lot of experience with using oil paints and resin. In general, I like to only use colorants specifically designed for resin (in your case the Alumilite colors) because of potential problems like this. Mixing the color into the Part B is worth a try, although I can’t guarantee your results will be any better. You might try mixing your resin and paint like I show in this video for powders: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbN4YTIFkgA It might work out better for you.

What happened with your bangle happens commonly with resin. Resin will shrink when it cures, leaving an edge where it sat up next to the mold. Next time, try overfilling your mold a bit, knowing it will shrink later. You can always dome it back later like you mentioned. Another layer of the clear cast should work fine. I haven’t tried Ice resin on top of Alumilite Amazing clear cast, but since it’s epoxy on epoxy, I would expect it to work.

Whatever you try, would you mind letting us know the results?

[Author]

Posts