[Sebastian]

Hi Resin Community,

I’m a resin beginner looking for help feeling stuck and overwhelmed with a project I’m planning. A few years ago I inherited these antique multi-use steel hypodermic needle tips that my doctor grandpa (R.I.P.) left behind in his medical bag. I wanted to learn resin art so that I could make jewelry pendants out of these by setting them in clear resin (most likely with a little dye added) and somehow attaching a cord/chain to them. At first I thought the basics of this project would be straightforward. All I’m trying to do is set a small object in a mold that more or less frames it—rectangle, oval, triangle, etc., I’m not picky about mold shape. Ideally the mold would have a pre-formed hole for attaching a cord or ring (which seems like a common enough feature of resin molds). So I bought the clear epoxy casting resin starter kit from Resin Obsession, since it seemed to have almost everything I needed to start making some practice pieces so I can eventually work up to the real thing.

However, almost immediately I started feeling overwhelmed and discouraged. Even just finding a suitable mold has been an uphill battle. Trawling through Amazon, Etsy, and beyond, nearly all the molds I was finding were either too shallow or the wrong size or shape for my project, and the ones that were close didn’t have jewelry holes. I’ve considered buying a mold making kit, but that would require somehow finding or making an object that’s the exact size and shape of the finished piece I’m looking for. And as a beginner, that feels like adding on a whole other sub-project with more moving parts and more opportunities for things to go wrong, and where there’s no guarantee that it will even help make the rest of this project easier unless I manage to really nail it.

So I decided to simplify things and go with a premade mold. The one I settled on is ok, a rounded rectangle shape, but it still doesn’t have a jewelry hole, and cuts it a little close in terms of pour depth. For reference, these are the sizes I’m working with:
Needle: 27mm long x 8mm wide x 7mm deep
Mold: 40mm long x 16mm wide x 12 mm deep

(I tried to upload a picture but wasn’t able)

As you can see from the measurements, the total depth margin is only 5mm, which I’d ideally want to evenly distribute so that there’d be about 2.5mm of resin above and 2.5mm of resin below the needle.

Based on the resources for beginners, it seemed like the best technique for me to practice is pouring in stages, first pouring a thin base layer, then putting the object on top of that base once it fully cures, since the needle is made of steel and definitely dense enough to sink in soft resin. Then with the needle (or practice object) sitting on top of the cured first layer, I’d fill up the mold the rest of the way. I estimated how much to add for the first layer (1 mL) by measuring the volume of dry rice it takes to cover the bottom of the mold. I figured out how much to add in the second layer (4 mL) by filling up the rest of the mold with dry rice, and subtracting the volume of the needle and of the first layer.

Again based on the resources I’d read, I thought it made sense to mix the resin in two separate batches since the first layer would need a while to cure in order to support such a heavy object. However, from doing a practice run of the technique for the first layer, I found that mixing such a tiny amount of resin (1mL) for that thin first layer is very difficult, as the lines on the kit’s provided measuring cup don’t go below 2.5mL. The instructions on solutions A&B specify measuring by volume rather than weight, but there doesn’t seem to be any reliable way to measure out 0.5 mL each of solutions A and B. I tried using eyedroppers (combined with the power of math!), but the solutions were too thick and just oozed out instead of going drop by drop, so I had no way to tell how much I was adding. The first layer seemed to cure fine (no tackiness or anything), and it ended up about 2mm thick, which was pretty much on target for the 2.5mm I was aiming for. But I think this success was from random luck since I couldn’t actually tell how much of each solution I was really adding—there’s no way I could get consistent results using this eyedropper oozing method.

Although I did recently acquire some syringes that can measure fractions under 1mL, I’m feeling a bit paralyzed. I’m concerned that a) the syringes might not work either with such thick oozy substances, and that b) even if they do, I might just be on the wrong track altogether. Because even if I get the resin measurements figured out, the mold I’m using still doesn’t have a jewelry hole, so how will I turn this resin piece into jewelry? I’ve seen videos on how to insert hooks into semi-cured resin, but what if I have issues with that too? Would it be better to go back and try to make my own mold that would better fit my specifications? How would I even go about doing that? And even if I overcame all of these problems, I still have to figure out how I’ll measure the tiny amounts of dye powder needed to get a consistent color. I’m just feeling discouraged and paralyzed, feeling like all I can see are obstacles. I’d love it if someone could help guide me, and give suggestions for the best path to take in order to overcome (or work around) these various issues so that I can start making practice pieces and get this project off the ground. Thanks!

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