[Richard]

Hi,

The plan was to make a backgammon board in resin, with the main area a mix of light blue & white (think: clouds in a blue sky),
with the points in 2 contrasting colours (also mixed with white).
I have made a mold for all this (had to buy a table saw!), & have started to experiment with epoxy resin.

What I’ve learnt so far:
– you have to mix like crazy, else the result will take days to cure & remain bendy & sticky.
– when you add a 2nd coloured resin to the first immediately, the colours do their own thing.
I now have a test piece with a distinct layer of white & a distinct layer of blue!
– compared to polyester resin, the cure time is horrific! A long time ago, I re-modelled a fiberglass-bodied sports car.
With polyester, once you’ve added the hardner, you have about 5 minutes to use the resin. Same with resin cement for fixing studding in masonary.
– removing the points from the mold, then cleaning up the base layer looks to be difficult with no guarantee of the desired result!
– polyethylene sheet works fine as release medium, but leaves marks (which I guess can be covered later with a thin layer of resin).

Plan B is to use parts of some old sea charts for the base & the points, covered with a coat of clear resin.
Now I have to experiment with sealing the bits of paper.

Let’s see how this all works out!

Bye,

Richard
Belgium

[Katherine Swift]

Sounds like you’ve learned a lot, Richard. Keep us posted on your progress!

[Author]

Posts