[Katherine Swift]

This question comes from Tara:

I’m looking to make some resin pendants using silicone, crystal-shaped molds. I want to mix in small pieces of red paper confetti — it’s confetti dropped at the end of a concert, and the piece is meant to be a wearable keepsake because it’s common for fans to collect the confetti and take it home.

This is my first time working with resin, so I tested the confetti in a small batch of Envirotex Jewelry Resin since it’s what I had on hand. I mixed the confetti pieces and some glitter straight into the mix before pouring it into a temporary mold. It turned out pretty well; the confetti held up fine without any bleeding and suspended well. The bigger air bubbles rose to the surface, but there were still a lot of tiny air bubbles around the confetti.

I can’t afford a pressure machine to take all the bubbles out so that’s not an option. I’m wondering, since it’s paper, if I should be sealing the confetti before putting it into the resin mixture. Would that help avoid bubbles? My concern with that is it’s very lightweight paper, like tissue paper, and the pieces are very small. I want it to suspend nicely and kind of randomly inside the resin. Would sealing it affect that or possibly ruin the paper?

Finally, I want the pendants to cure nice and hard, with a clear, glossy finish. I’ve been looking at your recommendations and comparison charts, and it looks like the Resin Obsession Super Clear Resin should be my go-to. Will it produce the desired results? Others I was looking at were the Alumilite Amazing Clear Cast, or Smooth-On Crystal Clear 200 (available from a local sculpture supply store — I understand this one is more for industrial use). Is the Resin Obsession epoxy suitable for use with a handheld rotary tool for polishing, or should that not be necessary?

Thanks very much for your time!

[Katherine Swift]

Hi Tara,

I understand using the Envirotex jewelry resin since it is what you had to test. (great use of resources!) Unfortunately, Envirotex jewelry resin is not meant for molds as it’s only meant for pours of 1/8 inch or less since it mixes thick. That is likely why you got the microbubbles around the confetti. Switching to a different resin should fix this in future pours.

If your confetti and papers did not change at all by placing them in the resin (looking like they took up water stains, changed color, etc.), then there is no need to seal them. It’s unlikely that is the reason for your microbubbles. I have had a problem with vintage papers creating bubbles in resin (probably from the acid or something), but haven’t had that problem with ‘modern day’ papers. That being said however, I do recommend placing papers in resin before placing in the mold. It helps to break the surface tension which can lead to microbubbles. I’m not gonna lie though — it sounds tedious to me to do that with confetti first. LOL.

If you are using your resin in molds, then the Resin Obsession super clear resin would be my choice.

https://shop.resinobsession.com/collections/resin/resin-obsession

It mixes in a thin viscosity, so bubbles are almost never a problem. The Amazing clear cast is a good resin, but because it mixes thick, I don’t like it for molds. I think you will have a microbubble problem with that one too. If you are using it with bezels however, I think it would work well since you would get a nice dome. (The super clear resin is not a doming resin.)

https://shop.resinobsession.com/collections/resin/products/alumilite-amazing-clear-cast-epoxy-resin-16-ounces

I’m not familiar with the Smooth-on resin, so I can’t comment on how well that would work for your project.

In general, cured epoxy resin pieces don’t do well with the heat produced by polishing compound and a rotary tool. However, I have had success with doing it with the super clear resin castings as it cures very hard. You should be able to do a little bit of polishing with a rotary tool and do fine.

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