Immortalized in Plastic
I decide some time ago that I wanted to learn how to do resin casting. So that is one of my goals for this summer and I am already working on it.
My sister and I went to Hobby Lobby and bought the Super Casting Kit by Alumilite. It is $70 at Hobby Lobby as well, but we had a 40% off coupon. Anyway, we looked around our house to find a test object for our first try and settled on this:
It is the belt buckle I made for my Red Link (Four Swords) costume, it is made of Super Sclupey and painted with gold paint. The buckle part fell off because it is not flat on the back, so I thought it would be perfect to use as a test. So we made a mold out of the Quick-Set silicone rubber, it took most of the material to do so:
Then we heated the mold (as the direction suggested) in our microwave (our new microwave). That was not a good idea because now every time we cook something in it, we have the smell of burning rubber fill our kitchen (no I did not burn the mold at all, it got no where near that hot). After that, we put baby power in the mold to help the resin set right. Then came time to mix the two parts of the resin together. We measured it out tho two parts and poured it together and mixed it, but I mixed it too long and it started to set as we were pouring it it the mold:
So we had to do a take two and it turned out perfect:
But we mixed a bit more material than we needed and it set in the bottom of the sour cream cup we mixed it in, so we got this neat impression it:
Although the duplicate came out nice, it did not do so without sacrifice, as I tore the mold trying to get it out:
The mold had a flaw in it from when we made it. The original object (I did try to secure it, but it did not work) floated a bit when the silicone was poured over it. That made it so we had cut the excess that had gotten underneath to get the original out and that created a lip that made it difficult to get the duplicate out later. I don't know if we will be able to repare it or not, but it was just our first try, "Nothing Ventured, Nothing Gained" I say. We gained some knowledge from the experience in any case and can wait to make more stuff. Besides, if a Chemistry Major and an Art Major can't figure this out, then the world is a sad place, indeed.
This is a bit different from casting metal (pewter) which I do have experience in. In one way it is safer in that in does not require a open flame to do. But on the other hand it is not as forgiving a medium as metal in that it is irreversible. With metal if the piece does not come out right you melt it down and try again, as this is a physical change, there is essentially no waste. But with resin, it a chemical reaction that takes place, if your not careful you end up wasting quite a bit.
My sister and I went to Hobby Lobby and bought the Super Casting Kit by Alumilite. It is $70 at Hobby Lobby as well, but we had a 40% off coupon. Anyway, we looked around our house to find a test object for our first try and settled on this:
It is the belt buckle I made for my Red Link (Four Swords) costume, it is made of Super Sclupey and painted with gold paint. The buckle part fell off because it is not flat on the back, so I thought it would be perfect to use as a test. So we made a mold out of the Quick-Set silicone rubber, it took most of the material to do so:
Then we heated the mold (as the direction suggested) in our microwave (our new microwave). That was not a good idea because now every time we cook something in it, we have the smell of burning rubber fill our kitchen (no I did not burn the mold at all, it got no where near that hot). After that, we put baby power in the mold to help the resin set right. Then came time to mix the two parts of the resin together. We measured it out tho two parts and poured it together and mixed it, but I mixed it too long and it started to set as we were pouring it it the mold:
So we had to do a take two and it turned out perfect:
But we mixed a bit more material than we needed and it set in the bottom of the sour cream cup we mixed it in, so we got this neat impression it:
Although the duplicate came out nice, it did not do so without sacrifice, as I tore the mold trying to get it out:
The mold had a flaw in it from when we made it. The original object (I did try to secure it, but it did not work) floated a bit when the silicone was poured over it. That made it so we had cut the excess that had gotten underneath to get the original out and that created a lip that made it difficult to get the duplicate out later. I don't know if we will be able to repare it or not, but it was just our first try, "Nothing Ventured, Nothing Gained" I say. We gained some knowledge from the experience in any case and can wait to make more stuff. Besides, if a Chemistry Major and an Art Major can't figure this out, then the world is a sad place, indeed.
This is a bit different from casting metal (pewter) which I do have experience in. In one way it is safer in that in does not require a open flame to do. But on the other hand it is not as forgiving a medium as metal in that it is irreversible. With metal if the piece does not come out right you melt it down and try again, as this is a physical change, there is essentially no waste. But with resin, it a chemical reaction that takes place, if your not careful you end up wasting quite a bit.