Casting Resin Crystals

[darth_chasm]

I picked up some silicone mold rubber and resin to make molds of and cast some crystals. Cool thing is, I ordered same day shipping from Amazon and the package didn't arrive on time so they gave me a full refund and told me to keep the products

Never done this before and I'm not sure if I mixed the compounds thoroughly enough, so it may not turn out too well. I'll update later tonight when the silicone has hopefully fully cured.

I am going to try to add some coloring to the resin to get different ones. Possibly even cast one in a color, break it into pieces and then throw those pieces into a clear cast. In my mind that may create a pretty cool effect.

Here's what I'm using and a pic of the mold degassing/curing. Wish I got some pics of the crystal beforehand but I was too anxious to get started. I just hot glued it to the bottom of the cup.

[minorhero]

That really looks like fun! I like the idea of using a mold to make crystals. I did a few test runs of making crystals by using crushed calcite crystals mixed in with tinted epoxy. If you are going to tint epoxy do some tests outside of the mold first. It's super easy to make your crystal opaque by adding too much tint. Really interested how yours turns out. Will you have to cut your mold in half to remove the original crystal?

[darth_chasm]

Yeah, you're supposed to cut it out. Probably not all the way in half though. From what I've read and seen, you cut it down the sides in a zig zag fashion so the mold keys up better. Then I just throw it back into the cup to hold the position. Apparently, the blob of hot glue creates a nice mouth to easily pour the resin.

[MasterStoddard]

I'm interested in how this turns out for you as well. I have a couple crystals that I'd like to try casting. One looks like it could almost be from the caves on Illum.

[darth_chasm]

The mold cured so that's a good thing. I put a cut off cup and s piece of tape around it the hold it in place. Then mixed up the resin and poured. I am a little worried about the resin as that has a ton of bubbles in it some are popping but I'm sure a lot will be left over. Now the waiting game. The resin takes 18-24 hours to cure :/

[Greenie]

The waiting game sucks. Let's play hungry hippos.

[minorhero]

No idea if this would work or not in your application, but when I am making wooden furniture and need to fill a knot I use tinted epoxy. The bubbles do not work themselves out but stay very much in place. In order to deal with them I use a heat gun. When the epoxy is heated the viscosity lowers tremendously and the bubbles can rise to the surface and pop. Your resin is by its nature less viscous then most epoxies I work with since it can be easily poured, so hopefully your bubbles pop naturally. If they don't try mixing just enough to fill your crystal easily and then use a heat gun on it before pouring. I say before pouring because I assume your mold can not stand-up to the heat the heatgun produces, or would insulate most of the resin deeper in from getting properly heated. If it can stand up to high temperature you may be able to apply it without issue. Hopefully this is not needed. Really looking forward to seeing the result!

[darth_chasm]

The waiting game sucks. Let's play hungry hippos.

Nice. I call red hippo!!

No idea if this would work or not in your application, but when I am making wooden furniture and need to fill a knot I use tinted epoxy. The bubbles do not work themselves out but stay very much in place. In order to deal with them I use a heat gun. When the epoxy is heated the viscosity lowers tremendously and the bubbles can rise to the surface and pop. Your resin is by its nature less viscous then most epoxies I work with since it can be easily poured, so hopefully your bubbles pop naturally. If they don't try mixing just enough to fill your crystal easily and then use a heat gun on it before pouring. I say before pouring because I assume your mold can not stand-up to the heat the heatgun produces, or would insulate most of the resin deeper in from getting properly heated. If it can stand up to high temperature you may be able to apply it without issue. Hopefully this is not needed. Really looking forward to seeing the result!

Thanks for the tips. Someone on FX gave the same advice regarding the heat gun. Definitely going to try that on the next one. I have noticed that since pouring the bubbles have lessened and the ones left are very tiny. Perhaps that's a result of a slow cure. I am sure if it cured faster the larger bubbles would have been set in place.

As far as color, I was going to use food dye, but upon actually reading the product info (something I have a habit of not doing) I can't use water based pigments. I think since this round of products ended up being free that I am going to get some faster curing resin and some pigments. This wait is killing me and being able to use the mold only once every 24-30 hours doesn't seem practical. I guess I could make more molds, but the wait for the resin... grrrr.

[PhoenixHawk]

Nice. I call red hippo!!

Dang-it.... ok fine i'll take the blue hippo. lol

I have dabbled in this a little ....its kinda cool to play with....and yes the fun part is the dry'in time....not. And your right about the bubbles. And you need to get get the proper dying pigments. They come in little bottles and you mix them to the base or the hardener(doesn't matter witch)first. Also it takes a little practice but when your mixing part A an part B don't mix so vigorously you will get less bubbles. and i see you got the good stuff.....well done. Amazing Clear Cast is crystal clear. Have to find the things i make those years ago and post some pic's for you to see.

[Greenie]

Obviously, I want the green one.
Have they cured yet? Can't wait to see how these turn out. Custom crystals to fit custom builds.
Once again DC puts the work in for the benefit of all.