Introduction:
Before you start you need to know what type of resin you are casting with. This guide is for Epoxy Resins only. Polyester Resins are a completely different process in which you need to use MEKP (Methyl Ethyl Ketone Peroxide) as your catalyst. Personally, Polyester Resins are a lot harder to use as you need to be VERY precise and use of a surface curers are needed most cases. Granted Polyester Resins are grand in their own application, but for the sake of costuming, chances are that you would be better off using Epoxy resins for the sake of simplicity.
Safety:
You will be working with chemicals!!! So it is very important to wear gloves, work on a cover surface, and if the smells are too strong for you, wear a mask. You can get these supplies at hard ware stores or your plastics shop.
Where to get Epoxy resin:
Tripp’s House of Plastics -http://www.trippplastics.com/products/details.asp?PDID=310&catID=57 *Highly recommend. Great customer service*
What you will need:
-Epoxy resin and its hardener
-Graduated disposable mixing cups (regular plastic party cups will work too, but make sure not use the wzx coated cups!)
-Mixing sticks (i.e. popsicle sticks or straws)
-Covered work area
-Mold
-mold release (I use the spray on stuff)
-gloves
-paper towels
-Resin surface spray (optional)
Getting started!
Written step-by-step instructions below video.
Part One: Covers basics, safety, molds, and pigments.
Part Two:Covers mixing, pouring, adding pigment/dyes and curing.
Most epoxy resins will have instructions with it, but if your here chances are they didn’t, got lost, or your are just plan curious. Anyway let’s start!!
1. Put on your gloves!
2. If you aren’t using a designated resin or silicon mold, grab your mold and follow the directions of your mold release. Do at least two coats, maybe three. If you don’t put this stuff on it will be SUPER hard, or impossible, to get the resin out. Trust me, it is worth the $7. Make sure they are dry before you pour! If you are using silicon or designated resin molds mold release is not necessary. DO NOT USE LATEX MOLDS WITH EPOXY RESIN. The resin reacts negatively with the latex causing poor surface replication and quick degradation of you mold. I highly suggest you use silicon molds.
2. Heat up the resin. This is to prevent cloudiness and bubbles in your cast. Both bottles should be warm to the touch. If they aren’t, set up a hot water bath and let them chill in there for about 5 mins or until they are warm, not hot, warm. NEVER put this in the microwave or oven!!!! Resin is flammable and we want to keep the chard houses to the minimum. Also make sure your caps are on tight to prevent water getting into the bottle. Water and resin is like mixing water and oil.
3. Find an area that is relatively dust/lint free and that will not be disturbed too much for 24 -48 hours. Cover the surface with newspaper, cardboard, or just plain old wax paper. Anything will work, its just to catch possible spilled drops. By now your resin is warmed and your molds are dry from the mold release it is time to get mixing!
4. Pour EQUAL amounts of both resin and hardener into one of your mixing cups, i.e. 1:1 ratio. Pour only what you can use because once it is mixed you can’t save the stuff for later. If you are unsure how much to mix, fill your mold with water and then pour that water into a measuring cup. If your mold held a 1/4 cup of water then you need to mix together 1/8 cup resin with 1/8 cup hardener (as 1/8 + 1/8 = 1/4). Make sense?
5. Add any dyes or pigments to your resin now.
6. Mix nonstop for 2 mins. Make sure you scrap the sides and bottom to get it throughly mixed.
7. Pour mixture into a NEW mixing container, mix for another 2 mins. Again make sure you scrap the sides and bottom to get it throughly mixed.
8. After mixing, pour directly into your mold(s).
9. Let set for at least 24 hours before you remove it, ideally 48 hours.
10. If your want your cast to be super shiny, hit it with some resin spray.
11. Drill, carve, polish, cut away until your hearts content. Congrats you did it!
Troubleshooting:
My Cast is still sticky!
You didn’t put enough hardener in. You might be bale to fix it by spraying the surface with Resin spray.
I have a lot of bubbles in my resin.
Either your resin wasn’t warm enough or you didn’t mix well. The warmer the resin is the easier it is for the bubbles to release themselves. Also mixing well will help reduce bubbles.
My resin is stuck in the mold!
Well, that cast is shot. Next time make sure you coat your mold with mold release or use polypropylene plastic molds.
It has been a week and my resin still has not set!
I have this issue a lot in the winter months. Epoxy resin works best in room kept between 70*-80*. If it is colder then that then the resin may not set, remain super sticky, and ruin your mold completely! So make sure you cast in warm room, and keep it warm for at LEAST 24 hours.
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What kind of dye did you use to make your gems on your Lina Inverse cosplay? I used one that said it was a transparent red but it came out as a solid pink.
I used the stuff by Castin’ Craft. You can get it pretty much anywhere they sell resin supplies. I only use a few drops, about 2-3, of course this depends on how much resin I’m mixing too. If I’m doing a small batch then I’ll only do one, larger ones take more dye. I hope that helps and good luck!
Once the gems have been made, how do you recommend attaching them to a costume? Will they hot-glue onto craft foam armour? Thanks :)
Hot glue will just pop right off the gem. The gem is a too slick of a surface and hot glue needs something hold onto. The best glue would be E6000. If E6000 cumbersome, super glue works well when glue to other plastics or resin items. Good luck!
Thank you so much for this tutorial! I used it for my Sakura costume, though the gems didn’t look es awesome as yours and I have no clue how to make them halftransparent yet.
Btw, linked your awesome homepage. ;)
Oh, and I’m looking forward to your Zhen Ji costume *___*
bye~
Yea! I’m so glad it helped you. In order to get them transparent but still have color you have to use the transparent dye. There are two types of dye for resin, one that is pigment that is more of goo and then dye (or tint) that looks like food coloring. Hope that helps!
Thanks for the link. :)
This tutorial is excellent! Thank you for actually doing one on epoxy!!!
Also… another reason not to use Polyester resin is that it gives off a toxic gass not only during the casting process, but the piece that has been cast using it continues to off-gass with that same toxicity for about 99 years. My Jewelry/Metals professor was big on making that known to her students.
I’ve been having trouble with my resin molds to a point that I want to give up and try something else but your tutorial along with your trouble shoot is very helpful! Thank you so much!
Glad it helped! :)
This tutorial is wonderful and it helped me a lot! However I just have one question, you mentioned you can sand these once they’re done, how do you go about doing that? Cause I know that once you sand these they lose their shine and are a lot duller than before. Any suggestions?
Yes you can sand them and yes they will loose their finish. If you do sand it make sure your final sand is with a fine paper to reduce the appearnce of it being sanded. You can then spray it with resin spray (Link) to get back it’s shine. Hope that helps!
Is there any type of other resin that i could find at places like, homedepot , joann , or michales?
Im new at this and everything confuses me, and i dont want to buy the wrong things
When it’s cooler and you’re trying to get the resin to set, I came across a heat lamp in a charity shop that works a treat – the resin is almost cured in half the time!
Great resin casting resource page! Especially the hot water bath, never thought of that. Would have saved many a castings that stayed tacky!
Btw, love your cosplays!
Glad it helped! And thank you. :)
hey ummm i have latex mould stuff what resin would u recommend? or would a sheet of clingfilm work? also (as it will be next to my skin) what would u recommend? kinda want to keep the cost and rashes to a minimum lol