Materials French Resin

From what I understand, it's a semi-opaque resin, usually mixed from a clear resin with either opaque white powder or white paint/die mixed into it, as well as whatever dies for the shading of the skin. It's a process, not a product you can buy anywhere.

 

A few members on the board have used this process to get the glowy, semi transparent look for their cast dolls, like Kaye

 

I don't know why its called french resin, other than the company that made one type might have been french. It's just a transparent resin that is pigmented to make it coloured and semi-opaque, so as to still leave some of the translucent appearance in place.

 

it only shines if the original, and thus the mold, has a glossy surface. Most "french" resin dolls that I have encountered have a matte/grainy texture.

 

I tried to Google French resin and got nowhere, though I eventually figured out it had to be transparent resin with filler and dye. But do you folks think it's acceptable to use the term "French resin" to refer to any translucent resin? Is it like "French fries," or does it really imply "made in France"?

 

I personally think it's only called french resin because it's beautiful and delicate, which has more to do with the french style of porceline dollmaking, than with any translucency copyright. *shrug* Why should the French hold the patent to beauty, anyway?

 

I remember souldoll was offering their dolls in french and opaque resin a couple of years ago, but stopped offering the "french" resin option (they didn't call it french though, they had another name for it) when their suppliers in France hiked the prices up for the translucent resin.

 

I've heard that a bit of talcum powder in the cast can help with that too, but I haven't personally tried it myself, so who knows. All I know is I've been trying to work with Aluminite's clear resin with porceline powder to get the 'french' look, and none of my casts have been solid, save one, where my resin set up while I was still pouring it. I'm beginning to wish I had started out with something a little simpler, a little more straight forward. I may just have to try it again clear, just to figure out what's been going wrong. *cries*

 

It's semi-transleucanct and I loooove it. I just wish I could find the perfect mold that someone makes from French resin

 

They called it 'limpid' resin. ^_~

 

*guffaws* Oh, that's too rich. *snickers* ..limpid..

 

LIMPID resin?! XD Hur

Yeah! According to Kaye, it's just clear resin with pigmentation added into it to make it all glowy and stuff. The kind of dye you buy should tell you how much it takes to make opaque color? Like drops-to-liquid-volume.

By the way, that reminds me, anyone know anything about Mr. Fiberglass clear resin? o_O I've been wanting to do this and that price tag is tempting.

 

I remember that bambicrony called their "french' resin MBS resin which stands for MBS (methyl methacrylate butadiene styrene) resin its usually an additive to PVC resin.

 

I think I've read on another thread that French resins have problems with yellowing really quickly. On the Smooth-On website, they have a Crystal Clear resin that says it is UV stable and will not yellow over time.

 

I've read a lot of bad things about Crystal Clear resin though....like it causes really bad reactions and breathing problems during casting. Not yellowing would be really cool though.

 

It's definitely not for your average household casting... you'd need a separate studio for it. Like a garage with big windows to open that also was heated. I'm allergic to the crystal clear stuff they sell that's craft grade at hobby lobby. I can't imagine what would happen to me with the industrial stuff. X3

 

That's really good to know. I have asthma, so I guess the Crystal Clear is not for me.

 

Yeah, from what I've heard, Crystal Clear is nasty stuff. :P

 

I have a strong suspicion that I'll be working my way toward using the crystal clear UV-resistant resin, once I get to knowing what I'm doing, and when I finally have a real studio set up with proper ventilation, ect. I can't find anything but a clear finish spray coat to protect my (future) dolls from the harmful light rays. I know some folks use a UV-absorbing powder, but I can't for the life of me find anything like it.

 

As an alternative to crystal clear, Smooth-On sells a "color neutral" translucent amber resin called ColorMatch. I'm not sure how pale it can go, but I'm definitely trying that first.

Also, zinc oxide is a white pigment that's also used for UV blocking in sunscreen. I'll be using that for filler -- Douglas and Sturgess stocks it (along with a dizzying array of other sculpting/casting materials).

 

Zinc oxide, huh? That's a good idea! Oo.

 

I hope you'll report back on how that works. And sorry if this is a nube question, but what proportion of the zinc ozide would you use as filler?

 

I have to add to this!
French Resin does not necessarily come in only one type. I have cast using an alabatster white resin that is "French" its was formulated in France but is manufactured and distributed out of Germany.

Resin comes in several different types and does not have to be french to give a translucent finish. It is possible to get a clear resin and add white pigment to it this will produce a more translucent finish that a white resin, but both have to be tinted further to get a flesh tone etc...,

all urethane resins are dangerous to work with as they all give of toxic fumes when curing and can heat up to temperatures high enough to cause serious burns, so there is no more danger working with crystal clear than with an already opaque resin. Resins differ by its work time, its cure time and its hardness rating, some resins are more brittle that others which is why some of us can drop one brand of doll and chip a finger off and others end up with a fractued limb.

Alumnite offer a white resin that can be tinted with their liquid colours red and yellow, you only use the tip of a toothpick with the tints on this scale though or you will end up like I did with a fluoro Orange doll head!!

If you are casting your own dolls it come back to reading everything you can lay your hands on on all products and be sure to read the MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheet) All products have one and it particulaly important if you have certain allergies. All in all French is lovely and they do offer in some cases a superior product but you can achieve the same efferct with other products used in a similar way .

 

whitewings: I think you'll find that the MSDS is different for opaque v. water clear resin. It is for Smooth-On's, anyway -- they even slap a big "NOT FOR HOME USE" warning on their Crystal Clear pages. It's a different (and presumably nastier) isocyanate.

Far2Frail: Well, I'm guessing it'll take some experimentation, but some of the Smooth-On tutorials use 1:1:1 ratio for Part A, Part B, and (their) filler, so that seems like a good place to start. FYI, any filler you use has to be really dry -- they recommend spreading it out on a baking tray and toasting it in the oven for a while.

 

Are Smooth-On and Alumnite the only companies to order resin from in North America? If these are the only choices I'll have to try to emulate the French resin by using fillers, but I'd rather just order the French resin like dollmakers in the EU do.

 

These are great tips, and an interesting topic. And now I am wondering what a clear resin doll would look like!

 

There are other companies besides smoothon and alumilite that sell molding and casting materials: http://www.polytek.com/ for one. Also http://www.bjbenterprises.com/

 

Does anyone know anything good/bad about Mr. Fiberglass clear resin? It's awful inexpensive. Which immediately makes me suspicious!

 

So there's no difference between crystal clear and normal resin other than the fact that crystal clear resins are more, like.. smelly?
Which crystal clear resin is least smelly and easy to work with?

 

Has anyone ever looked into importing resin from one of the companies in France?

 

hello!
I'm a novice about making dolls, but it would be very cool for me to know more of it
Tell me please, where can I buy the tipes of resins you are talking about, I mean what kind of companies usually sell them? I live near Moscow, maybe there I could find some of them, for example, can it be 3M company?
And explain please, is it sold as a resin itself, then is melted and is ready for cast; or it is sold as difrent components for mixing directly before cast?
Maybe there're some links about using these materials (crystal clear or translucent one), or about detailed process of making BJD in english (I don't even hope to find it in russian - such a hobby isn't very prevail in Russia )
Thank you

 

Can't help you with companies in Russia but if you want to buy from the web there are several links to sellers in the sticky thread at the top of this forum and lots of other useful links:
http://www.denofangels.com/forums/showthread.php?t=73056

Good luck

 

For those having trouble with the Alumilite Clear Resin; how long have you kept it in the mold for?

I casted (once so far) with it and let it set up for 3 days (I had to, it was far too soft to remove from the mold before that).

It took an additional week to completely set up once I had removed it from the mold. ):

So for those having problems with it, I could recommend leaving it in the mold for a total of one week before removing it, and hopefully it will have set up properly.

---- Of course, I could have gotten a bad batch or mixed it incorrectly, though it wasn't my first time mixing, so.. who knows.

 

Shana-chan: Is this the stuff you used? Alumilite Clear

It says it has an open time of 4.5 minutes and a demold time of 30-60. Maybe you got a bad batch? Maybe you mixed by volume instead of by weight or vice versa? I would check the TDS/MSDS and then contact the retailer or manufacturer to find out what went wrong. Gods know I would not have the patience to leave something in the mold for a week!!


You can get a decent clear resin from Polytek, called Polytek Easyflo Clear.

It is made in America. It is toxic like all resins ~ wear protective masks/gloves and work in a well ventilated area... resin is not kitchen-table stuff, so keep away from pets, food storage/containers and even small children. You may need to add UV Additive (also by Polytek) to slow down the inevitable yellowing of resin.

French resin is just a TRANSPARENT resin with some pigment added. It can be made in any country, not just France.

When shopping for resin, another characteristic to look for is the viscosity, you want LOW viscosity because that makes the resin more runny which makes it easier to work with/pour into the mold.

Polytek Easyflo Clear has a working time of 2.5 minutes, it sets up in 15-30 minutes and has a hardness of Shore D 72. The viscosity is 110 cps which is low. This resin is mixed by volume at 1A:1B. This resin tends to foam up if not in a pressure pot.

 

Well, I do remember that the resin managed to get 5 millionbillion (okay, maybe not really) bubbles in it, so that could also have been a major factor in it not setting up properly. :3

I did try contacting Alumilite, I believe about it and another problem that I had (can't remember for sure), and they didn't reply. :/

So this new info is really helpful!

 

I've used the Alumilite,
http://www.alumilite.com/checkout/index.php?cPath=22&osCsid=5878582d9815c02b4e8f3f528ac56070
and the nice thing about the stuff is it hardly has an odor. They have white and clear and colorants.
I used the old resins like they sell at hobby stores a lot 20 some years ago, for different art projects, and now I have MS. It's not certain how I got it, but I used to use alot of nasty products in my 20's.

 

Shana-chan, try calling them on the phone.

elljaye, just because a chemical doesn't smell doesn't mean it isn't hazardous, so please be sure to protect yourself and work in a well ventilated area.