Casting Getting used to casting..?

well, you don't have to use resin if you are just practicing or getting the feel of it. You can use plaster or sugar.

With sugar, you add water to it and heat it up, then pour into a mold. There are a few consistency in which you can get at with sugar. It can also be very strong btw. Generally, the darker the color (up to light brown I think), the harder it is.

 

Just remember that hot sugar is like napalm. It is sticky and can cause very severe burns.

But it might be kind of neat to make a doll shaped lollipop.

 

Sugar is a good idea for testing BUT
If you use sugar be careful! If you get any one you, run it under cold water first. Don't try to peel it off right away with your fingers. Your fingers will just end up burnt and your skin will likely come off with the sugar. *shudder* Happened to my mother.
Also- don't eat cast sugar unless you have used a specifically food-grade silicon for the mold. It can be toxic. If you really want a dolly lolly, Smooth-on makes some, Alumite does too and here's a link to another:
http://www.dickblick.com/zz335/68/
And finally, the darker the sugar (the higher the cook temp) the harder is true, but the more brittle it will be. Try to keep it between 290° and 300°.
This site has lots of good general info:
http://www.baking911.com/candy/hard.htm

 

The easy cast isn't so easy! I used it for some of my first projects a while back and it was a pain in the ass. Smooth-On and Alumilite are so much nicer and easier to work with! Alumilite have some cheaper small kits to play out with first too!

 

I get my resin and mold-making stuff from aeromarineproducts (http://myworld.ebay.com/aeromarineproducts) on ebay. He is super nice to deal with and will answer any questions you have. His stuff is a simple 1:1 mix ratio, so messing up is hard to do.

 

That's good to know. I think I might like to try out a couple of different types of resin using small figures or something before I try on a doll.

 

If you have the molds already, you can just cast a smaller piece to experiment.

 

another vote for aeromarineproducts - I got my casting stuff - both RTV and resin from him - actually, I need to buy some more since I'm almost out now and will also ask him what colors he's got available in resin dyes.

 

I'd say just go for the real stuff. It's really not so hard. But buy a small amount like a pint kit or a quart, if you want to practice. NEVER buy a large amount of resin that you plan to open, use a little, then let sit for 3 months thinking you can use it all ‘later’. Buy what you’ll USE within a month. It has a pretty short shelf life once you open it.

The first cast from any mold you make is a junk cast anyway, it is called ‘seasoning’ the mold, it gets any junk like leftover clay or residue from when you made the mold. So you’ll be ‘wasting’ that resin anyway.

 

Well, at least my experience with easy cast, the first sets of cast I did (for jewelry purpose not doll purpose) it came out somewhat "bendy" >< I guess that can be useful in some way but I was expecting a more firmer surface. I guess I didn't get the ratio exactly right (uses 1:1 ratio), either that, or the extra additives I added had some effect (added goldish pigment powder and blue dye). And I guess this is normal with most resins, but this took days to cure >< and even with mold release conditioner, I guess it's cause of the bendyness, it was hard to remove from molds. I can't say much else of comparing other resins as I haven't worked with them yet but I can confirm it's not quite as easy to use it as one would think X.x;;

 

Easy Cast is polyester resin. Dolls are made out of polyurethane resin.

 

Don't waste your money on easy cast resin. It never loses its resin stink and it's pure junk.

If you want "practice" resin, get the stuff from a hardware store that they use to repair boats. It loses the smell much faster. The only trade off is that it has a really ugly coloration.

 

http://www.alumilite.com/checkout/product_info.php?products_id=52

SkyexX it's made by Alumilite, so I'd say it will be okay to use. Do you have any molds though?? Resin won't be much use until you make some molds to pour it into, even if it's just a simple one.

 

Just make sure that the epoxy resin you have is okay to use for casting solid pieces, as epoxy resin is mostly used for thin layers of laminating things (wooden floors etc). Epoxy resin becomes very hot when it cures and thick pieces can get so hot the stuff will actually self-ignite and explode. Plus epoxy resin is even more toxic than polyutethane.