Casting Resin is a fun way to make ceramic-like pieces! Plus, it’s easy to use, making it perfect for beginners who want to dive into resin.
Casting Resin has always caught my attention when scrolling through material options. And I finally gave in and bought it. It was such an intrigue material! They call it resin but it’s not clear nor is it liquid. The epoxy resin that I normally work with is a part a and part b mix. I’m not sure how much of either part is water but that’s a chemical reaction.
But casting resin isn’t like that. All you need to add is water. In some ways, it is less messy than epoxy but more messy in other ways. The most interesting thing about the casting resin is that is naturally dries an opaque white color.
It looks almost like a ceramic to me. But the texture of the resin that was against the silicone molding feels… different. It’s smooth and clean to touch but has a sturdier feeling. Not to say it won’t shatter when dropped. The material does act like ceramics in that regard. But since the casting powder only needed water, and I already had a lot of silicone molds, I thought “why not?”
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There were more supplies going into this recipe than just the water, powder, and mold. But that was really all I needed to do anything with the casting resin. I also decided to include crushed glass and epoxy dye to make the piece a bit more interesting than just mimicking the mold. And yes, I did see something online and decided that I could do that.
Process
Mixing the Casting Resin
The first step is mixing the casting resin, and this is where the project has the highest potential of being messy. A scale is absolutely needed for this process as the mixture is a 3:1 ratio by weight (check the product to verify the ratios).
And measuring out powder does not always go smoothly. I thought I would be better at it since I used measure powder for my job, but it has been a long time, so I was a bit rusty. The powder has a habit of… trying to fly away, or spill, or just get where you don’t want it.
But once you have your casting resin powder measured out, then it’s time to add the water. As I said before, this is a 3:1 ratio mix. That’s three parts powder to one part water. Basically, I took the weight of my powder and divided it by three. It was because of this that I would often target numbers divisible by three (120 grams, 150 grams, etc.)
How much powder is needed for the mix? Well, I do know that adding water to the powder increases the weight but decreases the volume. The mixture is getting thicker, which decreases the volume. For my mixture, I started with 210 grams powder and 70 grams water which resulted in approximately 4 ounces (but 280 grams) mixture.
You can plan your projects by reverse calculation. Unfortunately, the requires a little bit of math.
Some Math
Fill up the mold with water and see how much it comes out to. We’ll call this target X. Then using the following equation, it can give you a rough estimate of how much you’ll need in materials. I also would aim for a little higher than lower. You can’t add what’s not there. And giving that casting resin dry quickly, it can be difficult to add enough quickly, especially when trying to match color.
Using the actual values, I had from mixing the casting powder:
This simplifies the weight to final volume equation to:
And to simplify that even further:
So, once you have the final volume of the mold in ounces, multiplying that number by 52.5 will get you the weight of the powder needed (in grams). Divide that weight by 3 to get the weight of water needed (in grams).
Design Aspect
The next thing to consider is the design you want to create with the mold. One thing that pushed me into the world of casting resin was a piece that had a rocky jewel like edge. I first thought that the material used was stone and tried with that. But the large stones didn’t really stop casting resin. The liquid just went around and encased the stone.
That’s when I realized I needed smaller stones. And that lead me to the crush glass. I poured a lot into the mold and made sure it was compacted around the rim. Since the glass is so small, the casting resin shouldn’t be able to go around. I wanted the glass to be a hard stopper.
And it was! First, I added the epoxy dye into the casting resin mixture of powder and water. Then, I poured in the casting resin and just hoped on a wish. When I came back after the casting resin was cured, I started to turn the piece out of the mold. There was a very important lesson I learned at that moment.
The crushed glass did stop the casting resin. Which means not all the crushed glass was melded to it. A lot of little pieces went everywhere. Having to clean that up later was a nightmare. Especially since the cat decided this could be a new toy.
Reflections
I adore how these pieces make a jagged edge around the rim of the piece. I did not put that much effort into making the crushed glass in the mold even. The unevenness shows up around the rim making all the side a unique height and shape.
The casting resin also took well to the dye added. When I was mixing it, I thought that it would come out very pale. The result was still a bit pale, but it was also vibrant. I’m not normally a fan of pink but the shade that it turned out was quite delightful.
Lessons
Color Balance
Another lesson I learned as I started playing with the casting resin more was that the color balance was an art. With standard epoxy, I am pouring color into a clear medium. And the medium takes to the color well. With casting resin, I am pouring color into a white medium. Everything is going to turn out pale because everything is taking on the white color. Black turns gray, red turns pink, etc. Getting a deep rich color will take a lot of dye. And then you must be careful that you haven’t thrown the powder to water ratio.
Pattern
Jewel Edge Casting Resin Holder
Equipment
- 1 Scale should be able to weigh in grams
- 1 Pipette optional
- 1 Paint Brush optional
Ingredients
- Silicone Mold if making a crushed glass piece make sure the mold has a rim
- Casting Resin make sure you have enough to fill the mold
- Water
- Epoxy Dye optional
- Crushed Glass optional
Instructions
- Pick out a mold and fill it with water. Transfer that water to measuring cup to get the volume in ounces. This will not be used anywhere else.
- Using a scale, weigh out the powder, in grams, to be 52.5 x the volume of the water in ounces from the first step.
- In another cup, fill it with ⅓ grams of the powder. Doing this in a secondary cup allows for the most accurate balance. I like using a pipette to really get the water at the right level, but I can be randomly obsessive.
- Optional. Take the crushed glass and pour it into the rim of the mold. Some pieces might get stuck to the sides of the mold. A paint brush is a good tool to clean the sides and shape the crushed glass as desired.
- Mix the casting resin powder, water, and epoxy dye, as desired, into one mixture. Pour into the mold until it is at level with the top. Let it cure. The product claims to be cured in an hour but I think it should be given more time to harden.
- Slowly remove piece from mold. If using crushed glass, find a box with decently high sides and brush off the rim after demolding for any pieces that have not fully adhered to the casting resin.
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