When working with epoxy resin, it is very important what forms (moldings) the master uses. Of course, you can buy them, but what to do in a situation where you need to get the form quickly, but there is no time to search and wait for delivery?
There is only one way out. Namely - to make a mold with your own hands. Today's collection of lessons will help you learn how to make molds for filling with your own hands.
Those who are seriously engaged in the manufacture of costume jewelry and women's jewelry also treat the search for the best tools, fixtures and materials very responsibly. After all, quality is the guarantee of success.
And it often happens that at the stage from the birth of an idea to the birth of a result, too much time passes. Or even an interesting and original project gets on the back burner. And the only reason is that the necessary and ideally suited materials and accessories cannot be obtained in any way or they are too expensive.
In such a situation, one master will literally "dig the ground with his nose" in order to find a more or less adequate replacement for what is needed, and maybe even take up the manufacture of everything necessary himself. And this is right, because even though "your" instrument appears "in pain", it always turns out to be the most convenient.
It's not as difficult as it seems. The main thing is to understand what exactly needs to be done. For example, you can simply use the knowledge of those who have already gained experience in this matter.
A craftswoman under the nickname Lida Floral Beauty offers you a master class on making a mold for pouring epoxy resin. With it, you can make spherical and hemispherical parts for jewelry.
For work you will need: special silicone for making molds (molds), a hardener for it, plastic cups and jars of the required sizes - clean and dry, glass beads of different diameters, moment-crystal glue. A description of the entire process can be found at the link below:
In addition to the photo master class, we offer you a selection of lessons in video format.
How to make molds with your own hands. Video master classes
How to make molds for epoxy resin:
Do-it-yourself molds for epoxy resin:
Molds for epoxy resin at the lowest cost with your own hands:
DIY silicone molds:
Silicone and starch molds for epoxy resin:
Discussion of the article
Earlier we published a master class and general ones, in this article we will tell you how to make chic ball earrings or a brooch using this technique. In fact, everything is much simpler than it seems.
Materials and tools:
- Two syringes without a needle (sold at any pharmacy)
- Container for mixing resin and hardener (plastic cup)
- Stick for this very mixing (wooden)
- Ceramic tiles or cardboard (in general, any flat hard surface, preferably on a flat table)
- Scotch tape (wide one-sided)
- Accessories for jewelry (connectors, fasteners, connecting rings, bases)
- Mini drill (sold in almost any construction store, take the cheapest one, I personally use the DREMEL 300)
- A set of nozzles for it (a small drill and an emery head for turning)
- silicone molds for pouring balloons, which can be purchased at a craft store
- Good mood for yourself. Well, gloves with a respirator would be nice
Progress
We fill the silicone mold with a two-component epoxy resin to the middle.
Then we carefully place our rose in it, trying not to break it.
After that, fill the mold already to the brim. Everything, nothing else depends on us. We are waiting 24 hours.
Take the ball out of the mold. Under warm water, this process will become much easier. At the ball, we cut off the ugly top in the place where the mount will be.
If there are bumps or scratches on the ball itself, you can polish it. This will require a separate mini-drill at low speed and special polishing nozzles.
We attach a hat to the top of the ball (you can also glue it on a drop of resin), then attach the fastener.
So, almost without much effort, we made an original and unusual decoration!
If the number of castings is important to you and you understand in advance that this form should normally transfer a sufficiently large number of fillings, use silicones on a platinum catalyst, for example, Platinum 25, MoldStar. Silicones with neutral platinum catalysts are in most cases more resistant to aggressive media. than silicones on a tin catalyst. This means. that the form will transmit its original gloss and appearance longer. If you are just starting out, look for more fluid mold silicones, check with the manufacturer or seller. In this case, it will be more convenient for you to work with them.
Silicones convey matte and gloss well. That is, if you have a matte master model, the shape will be the same and the resin pour will come out with a cloudy surface. In this case, it is imperative to use varnish or master models with an initially smooth, varnished surface. The photo shows an example of how silicone is simply poured onto a glossy mirror with a matte pattern. You can clearly see the transfer of matte and gloss silicones.
3. Accurately observe the amount of base and catalyst in the silicone when mixing. Mix thoroughly for at least 3 minutes. Although the mold looks ready in a few hours, let the mold cure for at least 24 hours.
4. Wet and/or fresh molds must not be used to pour resins. Resins do not like moisture, this can lead to a violation of their properties (turbidity, discoloration). The same applies to pouring in a damp room.
5. Wash molds - both after polymerization and after pouring - using warm soapy water.
6. The form wears out the faster, the more often it is loaded - resin is an aggressive environment. Let's form "rest".
7. For a perfect top of the form, firmly attach the master model to the bottom of the formwork around the perimeter.
8. Store molds in food polyethylene film. not allowing moisture to evaporate, in a cool room, away from direct sunlight, so the shape is better preserved.
Successful creativity!
For the "red currant" of epoxy resin, you will need the epoxy itself, polymer clay(baked), "cold porcelain" or something similar - self-hardening polymer clay, for example. And also, wire for "twigs", paints - acrylic and oil, glue and disposable utensils - for mixing the components in the process of creating "red currants" from epoxy.
Examine a real, living redcurrant branch to know exactly how its resin copy will look like - from the size of the seeds inside the berry to the location of these on the branch.
Using ordinary resin and optical hardener 921 (op), you can get a "clone" of a live branch of red currant with berries and leaves, like a real one.
Preparation of epoxy resin: mix 2:1 ratio of resin and hardener. We work with gloves!
We add the hardener to the resin, and not vice versa.
Stir the epoxy with a wooden stick (spatula) for a few minutes. Pour the mixture into a clean bowl and stir again.
The resin completely hardens overnight. And after about 5-6 hours, it passes into the “rubber” state-consistency we need.
We apply drops of resin on some surface to form the "berries" of red currants.
The bones are made from baked clay. If "cold porcelain" or self-hardening clay is used as the material, then they must be prepared in advance - about a day in advance, so that it does not become cloudy upon contact with the liquid.
We roll out the clay and cut off pieces for the "bones". They are baked in the oven for several minutes at a temperature of 120 degrees.
After one and a half to two hours, the resin will thicken and will look like honey. Check the thickening with a toothpick from time to time.
We lay out the “bones” of polymer clay into drops of epoxy resin.
We remove drops of resin from the surface.
We wrap clay bones in elastic resin.
We roll up the balls: small berries can consist of one drop of resin, large ones - from 2-3 drops.
Here you need to be careful and from time to time “roll up” the balls so that the resin that has not solidified yet does not blur and lose the shape of the ball.
For twigs, it is better to use a special floristic wire (No. 33 in a white winding), which is sanded before creating artificial currant twigs.
Insert the wire into the resin ball.
You can stick it just in epoxy.
Or pre-drill a hole after the currant “berry” has completely hardened.
Glue the wire with superglue.
We are waiting for confirmation.
We paint the “currant” with acrylic paint from the top to the wire at the base.
Vintage paints (a mixture of yellow and red) will give future berries a beautiful gloss and natural color.
Dip the berries in a container with paint.
We remove excess paint with a napkin.
We use paint thinner - the berries will dry much faster, within a couple of hours.
"Cold porcelain" is painted in yellow-green color.
We roll the wire for the stem with the prepared “cold porcelain” of delicate green color, which we have obtained.
Berry tails can be made from "porcelain", painted brown.
It is convenient to make a thin sheet of "porcelain" by placing it in a tight plastic bag or file.
We cover half of the clay with a layer of napkin and “grind” to it.
We fold the leaf, which turns out to be reinforced with a paper napkin.
Cut off squares according to the number of berries.
We form tails for currant berries.
Stipules are made similarly from green clay.
Attach the ponytails with superglue.
Cut off unnecessary parts.
We paint the wire with acrylic paints mixed with latex glue.
We make holes in the slightly frozen clay on the “stem” of the currant.
We fasten the berries, starting from the top of the branch. We use "Super Glue Gel" and attach the wires with berries with a needle.
Bend the branch with pliers.
We cut the clay.
We fix the "dried kidneys" with the help of tape tape.
We roll out a piece of green clay in the form of a suitable mold, apply the texture.
We glue a piece of wire rolled in green clay.
We form leaves.
Dried sheets are painted with oil.
Fastened the sheets to the stem.
“Such a branch can be used in an interior composition or as a decoration,” writes the author of the master class.
Hi all! I continue a series of my master classes. This time it turned out to be an MK experiment, because. the end result of this event was not even known to me. And for starters, the background of this master class:
In addition to the line of jewelry made of plastic and beads, I have long thought of launching a line of jewelry made of epoxy resin in vintage style (by the way, soon, finally, the ordered accessories will reach me from America, and even more beauty and tenderness will appear in the store :-). And, of course, most of all I wanted to create jewelry with epoxy balls, and, as you know, molds are needed to make them. Where to get them? A well-known store went on vacation ... I thought and thought and decided to create molds on my own.
Many attempts were made to find at least one MK on a given topic both on Russian and foreign portals, but alas, I did not find a single more or less successful master class, except, perhaps, one Chinese who made a mold of some kind of mouse ( however, looking ahead, he thereby prompted me to think about the necessary type of silicone). A lot was spent on ordinary silicone sealant and corn starch, but my attempts to make a mold from these materials were unsuccessful (by the way, I give note recipe for making leaf molds for ceramic floristry : silicone acid sealant + corn or potato starch mixed in a ratio of 1: 1 first with a stick, then you can knead with your hands until it stops sticking to them, make cakes half a centimeter thick, apply a leaf, gently smooth it, press it in and leave to dry for a day , as a result, a good mold comes out). After reading about various brands of silicone and looking at the Chinese :-), I came to the conclusion that I need a two-component silicone, which is prepared like an epoxy - the silicone part and the hardener are mixed. I found it on eBay from the British for 6 pounds 250 grams of weight and 25 grams of hardener + 5 pounds shipping. Here he is:
Instruction on English. But everything is more or less clear there: we mix the silicone mass and the hardener in a ratio of 100:10, i.e. for 100 ml of mass we take 10 ml of hardener. For the correct measurement, we use measuring containers and syringes. IMPORTANT do not pour the amount of hardener, 100:10 and the point, if you pour in more, then nothing will come of it, because everything will begin to thicken quickly, bubbles and other troubles will appear. So, they united two substances in pure and main DRY glass and begin to carefully, slowly stir until the mass becomes soft pink (salmon pink in their language), no white streaks of the mass should remain, especially carefully knead from the bottom and walls of the glass. Shuffled, took another DRY glass, poured the whole thing into it in a thin stream and gently mixed again: this way we will definitely achieve uniform mixing of the components and reduce the number of bubbles. Something like that:
Next, we take small cups (you can cut them from under yogurts, the main thing is that they bend at least a little), drip a small drop of glue like a “crystal” moment to the bottom and put the balls there (I purchased a set of such glass balls in the store " fixed price" for 37 rubles and chose the most even and pretty ones). After about five minutes, the glue will grab, and the balls will not run away:
Let's start filling. With a little trickle, keeping my hand on the weight on top of the cups (and I also managed to take a photo at the same time ;-)), we start pouring our silicone directly onto the ball (the instructions say that if you pour it this way, then this reduces the number of bubbles as they burst):
All this filling procedure IMPORTANT to complete within 40-50 minutes, because then the curing reaction begins, and the silicone begins to thicken, which means it will not flow in a beautiful thin stream. However, this time is quite enough to perform these simple procedures. Additionally, I filled a small plate-plate with a layer about 1 cm thick and set it aside to set. So, they poured it, waited about five minutes, lightly tapped our containers with the bottom on the table so that the remaining bubbles rose to the surface and pierced them with a needle and so 2-3 times (not forgetting about the bowl without balls):
We pierced the bubbles, put our glasses in one container for convenience (I have from under sushi) and for now you can figure out the location of the balls for our plate:
It took about an hour ten to twenty minutes from the moment of pouring, and the silicone in the plate has already begun to harden and compact - it's time to load the balls. We immerse the balls by slightly pressing them so that they enter the silicone mass somewhere in half, but do not touch the bottom:
That's it, work is done for today. We close our box with containers with a lid, but not tightly, so that fumes come out during the reaction, and put it in a far corner to dry for 20-24 hours, depending on the ambient temperature. The room must be ventilated. I put on the top drawers in the kitchen, not far from the open window.
20 hours have passed. With excitement, we take out our containers and see what we got. We take out the balls from the inner space of our molds. They move away from the walls perfectly:
We make holes of the diameter we need from 5 to 8-9 mm for laying fillers using nail scissors. Here's what we got:
The shape with hemispheres bends in all directions and easily takes the previous shape:
It seems everything worked out! It's time for testing. The instructions say that, for some reason, molds together with epoxy resin can be used only a week after they are made, while with gypsum fillers at least on the first day. Naturally, I could not resist and filled the molds with jewelry resin a day after manufacturing.
And here is the result. I want to note that the resin after hardening is simply perfectly separated from these forms.
That's probably all that I wanted to tell you and show you today. I hope this master class experiment will be useful to you. After all, there are no discoveries without experiments! Do not forget about safety when working: wear gloves, work and dry molds and products in a ventilated area, store all chemical liquids out of the reach of children.
Thank you for your attention. Always your Lida Floral Beauty :-)
SILICONE BRAND: Moldcraft GP-3481-F RTV Silicone Mold Making. Type in the search bar, several options should appear. Mine was from England, from quantumsupplies1. He also has other types of silicone for sale, they apparently differ in hardness, and there is even silicone for making food molds - for chocolate, marzipan, ice, etc. !
