casting bottle stoppers

[Chuck B]

I made a wood stopper & added a recess using castin craft poly resin & added gold glitter it came out great.

Now she wants a acrylic one made totally from gold glitter. I left a message in the classifieds for PTownSubbie for a mold to use.
my questions are.

1. how much glitter do I use for the casting???

2. should I do it in a single pour or multiple???

3. what is the best way to get it out of the mold I get from PTownSubbie???

4. I appreciate any other advice at all.

Thanks

Chuck

 

[micharms]

Can't help a lot with your questions but to get the stopper out of the mold shoot a little blast of air (once again stress a little) down the side of the stopper and it will pop up for you. If you want to send it into orbit then give it angood blast but you may never see it again.:tongue:

Michael

 

[Brooks803]

Another option to using glitter would be one of the gold mica powders from coastal scents. Actucal glitter is very very heavy and you'll have most of it sink to the bottom of the casting. This stuff (http://www.coastalscents.com/cfwebstore/index.cfm/product/1883_35/mirage-gold-pigment.cfm) acts the most like glitter but is very expensive. If you only need 1 stopper blanks 2 sample baggies should be enough

You could try the actual glitter and cast in layers, but I would assume it would still settle and the overal blank would be choppy with glitter.

 

[KenV]

An alternative to glitter (which seems to be colored aluminum) is to use "gold leaf" foils. I use the quotes because real gold leaf while available is costly costly costly -- there are several alternative metal foils that are "gold like" -- tear to pieces and cast away.

 

[jason_r]

I made a wood stopper & added a recess using castin craft poly resin & added gold glitter it came out great.

1. how much glitter do I use for the casting???

2. should I do it in a single pour or multiple???

I'd do a single pour, using as others mentioned mica powders (either from Coastal Scents or ArtStuf).

How much should you use? Enough so that it will hide the shaft of the stopper, but otherwise as little as possible. Using less will increase the chatoyance - the 3-D effect. For stoppers, when stirring look at the resin on the popsicle stick. You should be able to tell there's pigment there, but easily see the stick through the resin.

 

[ElMostro]

Don't use glitter, like Jonathon, said it will sink to the bottom and even if it is colored when you turn it portions of it will lose the dye and all you will have is the silver metal color.
Eugene

 

[woodgraver]

+1 on "gold leaf" and small puffs of air.

 

[Chuck B]

Thanks for the help- guys.

 

[homemade]

Glitter

I casted two with glitter and it does sink to the bottom. When it starts to thicken up after about 15 minutes you can stir up the glitter or add glitter to the PR to get the effect you desire. It is at this time when you can decide how much to add. On that note try this one. If you pour into your wooden stopper a measured 1 oz. or what ever you have measured out to be, half that first mix and add the glitter into the first batch and let it settle. After it sets up,pour a little of the second batch. Take an object and dip it into the PR of the second batch and place it into the mold and position it where you want it and pour the rest of the PR over top of the object very slowly in a drizzle. This will help eliminate bubbles.
When i worked in a dental lab, we used vibrators to float the bubbles to the surface. A sander will work. Beware, and not do this to long or to hard as the vibration will make bubbles.