Casting inlace stone chunks, in black alumilite, but with turquoise "veins"?

[jrista]

So, I have this idea for a custom blank. I've got these dark gray Inlace synthetic "stone" chunks, they looks like semi-coarse gravel, a few millimeters in size each. I had the original idea of casting them in black resin. Then I chatted with my cousin last weeked, who's birthday was this past week, and he likes black and turquoise. So the thought occurred to me....is there any way, to somehow inject some turquoise mica powder resin into the stone area, and create something that looks like veins?

It then occurred to me, how the heck do manufacturers make veins in blanks anyway? For example, simstone, or trustone...full of thin, fine veins of one type of material or another... I suspect there is some kind of trick to doing this. Hopefully someone here, knows what it is.

 

[derekdd]

Good question. Probably waiting until the Alumalite fires off and gets to 100 or so degrees. I know a couple of guys on YT wait before mixing colors so they don't blend in the mold and stay separate while swirling around each other. So, have a cup of black resin and one of turquoise.

There's a guy on YT who turns his pens down to the desired size, then uses a small cutting disc on his Dremil to create veins/voids in the blanks. He then fills the voids with crushed semiprecious stone and CA. That is controlled inlay, so not quite the same thing but pretty cool.

I'm curious to hear what others have experienced/seen.

 

[KenB259]

I seen these on a facebook. Found here, never used them or bought them, so can't vouch for any of it. https://armandswritestuff.company.site/

 

[jrista]

Good question. Probably waiting until the Alumalite fires off and gets to 100 or so degrees. I know a couple of guys on YT wait before mixing colors so they don't blend in the mold and stay separate while swirling around each other. So, have a cup of black resin and one of turquoise.

There's a guy on YT who turns his pens down to the desired size, then uses a small cutting disc on his Dremil to create veins/voids in the blanks. He then fills the voids with crushed semiprecious stone and CA. That is controlled inlay, so not quite the same thing but pretty cool.

I'm curious to hear what others have experienced/seen.

Yeah, I've watched a number of things from John U about how he handles resin. He always recommends waiting till certain temps.... That is partly why I asked the question, as I figure you really don't have much time once you get to that point, to inject another color and try and get it "vein-like" before the resin sets.

Its probably a pipe dream. Hopefully someone has had some knowledge about how veins like this are made. The think Ken linked, is interesting...however I suspect that once you turn, you would get some unusual results with the "long edge" of the veins...as based on what I can see, the cuts for the veins extend strait down to the bottom of that part of the mold. Kind of like what you might get with laminated or plywood blanks...the edges of the layers look great from one angle, but they spread out 90 degrees from there.

 

[KenB259]

I wonder if you cut the first molding in half and turned them 90 degrees in the second mold, would that work?? Might have a hard time getting the resin in there though.

Yeah, I've watched a number of things from John U about how he handles resin. He always recommends waiting till certain temps.... That is partly why I asked the question, as I figure you really don't have much time once you get to that point, to inject another color and try and get it "vein-like" before the resin sets.

Its probably a pipe dream. Hopefully someone has had some knowledge about how veins like this are made. The think Ken linked, is interesting...however I suspect that once you turn, you would get some unusual results with the "long edge" of the veins...as based on what I can see, the cuts for the veins extend strait down to the bottom of that part of the mold. Kind of like what you might get with laminated or plywood blanks...the edges of the layers look great from one angle, but they spread out 90 degrees from th

 

[JohnU]

Unfortunately… all of the resins we use do not have the same qualities or workability that the commercial materials have. We can't always get the same results the big manufacturers get with their industrial machines and slower curing materials.
Veins are going to be tough to get, especially like we all want to produce. I've had some success mixing resins that are at different stages of curing…with thicker resin globs dropped into very thin resin, but it's all going to come down to lots of experimenting and keeping notes on temperatures and pouring techniques. I always hope to find more time to play but work seems to get in the way. Lol
Best of luck ! I hope to see some success from you guys!

 

[gbpens]

This is a guess but I think the mesh idea reminds of the cactus blanks done years ago from cactus skeleton. The trick would be to emulate the mesh done in a particular color such as black or gold. Perhaps some sort of packing material might work. Find such a mesh and pour a thin resin under high pressure.

 

[jrista]

I wonder, if some kind of 3d printing approach might work here? I am not sure how flexible 3d printing filament is, but...if you could get it in a sparkly mica-like variety, and maybe with one of those 3D printers that uses a pool of uv-cured resin (so its seamless), I wonder if you could print some kid of veins structure FIRST. Then fill in the inlace gravel, then finally fill in the alumilite (or whatever other resin)... This may also support solving another problem. One of the things I wanted to do, was kind of have the inlace gravel peter off, and eventually disappear, part way through the blank. Some kind of skeletal structure to glue the gravel to, would help with that.........

 

[RGABEL]

One thing that would be intriguing to try is using some of the water soluble filaments. Create a mold and pour the resin, then "dissolve" the mold in water and cast an additional color for veins, patterns, etc.