Pricing your blanks

[toyotaman]

For those of you that have been casting for a while, how much would you say you have in each blank weather you make one at a time or 4 at a time? How would the blank you made compare to the ones you would order from a woodworking catalog?? I know you have the initial setup like powders,pressure pot,resins, molds, stir sticks, and other items. I know you can buy them in a catalog for anywhere from $2.00 ea to $5.00 ea. I hope to try my hand at this new adventure next week. I've almost got all the materials. Gotta find mica powders now.

 

[firewhatfire]

Mica is at coastal scents. Mine are 4-5 range

 

[KnB Polymers]

Hope you're good at math! :biggrin:
You have to know how much resin you use to make one blank ... then you take that amount and divide it into the amount in your container of resin (gallon, 5 gallon, etc). Once you know how many blanks you can get out of that container of resin, you take your price + shipping of the resin and divide it by how many blanks you can get out of it. That gives you a rough estimate of a per blank cost. You get many, many uses out of a container of mica, so just through a few cents into the cost.
Ok, are you thoroughly confused now???

 

[Craftdiggity]

Polyester Resin blanks cost me roughly $.75, while Alumilite blanks cost me about $1.25 or so. These are just materials costs for 3/4" x 5" blanks. I get about 60 blanks out of 1 gallon of resin if I'm careful. I make my own molds as well, which saves me a lot of waste.

As far as what can be bought online or in the catalogs, I prefer my own because I know that I'm getting a one-of-a-kind blank. I have found it to be way more rewarding to know that I crafted the entire piece from the blank to the turning.


Chris

 

[TonyBal]

Polyester Resin blanks cost me roughly $.75, while Alumilite blanks cost me about $1.25 or so. These are just materials costs for 3/4" x 5" blanks. I get about 60 blanks out of 1 gallon of resin if I'm careful. I make my own molds as well, which saves me a lot of waste.

As far as what can be bought online or in the catalogs, I prefer my own because I know that I'm getting a one-of-a-kind blank. I have found it to be way more rewarding to know that I crafted the entire piece from the blank to the turning.


Chris

Chris, how did you make your molds & what are they made out of?:biggrin:

 

[Craftdiggity]

Polyester Resin blanks cost me roughly $.75, while Alumilite blanks cost me about $1.25 or so. These are just materials costs for 3/4" x 5" blanks. I get about 60 blanks out of 1 gallon of resin if I'm careful. I make my own molds as well, which saves me a lot of waste.

As far as what can be bought online or in the catalogs, I prefer my own because I know that I'm getting a one-of-a-kind blank. I have found it to be way more rewarding to know that I crafted the entire piece from the blank to the turning.


Chris

Chris, how did you make your molds & what are they made out of?:biggrin:

I started out using a Urethane Rubber mixture which is sold by US Composites, where I get my PR. This seemed to be the cheapest choice at the time. I have since switched to Silicone Rubber, which is much more durable, but also more money.

As far as process for making a mold, I just use regular wood pen blanks as my negatives.