What went wrong?

[TurnerJohn74]

Just finished my first casting with resin saver molds my father (Dave S) and I just bought. Cast some snake skin and everything went fine till we pored the resin, the resin seemed to turn the skin black in some areas, only to get worse as it cured. Looks like to tube is showing through the skin in most areas. I think the skin is real (looks and feels real), same thing happend to some stamp tubes we did. WHAT DID WE DO WRONG?

Thanks for any help
John

 

[ed4copies]

What kind of snake?

How much catalyst did you use? (drops per ounce of resin)

 

[Dave S]

Have no idea the kind of snake, bought off Ebay as a scrap-pack. some were dyed, some natural. The natural ones are the ones were having the trouble with, but the dyed were almost to stiff to roll around the blank. Thinking it was our glue job - we only glued the edge, rolled, glued the other edge. the discoloring started at the edges that weren't sealed all the way around with glue (used "Tacky Glue"). Used 15 drops of MKEP for 4.5 oz. resin.

John

 

[ed4copies]

Some skins absorb the resin--notably for us: Python and Cobra. They do exactly what you describe.

The amount of catalyst can create more heat, which may be a factor sometimes--but your answer was in line with what most use for snakes (including us).

 

[bruce119]

Just finished my first casting with resin saver molds my father (Dave S) and I just bought. Cast some snake skin and everything went fine till we pored the resin, the resin seemed to turn the skin black in some areas, only to get worse as it cured. Looks like to tube is showing through the skin in most areas. I think the skin is real (looks and feels real), same thing happend to some stamp tubes we did. WHAT DID WE DO WRONG?

Thanks for any help
John

You said same thing happen to some stamp tubes you did. I take it you glued stamps to a tube. What happen is that the resin wetted the skin and the stamps. Think about what happens to paper when it gets wet. It goes dark and transparent. There are a couple of things to do help avoid that. First snake skin can be challenging. Paint the tubes a color that would complement the skin in case it dose wet. Also use CA to glue the skin to the tube it will help the wetting. Now with the stamps like labels paint your tube white. Test your paint to make sure it is CA safe leave it dry 24 hrs. Now glue you stamps on with CA or Mod Podge let it dry 24 hrs. Now a little trick take the tube put it on the lathe with the stamps or label glued in place and give it 2 or 3 coats of medium CA let it cure for 24 hrs that will seal the paper and keep the PR from soaking in and wetting the paper. That is how I do it works great.

Bruce

 

[JohnU]

I second what Bruce said. You need to cor your tubes or the brass will shine through. Just make sure you give everything a good days drying time before you move to casting. Good luck and keep at it. Everything will fall into place eventually. Just take notes as you go so you can duplicate your process.

 

[Craftdiggity]

One thing you could do with the skins is once you get them on the tubes and the glue dries, try "painting" on a coat or two of the resin. Let each coat dry overnight and then cast that. It should protect the skins from reacting to the heat, which is what I think is happening.


Chris