First ever castings

[Twissy]

This really is a game of two halves! The need for casting my own blanks was a bit sooner than I expected. A customer wanted an orange Olympian Elite. The blank I bought had so little pigment in it you could see the tubes and CA...I didn't reverse paint cos the tubes were quite close in colour to the blank.
Anyway I bought some Water Clear resin and some red and yellow pigment. I already had a few mica's. I made a two blank mould from bathroom sealant. What followed was a bit of headless chicken! Made two cups of resin (75ml resin 1ml catalyst.....it's 11 degrees in my w'shop) then poured half of one into the other added red and yellow to the larger cup. Oh sh1t! The cup was melting! A quick dash to the kitchen and the first thing I grabbed was a couple of wine glasses! Oh well, I'm a Vodka drinker now!
Poured the resin into the mould from the wineglass. Dumped some mica into the half portion....Oh sh1t2! The resin was like snot! mixed it as best I could and put it in the next mould and mixed it as best I could with the remainder of the other mix which still poured, probably because of the pigment. The next day here are the results....

Not too bad. The orange is more red...should probably have started with yellow and gradually added the red. The other one has more air bubbles and you can see the lumps of snot and clear bits. Couldn't wait to try the snotty one so cut it in half to make a Sierra. Painted the tube white due to there being clear bits. Quite a few air bubbles in this one, and I did have to fill one small one with CA.

With the other blank, even though it wasn't orange I made an Olympian Elite anyway as I had a few of these kits. It turned well with no bubbles so I was really chuffed. Came up lovely using MM. Then it all went wrong! Hadn't used my homemade buffing wheels so thought I would. Used blue jewellers rouge. Advice here please folks because all it did was dull my finish!. It wasn't all it did.......I caught the very end of one blank which I hadn't noticed wasn't tight to the tube (no CA there) and it forced some dust or something into the cavity which you can see in one of the pics.

But putting it together I did something I haven't done since I started making pens all those months ago

Overall I'm pleased with the casting but less pleased with my other skills....skills may be a contradiction in terms!!!

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[hunter-27]

interesting story, the pics could sure be bigger to really see what your talking about.

 

[Twissy]

Can't edit original post so I'll try these:

 

[hunter-27]

Yikes!! They are bigger. I'm sure as you go, the mistakes will thin and the fun will grow. Casting is almost as addicting as the turning, so keep the wallet ready.:wink:

 

[seamus7227]

you should probably consider talking to Brooks803 to see if he can make the color blank you need until you can learn the proper way of color casting. Unless of course your customer is in no hurry, but a Brooks blank would sure knock your customers socks off!

Sent from my Epic using Forum Runner

 

[sumterdad]

you should probably consider talking to Brooks803 to see if he can make the color blank you need until you can learn the proper way of color casting. Unless of course your customer is in no hurry, but a Brooks blank would sure knock your customers socks off!

Sent from my Epic using Forum Runner

I agree.

 

[Twissy]

you should probably consider talking to Brooks803 to see if he can make the color blank you need until you can learn the proper way of color casting. Unless of course your customer is in no hurry, but a Brooks blank would sure knock your customers socks off!

Sent from my Epic using Forum Runner

Thanks for the info, and if he was just down the road I would. My customer is in no hurry. I cast another last night, and checking it this morning the colour just about spot on! Here's hoping!