This is the third of four blanks I made last weekend in my first experiment with casting with polyester resin. The "Sculpted" pen kit is from Craft Supplies and its botanical scheme matches nicely with the pine cone (IMHO). I can see how casting your own blanks can become addicting!
G'day Steve,
Absolutely mate, casting can be a very enjoyable and exciting experience particularly after the "bugs" have all been sorted and you get good results every time, one can never be absolutely sure on how the blank's will turn out, going from cast blank to finished pen will always give you the full experience of the before and after, you are certainly on the right track...!
Polyester is a good and fairly "inexpensive" (sort off...!
) resin to use, while you are making small casts, the mixing ratios recommended by the manufacturer work well however, if you ever decide to make a large casting pour, reduce the catalyst %'s to 1/5 otherwise, the extra heat will crack the blank in various places. This will be a slow cure (3 to 5 days) but no cracks...!
The kit you selected for the blanks is a great match, fit and finish are spot-on, great work...!
Cheers
George