Some items your child might enjoy casting are pieces of colored glass, coins, dead insects or other natural specimens, marbles, leaves, pressed or whole flowers, hardware or parts like nuts and bolts, rocks, seeds, beans, grains, shells, old jewelry or watch parts…as I said, just about anything. Even photographs can be encased in plastic, but you’ll need to seal them first to protect them. Coat them with a sealant known generically as a vinyl resin glue/sealer, allow it to dry, and then embed the object in the resin. Here’s what you need to begin acrylic resin casting:
The plastic resin A catalyst An eyedropper to dispense the catalyst Some disposable (unwaxed) cups to mix it in Some popsicle sticks to mix it up A mold (available from your crafts store, or youcan make your own) The items you want to embed Mold release to make it easier to get the hardenedcasting out of the mold (optional)
To begin experimenting with plastic resin casting, I suggest you buy your first mold at the craft store. I also suggest you start with a single-layer casting; smaller projects are probably the easiest to begin with. Here are the basic instructions: You can add dyes or pigments to color your resin casting, but only use those specially formulated for use with polyester casting resin. Dyes are usually transparent and pigments are usually opaque. Be sure to clean your molds carefully (the same is true for all molds, including candle molds) so you can use them again. Don’t use steel wool or scouring powder. Even a sharp fingernail can make an indentation in a soft polyethylene mold. If you do scratch or dent a mold, get rid of it and start with a new one. Always look molds over carefully in the store for imperfections. If you want to move on to advanced casting, you can try creating your own molds. Molds can be made from a variety of materials: oven-proof glass (like Pyrex), certain rubbers and plastics (poly plastic molds are among the easiest to work with), metal, aluminum, and stainless steel. You can pour your mold so that multiple objects are all embedded on the same level, or do a multi-layer pouring, where you allow each layer to gel before adding more objects and pouring again. The multi-layer technique gives your piece a feeling of depth and interest. Resin casting is a great way of taking what seems like just a lot of clutter, souvenirs, or small collections, and making them into something both useful and pretty to look at. A good booklet to get you started with plastic resin casting is the Castin’ Craft Idea Book by Casey Carlton. Your local crafts store should have all the supplies you need, too. The ones I use are called Castin’ Craft brand and they’re from E.T.I. in Fields Landing, California.
