EastCast Tips and Inspiration

With several different resins in the ETI family of products I thought I would put a spotlight on EasyCast today.  If you check the sidebar you will see many links to EasyCast projects and we have a special how-to video as well.

 I collect molds from everywhere.  You can find casting molds in ETI's catalog and on many websites.

My first tip is to always test your mold before you start working on a finished product.  I do one test casting by either pouring resin into a mold cavity or by letting a drop of resin cure on the back of my mold.  

Working in a tray mold allows you to be very creative.  As you can see in this picture I have decided to use some paper imagery in some of these molds.

 I prefer to have a first pour of EastCast cure in my mold before I add any imagery or paper.  This super clear resin is the surface I then work on.  You can see in the picture that I have poured about 2-3mm of resin into all my openings.

 When you work in a mold, you have to work backwards.  When I add paper imagery I have to trust that it looks good.  I won't know until I demold the resin castings.

 I always use a clear drying decoupage medium to glue everything into place.  I am using dried flowers and metal letters and mini parts.

 I continue to coat my dried flowers to seal them from contact with resin.  Resin will make dried flowers look a lot darker if they are not properly sealed.

 After playing with my tray for a few hours I have build up several great samples.  I allow all of this to dry overnight so that no moisture remains from the glue.

 With the glue completely dry I can see any open spaces in my resin castings.  At this point I added glitter or paint drops if I want to add more interest.  Working backwards, it is a bit of a guessing game.

My last tip today:  Be sure to seal you paper at least three times, letting each application of clear drying glue/decoupage medium dry between applications.  This will ensure that you will not have a resin stain/dark area when you pour in your final pour.

I am filling each mold opening with EasyCast now and allowing them to cure overnight.

Results and more tips tomorrow!