Tutorials

Polyester Resin Cabochons

For this costume we made 200+ cabochons out of resin.
We used premade cabochon molds and used polyester Clear Casting Resin, by Douglas & Sturgess. We chose polyester resin due to the ease of use and faster cure time over other clear resin.
The process was quite simple, we added MEKP Catalyst, Mylar flake, and variations of resin dye. The trick to keeping the cabochons all uniform in variation was to note take every combination and repeat the same ratios.
The molds were sprayed with mold release and carefully poured.
We let the cabochons cure overnight. The reaction speeds up with heat, so in the winter we used reptile heat lamps to promote a full cure.
For the bikini each cabochon was specifically measured and drilled to be connected together with beading elastic and jump rings.

Gel Coat Orbs

The first step in making the orbs was to make the mold. This was an early attempt at mold making and we violated a major mold making principle: you do not match a hard mold with a hard cast. We used a plaster mold, when we really should have used silicon or latex.
But here is what we did. We lined a box with tarp and poured plaster into it halfway.
We filled balloons halfway with water (so they would sink) and suspended them by sticks over the plaster.
When the plaster was hard we removed the balloons and had large cabochon molds.
We knew plaster was poures so we coated the mold in Shellac and then Finishkare Mold Release. Before painting the gel we used a Universal Mold Release. So it seemed like a bit overkill.
So we used a polyester resin gel coat, Douglass & Sturgess Clear Gel Coat. We mixed each batch with MEKP and applied three layers of just the gel coat, letting it dry between layers.
The fourth layer we mixed the gel coat with dye and painted the design on the orb.
Several more layers of just gel coat.
Then we come to the strength layer. We painted a mix of gel coat and fiberglass chopped strands over the mold. The fiberglass added strength and flexibility so to orbs wouldn’t break as easy. They also looked really cool through the orb!
More layers of gel coat
Then the moment of truth, we pulled the orbs, and they were covered in plaster!
But some buffing with sandpaper, and a quick layer of acrylic spray to refinish them, and the orbs were gorgeous!
They ended up not only beautiful, but strong and machinable.