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Costume 101: Resins

Resin is common casting material for costumes accessories and props. Typically, it comes out as a clear, hard, plastic product. There are 3 major types of resin I'd like to introduce: UV Resin, Epoxy Resin, and Plaster-Resin. So lets jump in. 

🚨Health and Safety⚠

Epoxy resins especially have harmful health effects if not handled properly. The fumes created while mixing are noxious and require ventilation and personal protective equipment such as a respirator. It is a skin irritant so best practice requires nitrile gloves and clothing. Best protect your eyes from splash as well. 
During the curing process, the resin gets hot. So be careful with what you use as a mold and what you put it near. 
Lastly, sanding resin is especially harmful to lungs and even nerves. You must wear a respirator, a dust mask doesn't cut it. 
UV resin does expose you to low levels of UV light so take care of your skin and eyes. Granted the exposure is very short, but worth mentioning. Again, it gets warm when it cures. 
To learn more about protecting yourself before working with resins, check out this video: 


Hopefully, you're not too spooked, but I wanted to point this out because, you want to think of anyone or anything that may live with you in said space. This is not a craft you can do with children! 

Epoxy Resin

The epoxy resins come in a variety of formulas that are meant for specific projects. There is the surface pour resin meant to coat counter tops and cutting boards. Casting resin, meant to fill in small to medium depth molds (Low to medium volume molds may be more accurate). Deep pour resin meant to fill in deep or larger volume molds. I'll focus more on the casting type resins in this post. 

How To use: 

  • Two part resins, you will pour out the required amount of base and catalyst.
  • Combine then mix them together in a single container
  • After it's mixed, add colorant or glitters or other suspended items
  • Remove any bubbles that have formed during the mixing process
  • Pour into the mold
  • Remove bubbles from the pour
  • Set aside and wait for it to cure. It's recommended that you cover things with a dust cover and you may find benefit with adding to a heated source.
  • Demold from the mold and enjoy!

What can you do with epoxy resin

  • Add liquid or powdered colorants
  • Suspend/Preserve objects
  • Add glitter, beads or other small items to suspend within it
  • Cast molds of varying volumes
  • Coat 3D prints to fill in gaps

Positives

  • Versatile
  • Doesn't require extra tools to cure
  • Harder and more durable than other resins
  • Clear finish
  • Lots of tutorials out there

Cons

  • Measuring out the volumes or weights is annoying and if you get it wrong it won't cure.
  • Curing takes hours or even days to complete. So it's not easy to tell if you made a mistake. 
  • Removing bubbles is a difficult task. 
  • Varying amounts of work time before the curing starts
Some of these cons do have tools and/or products that claim to help these. Such as covered heating units, heat pads with dust covers, and such to speed up the curing process. (This has worked for me!) 
Mixers that reduce bubbles. Vacuum chambers or depressurizes that pros use to take out the bubbles. 

Brands I've used

  • Clear Cast
  • Let's Resin
  • Unicorn
  • Michael's brand
  • XC3D 

UV Resin

UV resin is typically associated with jewelry making or small molds. I've stretched the limit of UV resin with some success. It also can come in varying formulas depending on usage. Viscosity is how these are classified. Nail polishes (UV nails) are the primary use so you'll find lots of coating type uv resin, but also its form of deep pour and more liquid style formulas. 

How to use: 

  • Pour the resin into a clear mold or drip it onto a flat surface to create a dome. 
  • Set it under a UV lamp meant for nails (or now they make them for resin projects) or set in the sunlight
  • Demold once it cools down after curing
  • Spritz with isopropyl alcohol to remove any sticky residue.

What you can do with UV resin

  • Make domes of buttons or cabochons
  • Cast in small molds
  • Add colorant or mica powders
  • Suspend glitter, beads or small items
  • Preserve objects
  • Coat 3D prints
  • Create nail art
  • Use as an adhesive

Positives

  • Easy to use
  • Less toxic when curing (no need for respirator, unless you want to)
  • Cures quickly (I'm talking 2 - 10 minutes with a lamp or 10 - 20 minutes in sunlight)
  • Fairly versatile

Cons

  • Requires a clear or semi-clear mold to work. 
  • Often can be sticky for awhile after curing
  • May not be as durable as expoy resin
  • Better for small or shallow molds
  • Still have to deal with bubbles

Brands I've used

  • JDiction
  • Hilde & Jo
  • Hobby Lobby Brand

Plaster-resin

This is something I've used recently and have come across in crafting stores more often. It is a mix of plaster and resin to make a kind of cement that doesn't have the grainy or chalky texture I often associate with plaster or cement. While it doesn't cure clear, I wanted to add it here as an option for casting projects! 

How to use: 

  • Measure out the powder and water.
  • Mix together. 
  • Add colorant if desired
  • Pour into a mold
  • Pop any surface bubbles
  • Wait for it to cure
  • Demold once cured

What you can do with Plaster-resin

  • Create small to deep casts
  • Add colorant
  • Paint or add rub and buff

Positives

  • Easy to mix and pour
  • Fewer visible bubbles
  • Very strong, solid casts
  • You can color before or paint afterwards
  • Faster cure time compared to epoxy resin (Typically about an hour or so depending on volume)
  • Nice for things that may need a metallic look
  • Can use any kind of mold, doesn't need to be clear
  • No fumes

Cons

  • It isn't clear so, not the most ideal for gems
  • Don't think it's so great at coating things (haven't tried myself so maybe it can!)
  • Get's hot while curing
  • Fairly short working time
  • Still be cautions and use protection while sanding
  • Doesn't do well with thin, shallow molds

Brands I've used 

  • Eco-life
  • michael's brand

Conclusion

When it comes to a project that needs some gems or a bit of jewelry, my default right now is to reach for UV Resin. I have made lots of great things like rings with tiny gems, rhinestones, beads, claws and eyes for a puppet, earrings, coasters, shakers, wind chimes, hair sticks and lots of random little objects. It's just so quick and I can iterate and test things much easier. 

I use epoxy resin for larger casts like my boxes, phone holders, bell wind chime, and parts for my ball-jointed dolls. But I've started stepping away from it because of the health precautions and because it takes so dang long to cure. 

I just started using plaster resin on a few test molds. I've got a cute fox statue, some shakers, and I plan on casting things like buttons and boxes with it. And probably some hooves. 
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