hey, im thinking of casting with clear resin to make the crystal bowl that is in harry potter HBP in the horcrux cave and im thinking of using cardboard box and cover the inside with liquid latex to make a mold and pore the liquid resin bit by bit, will this work?
Liquid Latex is a BIG no when it comes to resin especially clear resin.
You'll need to invest in some Silicone RTV, addition cure is the best if you want to use clear resin.
Once mixed, if you don't have any degassing equipment, you'll have to pour a needle thin stream of the rubber to make the mold, to allow minimal bubble formation, and the same when pouring the resin into the cured rubber mold.
I'm sure people can chime in with their source for their supplies, but I've used Tomps.com before for fast cast, RTV and clear resin.
Good luck.
Yes definatly use RTV Silicone, depending on how exactly you are planning on creating your mold, degassing is not absolutly necessary. I have been making molds using the method above i.e. pouring the silicone from about a meter above the form slowly so that only a very thin stream falls down. this assures that all air bubbles burst before or during the fall. To be honest I have NEVER had any bubbles in my molds.
as for pouring resin layer for layer... I do this all the time with normal non-transparent resin and it works perfectly, resin bonds very good to itself. BUT as you are using transparent resin... you have one factor that I dont... you can look into and through the resin. I am not certain but I would not be suprised if you end up with slight distortions where the layers meet. Personally I would do everything possible to pour this in one go.
resin is much more fluid as silicone so I usually do not have problems with bubbles in resin (unless I am cutting corners trying to save time or money) but again as this is transparent you will see every bubble as if a neon sign is hanging on it saying "Look at me!" I would definatly recommend making a couple practice tries on smaller things before you attempt the final object.
If you have any questions, do not be afraid to post them, there is alot of experience here that can solve just about any problem.
Hope that helps.
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