Resin Effects? Marbled and semi-translucent??

[nick daring]

I'm working on a project were I essentially want to create the look of Jade in resin.

Instead of simply painting of a faux marble finish I would love to get a deeper, more complicated finish. My goal is to replicate the random color swirl and the "soapy" semi-translucency found in Jade.

Has anyone here tried such a look before?

I've got some theories that I want to try but first hand experience is always nice to here.

Here are some cool pics of Jade (or Jade-like) stone items with some of the qualities I'd like to achieve if possible.

Nick

 

[stapleton13]

I have played around myself with this effect with good results. First I used Clear resin with a touch of white. I then poured the translucent white resin in the mold, and randomly mixed in a darker colored resin. It is importent to mix two properly mixed resin portions to insure a proper cure. If you just try to add die you may find spots that might not cure correctly. I hope that helps get you going. I wish I had pictures of my attempt. I was trying to get the look of veins in eyeballs. It didn't work for that, but They did look cool.

 

[CustomCreations]

HI-
Not sure of the US market, but a company in Britain (Alec Tiranti's) sells something called ONYX powder. You mix it in resin and it adds a slight weight to the resin but also gives it that milkyness white you are after, and is specific for marble effects.
If you mix a seperate batch of colour up, add hardener to both mixes, and then pour them into the mould at the same time but in random intervals, you should end up with a good marble effect.
Dan

 

[CustomCreations]

http://www.tiranti.co.uk/subdivisio...t=General+Fillers&Subcategory=59&Subdivision=

think this might work for you!

 

[nick daring]

Those additives are an interesting idea. I'm excited to start playing with this.

What other things can you add to clear resin to adjust the opacity?

Nick

 

[PTK]

i had to do a similar project and i ended up using some transparent Smooth-On resin, really simple stuff...bought a few different fillers and colors....mixed my colors and fillers in the part B, had a milky base color then smaller batches of the marbled colors, mixed the base, filled the silicone mold, about 3 seconds later i mixed the accent/vein colors and put them in some dental syringes with tapered points, then i wiggled the syringes in the base color while squeezing the plunger to get the veining at different depths, then gave it a little fine tuning with a popsicle stick before it set, came out pretty cool.....also using heavy fillers to tint the base instead of just pigment gave the pieces a realistic weight to them

hope that helps!

 

[stapleton13]

You can buy resin dye at hobby lobby for cast n craft resin cheap. I have not found any resin that is adversly affected by this dye. It comes in both transparent colors, and opaque colors.

 

[nick daring]

The syringe idea is brilliant. Sounds like a perfect way to get specific veining.

Any pics of this project?

Nick