Some more "resin" experiments

A few weeks ago I tried making gems out of plastic.

I used a heat-melting plastic called Easy Water that is used to make water features for model train sets.

It doesn't smell bad or require mixing, like resin, but it is also more brittle than "real" resin.

Recently, I bought a bunch of alcohol inks to color it.

(Originally I tried using powdered fabric dye, but it contained salt crystals that didn't melt.)

Another problem I encountered was that the molds I used, left a matte surface on the trinkets.

Here is a big loop I made in a candy mold (actually, the letter "O")

I guessed I could blast the matte surface again with the torch, and it worked!

Sometimes I heated it a little too much.

Here are some leaves I made, that also came out a little bubbly.

I guessed that I could reheat the surface with the torch, and erase the imperfections.

This worked to make them shiny, but I melted off some of the details!


Another product I tried using was called Friendly Plastic.

It is also a heat-able kind of plastic pellet.

I didn't follow any instructions.

I tried heating it in a tin with a torch.

The substance became clear, but super gummy.

I couldn't get it out of the tin and into the mold.

If I recall, it can be heated in hot water and molded that way.

Next time I'll try that.

Experimenting with different materials is fun, even if it doesn't always work out as planned.