[Jey]

I am looking to make an art piece for a Burning Man camp, essentially a 3-foot psychedelic donut with an oil and water glaze reservoir.
For the donut part, I bought the Resin Obsession doming resin to coat an inner tube with some brown resin die. I thought I could cut the top off a water bottle and use it to act as a fill area for my glaze reservoir. I wouldn’t completely cover the inner tube, as I’d want to remove the inner tube and insert led lights all around in the hollow cavity to backlight the psychedelic aspect of the donut: the glaze.
With the reservoir “fill cap” pointing to the center of the donut and accessible via the back side, I would then aim to create the second piece, the glaze “reservoir.” I am not certain how to do this, as this needs to be a reservoir able to hold water.
My thought was to create some sort of mold (material suggestions please) on top of the same inner tube, and use the doming resin to coat the top of this soon to be glaze. Then remove the mold, and then place this top part of the glaze onto the cured donut. Then continue to “weld” the two pieces together with the rest of my epoxy.
Test the seal by filling up the reservoir with an oil and water dye.
Can you see any problems with this strategy?
If so, please advise.

I’ve been told the resin would melt my inner tube…really?
For the mold for the glaze. I was envisioning some material similar to a stress ball: balloon with sand. but not sure how to use it for such a large surface area? Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

In addition, I’d love to make the donut’s back epoxied to a steering wheel, so it can spin. I was talking to someone about this idea, and they seemed to think it would be too heavy to be on a steering wheel mounted vertically.
What say the experienced artists here?
–Yes, way too heavy for that application!
–No way, spin on, you psychonaut!

[Katherine Swift]

Hi Mitzy,

We have some conversations about this topic here: https://www.resinobsession.com/forums/search/essential+oil/

[Mitzy]

If I was to add essential oil to resin would it make a scented pieces? I’m thinking about making scented necklaces for teens. Any thoughts or tips?

[Katherine Swift]

Hi Ameenah,

This other post in our forum explains about using fragrance oils in resin: https://www.resinobsession.com/forums/topic/do-essential-oils-break-down-resin/

[Katherine Swift]

Hi Ameenah, I’m not sure this is a good idea. This forum topic explains more: https://www.resinobsession.com/forums/topic/do-essential-oils-break-down-resin/

[Ameenah]

Hi, has anyone tried putting essential oils/synthetic fragrance oils in cured resin pieces? Im making concrete pieces which will hold a small amount of oil, I’d like to make a resin barrier to prevent the oil leaking out over time.

[isabelle cerceau brandão]

Hello! I came to the site hoping to find an answer about essential oils spoiling the cured resin pieces.
I found no answers.
did someone test putting a few drops of essential oil on resin pendents? I would like to make diffuser necklaces to use essential oil, where there is a hole to drip the oils and use to aromatherapy. however, some people have told me that the resin is not resistant to essential oil.

[Katherine Swift]

Hi Netty,

We have a few conversations about this topic here: https://www.resinobsession.com/?s=essential+oils

[Netty]

Can I add Essential oils to my resin mixture before I pour it to make the finished product smell good or would it not work?

[SBB]

I want to bounce an idea off people before I try it myself and possibly damage stuff.

I keep having problems with micro bubbles, and was thinking of how to get rid of them after I’ve mixed, as a heat gun doesn’t get all of them. What do you think of a heating pad to sit your mixing cup onto for a few minutes to make any deeper microbubbles rise up to the top for easier popping?
The idea is essentially, have a piece of metal on your work table with some aluminum foil underneath, and use your heating of choice on it (heat gun, torch, breathing hard, whatever) for a bit to get it warmer than room temperature, then place your mixing cup ontop.

I figure it might be safer this way than say just blasting your cup with heat, especially if it’s plastic. It also would heat it from below, not above. Since I imagine holding the cup with your hands to heat from below could be dangerous.

Anyway, opinions?

(Note, I suggest aluminum foil underneath as it cannot absorb heat very well. Thus whatever heat the metal absorbs will be transposed onto your cup and its contents more than if you used a towel. If you want extra safety, maybe an oven mitt under the foil.)

[Mary]

I have tried to use the essential oils with the resin, and it makes the resin very stick, and does not harden correctly. I’m thinking on trying to use a blank piece of air freshener paper on the back of the item, to see how that works. I guess I’ll try and use an adhesive to adhere the card to the resin. What do you think?

[Randy]

Hi, I’m new to casting and wanting to make essential oil bottle holders that would be blocks about 1.5”wide, 2” tall and 8” long with holes either cast into the top or drilled. I’d like to use something that I could cast in a single pour so that I can use paints to make a sort of mottled translucent color scheme. What type of resin would work best?

[Katherine Swift]

Hi Stacy,

Both the chemists I spoke with have not tested using essential oils in resin, but expect that it should not permeate a cured resin surface.

[Katherine Swift]

This question comes from Stacy:

Looking for opinions on resin pendants with a slit/hole and putting a felt pad in it with essential oils on it to have a diffuser neckless. Would the essential oils brake down the resin?

[Katherine Swift]

Hi Jodi,

If I were going to recreate something like what you link to, here is how I would go about it:

1. Select a vial and a screw top lid that I want to use to contain the liquid (perfume, essential oil, etc.)
2. Select or create a mold large enough to hold the vial the way you want it. From the pictures you show, the vials are suspended in the pieces.
3. Next comes the tricky part that is going to require some experimentation on your part. To make the vial a part of the casting, I would try two different approaches to see what works best:
*Cast the vial in place when pouring the resin. You can do this by casting the resin in two pours. Cast the first pour to the bottom of where the vial is going to sit. Once the resin has cured enough to hold the vial, pour in the second layer. OR, you can cast it all at once if you can find a way to suspend the vial in the mold while the resin cures.
*Fully fill the mold with resin. Once it has cured, use a drill the same size as your vial to drill a vertical hole to place your vial. Use a little resin to glue it into place.
4. I don’t know how the top secures to the vial, but you will need to leave room for that to be able to happen. I’m guessing it is either a snap or screw on closure.

As for your original question, yes you can use resin to seal one end. If you use it to seal the eyelet end, you won’t be able to get the eyelet back out. I’m thinking you will need to have a glass insert of some kind, otherwise, the liquid you place into the hold will permeate into the bead.