[Whitney]

I have been practicing making keepsake euro beads (pandora style) for my clients, however I’m having a really hard time finding out what the right way to do this is. The first time I did it I had horrible bubbles in the finished beads, even with gentle mixing and warming the epoxy before pouring. Is there something else I can try to help get rid of bubbles. Most of the techniques I have found are for open molds. Also, regarding inserting the grommets, I tried putting one grommet in, pouring the resin, then putting the other in (which made the most sense to me since the grommet pretty much covers the hole where I pour the resin) but getting the top grommet seated in the mold properly is super difficult and I end up pushing some of the resin out of the mold. Please tell me there is some tip or trick I’m missing that will make this process easier and more successful.

[Katherine Swift]

Hi Whitney,

What kind/brand of resin are you using?

Can you include a few pictures of your setup? If you cannot link to them, email the pictures to info[!at]resinobsession{dot}com.

[Whitney]

I’ve had a chance to play a bit more with everything and I figured out the grommet issue. But bubbles are still a concern.

I recently switched from Ice resin to Resin Obsession trying to find the clearest, thinnest resin to cast (hoping that would help with the bubbles) but it’s still not great. I warm the resin before adding the catalyst, I use a heat gun to pop the surface bubbles, but it seems like when I pour into the mold I’m trapping air somehow.

[Katherine Swift]

Have you tried warming up the mold with a heat gun first? I can’t explain the physics of it, but sometimes a cold mold and warm resin can create surface tension that can cause bubbles. You can also try rolling some resin around in there first to coat the inside before completely filling it.

[laura]

I glue the grommets on after casting the bead. I was using E600, but finding it hard to work with so the last I used fresh resin to glue on the grommet. I haven’t used it long enough to know if the experiment was successful.

I don’t know about the bubbles. I think maybe I’m just not super picky. I’ve been using envirotex jewelry resin, which actually probably isn’t the best choice. I have to manipulate my molds quite a bit while pouring, bending the mold and moving the center to get the resin down in. The pour hole is just so tiny that it’s hard to get the resin in. I suppose surface bubbles pretty much get trapped because there’s not much surface to let them out.

[Katherine Swift]

Envirotex jewelry resin isn’t meant for molds, which might be part of the problem. It is best suited for pours of 1/8 inch or less. Trying it in thinner pours would probably work better for you.

Good idea on the wet resin as a glue. I would expect that would work just as well.

[Dorothy]

Would love to know what mold/method you use to make the pandora beads. Thanks in advance!

[Katherine Swift]

@Dorothy, We have a tutorial showing how to make Pandora style beads with pet hair here: https://www.resinobsession.com/resin-tutorials/how-to-make-pet-hair-beads

[Katherine Swift]

We have bead molds for resin in our store here: https://shop.resinobsession.com/collections/molds/bead

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