[Katherine Swift]

This question comes from Jane:

I have several silicone moulds that I am using for bangles and rings and my question is, how do you round your resin jewellery off so that it matches the curved side?

What I mean is, the ring and bangle moulds are all curved at the bottom so when I pour the resin in, the exposed bit at the top which I am pouring from is flat and when the resin is popped out of the mould the bottom is curved or rounded and the top is flat. Is it expected to sand the top so that it is rounded as well – that would mean hours of sanding. Or do you round them off a bit on the edges and just have a bangle or ring rounded on one side and flatfish/round on the other?

[Katherine Swift]

Hi Jane,

I’m afraid I don’t have an easy answer for you. 🙁

Without seeing a picture of your bangle mold, based upon what you describe, it sounds like the opening at the top of the mold (to pour into) is wider than the width at the opposite side. The advantage to the wider opening is that you have more room to pour your resin and place inclusions. It is also easier to remove bubbles as they have more horizontal surface to rise to. As a result, however, what you describe is what I would expect to see — a casting that is wider on one edge/side than the other. Unfortunately, sanding that edge to make it match the other side is the way you are going to have to handle castings from these molds if you want the to look even.

The good news is that if the difference is slight, most people won’t notice, especially if you do a good job getting a smooth edge after casting.

[Rhonda J Hunter]

Katherine, couldn’t you use a layer of a doming resin to round the flat edge? Adding it after the first resin is cured, but before removing it from the mold?

[Katherine Swift]

@Rhonda, I doubt it would look even. I’m guessing the differences in the sides of the bangle were how the mold was made.

[Betsy Stewart]

Want to make resin bangles but one side is round and the other flat. Help

[Katherine Swift]

Hi Betsy, you will need to sand the round side flat to get them even. We have a video on how to do that here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51kSn5Xqfw8

[Jane]

Hi Betsy, the solution I’m trying is to add a small amount of resin to the bangle mould and return the bangle upside down to get both sides the same. It makes the bangle slightly wider but this is not necessarily a problem. I do this 24 hrs after the bangle has been de-molded, putting the flat side in first.

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