[BrianK]

Hi folks,
We’re attempting to make affordable small cultured marble statuary (desktop size, 4-12”) to raise funds for our small non profit Catholic ministry. Our local marble quarry will provide us with a bright grade of 350 screen size fine pulverized marble dust. We’re trying to decide whether this is too small, whether it needs to be dried (as I don’t know its moisture content), and what type of resin would give us a combination of good aesthetics, clear color and ease of use since we’re all new at this.

Most of the cultured marble formulas we’ve seen call for polyester resin, but that was for cultured marble vanities, countertops, etc. We cannot find specific information or formulations regarding cultured marble statuary. Some suppliers have already tried to talk us out of using polyester resin because of its toxicity and difficulty to work with.

I don’t know whether the marble powder can be mixed with polyurethane resin, or whether it’s working time is long enough for us, especially as we’re just starting out.

ANY and all input you would be willing to offer would be immensely appreciated!

Thank you!
BrianK
Stockbridge MA

[BrianK]

Also, we’re going to need to create molds of the statuary we will be reproducing, most likely small statues of the Virgin Mary. I’m assuming a silicone mold would be appropriate, but I’ve also been told that a good latex mold will hold up indefinitely for production of our statuary. Any suggestions on best molding material and technique for cultured marble statuary?

[Katherine Swift]

A two-part mold is what I would make for this. Alumilite has some good resources on this too. They also have good molding silicones for a project like this.

Their director of tech support is Carol Wedlake. She will be quite helpful to you in a project like this. You can reach her at carol [at] alumilite {dot} com.

[Katherine Swift]

Hi Brian,

What a neat project! I’m happy to offer some advice.

Polyester and polyurethane resins are both ones that I don’t recommend for beginners. That being said, if I had to choose, I would go with a polyurethane resin. You will want to make sure you use one with a long enough pot time that you can mix and cast the resin before it starts to cure.

Polyurethane resins are very moisture sensitive. You will need to be sure your marble powder is dry. Unfortunately, I don’t know the best way to do that. If it were me, I would use dry it in my oven that I use for crafting projects and not food purposes.

Alumilite has some good polyurethane resins. They have one that has about a 15 minute pot time, which means you will need to stir and be ready to pour as soon as you get it mixed.

[BrianK]

Thank you Katherine! I’ve sent off an email to Carol asking for further input on this project.

[Katherine Swift]

Good luck and let us know how it goes!

[Dimitar]

Hi everybody,
Hoping someone might answer my question and help me. I’m trying to cast a statues from resin mixed with marble dust. I have been looking up books, searching internet and trying with different recipes to make cast marbles. But I couldn’t really achieve one piece that looks like real marble and feel like real marble. The castings are good without air bubbles ,good shape,but when touched, it feels resin. My idea is on touching to be like stone(not resin). Would you please help me. So im using local (bulgarian made) epoxy resin (not cristal clear), so I mix:
2 parts marble dust
1 part epoxy resin
A little white pigment

So like I told you the statues are not bad,but when touched it feels resin, not real stone marble figure.Where is my mistake – resin or……
Please for your help!!!

[Josh]

Hello,

We make marble statues and have for many years. We use clear casting resin (polyester resin) mixed with a mixture of calcium carbonate and/or dolomite. You can get the pulverized stone a few places. Marfill and marblemite are some of the specific brands weve used. You mix the powder with resin appx 1:1. We add a small amount of fumed silica to improve pouring characteristics, as well at titanium white dye to brighten the mixture. The statues are the sanded and cleaned with acetone and turn out very pretty. They dont look exactly like real marble as color is uniform but they have a nice stone feel and appearance. We use tin cure silicone molds. They can be very durable especially on smaller volume pieces. Larger volume pieces can produce excessive heat which negatively impacts durability. Very large pieces are made with a thin layer of material and reinforced with fiberglass and resin dyed white.

Hope this helps

[Author]

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