[Katherine Swift]

This question comes through email by AG:

Hi, I tried making a clay fairy in a glass bottle, but it didn’t really work. The resin dried yellow and it shrunk so badly that it was milky and pulled away from the middle sides of the glass. How can I prevent this? I read something about coating the outside in 2 layers of resin, but in the 24 hours that would take to cure wouldn’t it just fall to the bottom of the jar? I also read that small layers at a time, if timed absolutely perfectly between pours, would do well. But I’m concerned that several layers of clear resin will cause obvious lines. Will that happen? How can I prevent it? How long should i wait between pouring each layer? At what point will the resin become thick enough to suspend a small clay sculpture?

Are there any other ways to prevent shrinkage? I’m relatively new at using resin, but I can’t really find anything on using it with glass jars, everyone uses silicone moulds. Do you have any tips?

[Katherine Swift]

I’m sorry to hear you are having problems. What kind/brand of resin are you using?

[Erin]

Amazing clear cast, I figured out that the reason it was making the ugly bubbles is because the inside was curing faster than the outside and that was causing it to shrink. So to combat this, I took a lighter and heated the outside of the jar before the inside began to fully cure. It solved the bubble problem, but the resin then cracked. .-.

[Katherine Swift]

Hi Erin,

It sounds like things are heating up quickly — a little too quickly for the glass which is what’s causing the shrinkage. Ah yes, applying heat to the outside helps, but you have to be careful (as you already found out).

Have you considered an epoxy resin? How large are your glass bottles that you are pouring into? They will heat up slower (and cure slower) but I think you will avoid the shrinkage and cracking problems. Here’s a tutorial I did with a bottle and resin here: https://www.resinobsession.com/resin-tutorials/glass-glitter-genie-bottle-pendant-tutorial

[Aaron]

I’m new to resining. I am using epoxy resin to cover a tile that I painted. I find that 2 coats usually work but now I’m working on a 3rd coat to fill in retracements or shrinkage of the resin.
Is there a trick to just apply one coat and it work correctly?
Thank you for your help.
Aaron

[Katherine Swift]

Hi Aaron,

It sounds like you may not be using enough resin. You can check the amount you are using with the resin calculator here:
https://www.resinobsession.com/resin-calculator/

[Author]

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