After
your resin embedment or piece of jewellery has fully cured
you can apply numerous finishing techniques to finish the
resin jewellery and refine the appearance of the article.
It can be drilled, sanded or polished. As always when the
possibility exists of inhaling resin dust while buffing resins,
wear a dust mask.
Hand Sanding
and Polishing
Initial sanding can begin with coarse sandpaper of 100 to
180 grit to remove any obvious imperfections that have occurred
during casting using sandpaper adhered to wooden blocks or
plastic cosmetic nail files of various grits before buffing
resins. One of the best sanding tools we have used are the
hobby ceramic Glit sanding sponges available at any ceramic
studio.
Following this rough cleaning, which with any luck, may not
have been necessary, use wet and dry sandpaper in grits starting
at 320 and going through to 400 and ultimately 600, working
under water if necessary to reduce dust. If you wished to
refine the article with further sanding, papers up to 1000
and 1500 are available at auto supply stores.
To achieve a final polish we often use a soft cloth and Brasso
for buffing resins available at any hardware store. To maintain
this finish a carnauba wax polish helps fill in any imperfections
and provide a highly polished finished article. This wax is
available at auto supply stores.
Please note that unlike the polyester resins, epoxy resins
such as Crystal Cast Clear will not develop a high gloss on
polishing. Finishing resin jewellery of this material to a
high gloss requires the surface to be recoated with the epoxy
resin or use Aristocrat or Envirotex Lite. (More
information on resins for jewelry here)
Machine Buffing: Resin buffing can be done by machine providing
it is not done at too fast a speed that softens the resin
and leaves white marks on the finished surface. Buffing resins
needs special care and patience.
Drilling
As with the machine buffing, drilling must be done at slow
speeds to prevent the bits from being clogged with melted
resin particles. It is essential to hold the piece firmly
in a vice while drilling to get a straight hole. We have found
that a couple of pieces of scrap leather will enable the resin
to be held firmly without marking, while drilling your holes.
Any drilling mistakes can be repaired with additional resin
mix.
Attaching Jewellery Findings
Use 5 or 30 minute Araldite. If time is no object you can
apply a mix of the original resin with a brush to the part
and leave overnight.
To Achieve a Matt Finish
A different and very attractive finish can be given resin
jewellery by sandblasting the cured piece. If you don't have
access to a sandblaster, pumice rubbing compound gives a matt
finish (available at paint and hardware stores)
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