The test Dune egg is, well, done.
I’ve learned a lot, and there is probably still more to learn. Bear in mind that I’m doing the resin casting in the free space between a bunch of other projects (that I ought to write about). The folks who do these things on youtube tend to omit hours of prep-work to get the materials dry and sealed, etc, before they go into the resin. What you see is the resin being assembled and it all looks sooooooo easy.
It is not easy. It’s not hard, either. I see this sort of thing as a process that has a lot of “gotchas” but that will submit fairly readily once the time is invested in encountering them and learning how to avoid them or use them.
There are a lot of bubbles in it. So, what I should have done was stabilize the wood with vacuum-infused resin, which both drives the moisture out, and steals the wood so it won’t release air bubbles into the resin. I need to make my distribution of other colors more precise, too. What I have been doing is pouring the stuff and swirling it with a bamboo chopstick. A better approach would be to use a syringe with the colored resin and a hypodermic to precisely plant the resin where I want it. I need to sand things more carefully, and rig up a better buffing setup for final finishing. Sanding these is very unpleasant, since it loads the paper up very fast and it heats up and is very uncomfortable (to say nothing of dangerous) to hold – I don’t want a piece of sandpaper to stick to the resin and try to suck my hand into the lathe.
I want to learn how to get this stuff right, because I don’t want to keep wasting resin, and when kestrel finishes the sandworm model, I don’t want to ruin that.
Here’s a bit of “how to prep a hybrid” from Heath Knuckles:
It’s a kind of pretty piece for contemplating and it has a nice hand-feel and the bog oak looks great. It’s too nice to throw away but it’s not nice enough otherwise. It’s in that awkward category that I call “unloved art.” I am considering auctioning it, and the other two – they won’t fetch much but they might find a home. Or, does one of you know someone who would absolutely love a piece of flawed experimental art?
I have a few more tips of bog oak and I went on ebay and found a seller who sells miniature cast pot-metal swords. I am thinking that something with lots of green and fog I could make “The Sword In the Stone” kind of paperweight. Periodically, I pause and ask myself, “why am I even doing this?”
If you want to see what this can look like when it’s done competently, Heath Knuckles’ channel on youtube is full of resin composites. This one is the size of a bowling ball:
That’s a lot of momentum to be playing with. Keeping a work-piece on the lathe, when it’s round, is already tricky.
One thing I will be trying is, I saw another youtuber who simply took some silicone and made a mold from a burl. Then, they could make a resin burl instead of using wood (the wood is gorgeous, though!) – that’s a really clever trick that I think I’ll try, so I can make experimental faux-burl. Imagine a faux-burl of metallic gold swirl…
It’s looking good but yes, I agree, casting resin is always way more complicated than the Youtube videos would have you believe. I have to wonder if you are on the right track to coat the wood with resin first before doing your complicated pour.
This should turn out very interesting. I love the idea of using a hypodermic to inject color into the resin.
I have seen several videos of people who first coat the object being encased in resin with said resin, either by spraying or dipping.
I have just bought some wood stabilizing resin for experiments, we shall see how that goes.
On the question of why do you make and auction stuff, there are two answering questions.
(1) Does FTB still have legal bills?
(2) Does everyone who wants one already have one — I.e., on your auctions, are you getting zero bids?
I’d guess that, either way, you have a lot more pieces of unloved art that you need to make, so maybe get busy and release a bit more of it soon, please?
Imagine a faux-burl of metallic gold swirl…
Maybe if you make it into the lid of a music box that plays one specific “Weird Al” Yankovic song? [weird]
cvoinescu — Well trolled…
Bruce@#3:
On the question of why do you make and auction stuff, there are two answering questions.
(1) Does FTB still have legal bills?
That is a good question. I will find out an answer.
For the record, if FTB ever gets out from under the damage caused by writer-of-books-about-morality Richard Carrier, I probably will no longer make my auctions specific to FTB; a donation to any cause that is aligned with our lefty-progressive agenda here will suffice. So there will be more leeway.
FYI – right now, I have 3 commissions on my bench. One is at the stage where I have what I believe is an OK blade that needs to be mounted. The other, I have the side-pieces welded and need to assemble the blade. Then there is another letter opener for R.B. who is being a very patient person, indeed. I ought to have those all cleared by the end of September, I hope.
(2) Does everyone who wants one already have one — I.e., on your auctions, are you getting zero bids?
I am not getting zero bids for anything, yet. I think that’s a good sign?
I’d guess that, either way, you have a lot more pieces of unloved art that you need to make, so maybe get busy and release a bit more of it soon, please?
Right now I have one knife that is pretty, but there’s something wedgy about the geometry that makes it not as good a slicer as it should be. And I have 3 resin eggs of various sorts. I have a camp knife that needs a handle, and a
daggerwelded motorcycle chain and 1095 Fairbairn-Sykes letter opener that needs a guard and a handle. It is, if I say so myself, a motherfucker. I may even do a tactical shoulder quick draw holster for it, just to get some experimenting in. Currently trying to decide if the guard should be more motorcycle chain, or meteorite. And I have a machete-thing made out of 1095 and my homebrew suminigashi that looks like it is designed for harvesting jeeps. I have another item that I’m doing a posting about this weekend, that I can’t wear (I can’t wear stuff around my neck near power tools) so I may auction that off, too.I enjoy doing quick little one-offs because they take much less time than a full-blown art blade. Feel free to drop hints; they may be ignored, though.
cvoinescu@#4: Do you realize that I could actually do that?
Did you manage to get the blown off pieces redone? It broke my heart to see those pics…
Cool stuff.
I think you should auction anything that doesn’t have a planned home. It’s a great way to support good causes and to disseminate your art around the world.
Marcus @ #7: Yes, of course! You can buy a sound player module for a few dollars.
@Giliell:
I need to resin impregnate the wood before I turn it. Next time I’ll get it right.