With the help of solidified epoxy resin in combination with other materials, it is quite simple to make unique things: key rings, medallions, souvenirs, toys. For example, key rings made of wood and epoxy resin look interesting. They are created by combining these materials. The emphasis in the product is on the transparency of resin and the structure of wood. After solidification, you will get a whole product, a small world is frozen in it.
According to the technology below, it is not difficult to do an interesting thing with your own hands. At the same time, there are no special difficulties and secrets in working with materials.
Preparatory stage
Any master class begins with the preparatory stages. During the stage, you need to collect materials and tools for work. To make a keyring, you will need:
- A stick, rail or any wooden object for the base.
- Optically transparent epoxy resin with low viscosity and a hardener to it.
- Special color dye for epoxy, possibly with additional functionality.
- A piece of plastic, a sharp knife, a ruler and glue to form an improvised formwork.
- Sandpaper with different grain levels.
- Oil, drying oil or varnish for processing the wooden surface and emphasizing the relief structure of the tree.
As a tool , you will need:
- Glue gun for sizing plastic formwork.
- Scales for accurate calculation of the number of components.
- Grinding machine for primary processing.
- Drill for attaching fasteners.
Do not forget about safety precautions, you will need a respirator and rubber gloves to work. It is better to lay an oilcloth on the table when pouring the mold.
To get a beautiful keychain made of epoxy resin, you will need to polish it properly. An important stage will be working with a grinding machine.
Step-by-step work plan
The keychain in our case is made of wood and epoxy. As a wooden base, you can take a stick, a rack, a small board. It can be broken gently. A broken wooden part will have an interesting relief, its faces will be completely different.
Now it is necessary to build an improvised formwork of a small size and a certain shape. For which plastic, plexiglass is perfect. In order to form a sealed epoxy resin bath smoothly, the joints are carefully glued.
The resulting aquarium is firmly glued to the wooden billet with superglue. Once again we go through all the seams with hot glue. We will achieve absolute tightness.
There is no top cover for the tub. It is necessary to ensure that the epoxy level when pouring is higher than the wood. To do this, using the same glue gun, bumpers are made on wooden blanks.
Some craftsmen create the right shape from silicone, plasticine. Usually such forms are used when creating decorative jewelry, but they are also quite suitable for key chains.
Before working with resin, it is worth studying safety techniques. In liquid form, the epoxy is toxic, safe only in solid. Therefore, during operation, it is necessary to provide ventilation in the room, wear a respirator with protection from organic substances. If the substance gets on the skin, it should be removed with alcohol. If the resin gets into the eyes, you need to visit a doctor, taking with you the packaging and instructions from the manufacturer.
For pouring, it is necessary to prepare a composition of epoxy resin, hardener and dye. It is very important to observe the proportions here. It can not be done by eye, we measure it with a small digital scale or a syringe. The proportions for mixing the components are indicated on the packaging of the epoxy. There you can also find the optimal mixing temperature. To make a keychain of a simple shape, it is permissible to use a thick composition. In the case of a complex wood texture, it is better to let it be thinner so that it can flow into all cavities.
The fluidity of the epoxy composition affects the rate of exit of air bubbles from the resin before curing. The thinner the composition, the greater the exit rate. This is especially important if there is no special vacuum chamber.
In addition, if you mess up with the proportions, the composition may not harden. If there are problems with temperature and volume, a reaction will occur, from which the epoxy can boil.
It is not necessary to order large volumes of the substance if you are going to use it exclusively for small decorative.
Different colors can be used as a dye. Among the most popular:
- transparent;
- green;
- blue;
- gold.
The color has some properties:
- The simplest color. After solidification, it remains transparent.
- The color in the form of paste will create a blurring effect. In some parts of the product will be opaque.
- Mother of pearl. With such a color, the frozen resin will shimmer in the light. Especially visible are such iridescences in the sun when exposed to direct rays.
- Phosphor is added to the composition. The keychain will glow in the dark like phosphorus.
- Filled. The color may contain colored crumbs, confetti.
Before pouring, make sure that the composition is thoroughly mixed and forms a homogeneous substance. The air bubbles should all go away during mixing and settling, which will take 10-15 minutes. If they are not all out, you can heat the composition to 40°C/104°F degrees. If bubbles have accumulated near the surface, you should blow on them from a tube.
For heating, you can use a conventional microwave oven (at the weakest mode and for a short time, literally a few seconds). For small amounts of resin, it is safer to use a water bath.
Smoothly fill the finished mold to the brim. In this case, to the edge of the sides of the glue. It should be remembered that the resin does not shrink. If the composition is not enough, you need to make a new layer.
If you want to add originality, add additional ingredients to the substance, for example, crumbs, pebbles, azure, sequins, dried leaves, you can even immerse a small insect in the center.
If you want to place the beetle exactly in the middle, you will have to fill in several layers. Then it is easy to install the insect on the already frozen layer, at the desired level.
Now the resin should harden, which usually takes from 18 hours to a day. Sometimes more. As soon as the product has become solid, we remove the formwork. Plastic departs better if it is preheated.
When the plexiglass parts are removed, we have a good blank with which we will then need to work hard. Choose the appropriate length of the keyring, the rest of the parts are sawed off or cut off.
Then the first stage of grinding begins. The coarsest sandpaper is taken and the shape of the future product is created on a grinding machine or a grinding machine. It is permissible to carry out work with your hands, but it will take a lot of time and effort to do this.
Next comes grinding and polishing on sandpaper with a smaller grain size. It is convenient to carry out grinding and polishing on a flat surface. As a polishing agent, you can take an automobile composition. Almost every motorist has such a composition. You can use a special napkin.
It is necessary to achieve absolute transparency for the hardened epoxy resin.
Recommended grit sequence of sandpaper – 80, 120, 180, 320, 600, 1000, 1500, 2000. You can’t skip the number, it’s better to add more intermediate ones.
To emphasize the texture of the wood, it should be treated with oil, drying oil or varnish. You can buy any composition in a hardware store.
Next, a holder for the suspension is installed. To do this, a hole is drilled in the wooden end face. An iron part is glued there.
The result is a small keychain made of epoxy resin and wood. The keychain looks very interesting. On the one hand, the wooden texture attracts, on the other, the inimitable transparency of the hardened resin composition. All this splendor can be made with your own hands.
