Profile for Polyester Jones - working with plastics

Polyester Jones aka amelia is a girl, has been a member since November 11, 2005, has scored 4399 submissions, giving an average score of 2.79.

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Oct 26 '09 by Polyester Jones

43 Comments

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working with plastics

does anybody have experience working with plastics -- especially in molds?

I'd like to learn how to make my own plastic doodads (opaque, coloured plastic, not clear resin.)
What equipment would I need?

I think it'd be so cool to make your own cameos

or cabochons

Mya Jamila on Oct 26 '09 at 10:11am

What exactly are cabochons?

Polyester Jones on Oct 26 '09 at 10:49am

They're just flat-backed pieces, used in makin' stuff.

They can really look like anything or be made of anything -- they just have to have a flat back, and no hole (they're not beads).

these are made of glass:

these are made of Lucite:

these are plastic:

Polyester Jones on Oct 26 '09 at 1:04pm

bump

tracerbullet on Oct 26 '09 at 1:06pm

those glass pieces look like candy. i do not trust them.

Polyester Jones on Oct 26 '09 at 1:07pm

mm, candy.

halloween is too far away

tracerbullet on Oct 26 '09 at 1:09pm

it's only 5 days away!

Polyester Jones on Oct 26 '09 at 1:12pm

not like I get candy on Halloween anymore. :(

downtownregis on Oct 26 '09 at 1:14pm

these are cool! i would also like to make them. or buy them when you make them. yes.

Polyester Jones on Oct 26 '09 at 1:15pm

I can find tons of tutorials for resin casting, but none for plastics. And I don't know what to search for exactly.

bcrider on Oct 26 '09 at 1:20pm

I found this; read a bit about it and it seems fairly interesting! I just searched for "plastic casting kit" and got a bit.

bcrider on Oct 26 '09 at 1:22pm

Okay, maybe not. It looks like the Alumilite is resin, not actually plastic. So I'm confused.

bcrider on Oct 26 '09 at 1:25pm

Here, I find opaque pigments. So maybe the resin wouldn't necessarily be problematic with these? I think making your own cameos would rock!

Polyester Jones on Oct 26 '09 at 1:27pm

Welcome to the exciting world of Alumilite, the two-part liquid casting plastic that goes from liquid to solid in just 3 minutes. Easy to use, virtually odorless, and will duplicate any part down to the most minute detail. Create your mold and then cast it with Alumilite Super Liquid Casting Plastic. Parts can be easily dyed, sanded, drilled, machined, or painted. Fillers can be added to change texture and weight. When heated, parts can be reformed and bent without breaking. Shelf life - 1 year.

I don't even know if that's what I want!
I think that this Alumilite stuff is something other than plastic, but it looks like plastic? Would real plastic be cheaper?

Polyester Jones on Oct 26 '09 at 1:29pm

bcrider on Oct 26 '09 at 1:45pm

I found stuff stating that people use this stuff for casting parts for robots here. The specs are really promising; it's tough, but not brittle, and will take a sanding if some of the edges of what you're working on need some cleaning up. I can't find anything on plastic pricing, though, to compare it to the Alumilite.

bcrider on Oct 26 '09 at 1:45pm

Also, those fleshtones are amazing!!!

bcrider on Oct 26 '09 at 1:47pm

found some stuff in ebay stores.

Polyester Jones on Oct 26 '09 at 8:19pm

thank you so much bcrider, you are very helpful :)

I think my aunt used to do stuff like this so I'll ask her and I'll definitely look further into alumilite

B 7 on Oct 26 '09 at 8:22pm

Wow! I totally want to work with plastic now.

ratkiss on Oct 26 '09 at 8:24pm

I've worked with resin before. There are dyes out there I believe to make a solid color for it, I could be wrong.

I think cabochons are super!
*drools*
I want to collect them and use them for glueing on my earrings!

Polyester Jones on Oct 26 '09 at 8:25pm

I know!
I've melted plastic pony beads in the oven before, and I took apart an electric typewriter and melted down the keys and plastic gears inside to use in a mosaic, but I really want to work with molds.

doing stuff like this is very interesting:

but I have this itch to mass produce something.

B 7 on Oct 26 '09 at 8:27pm

you guys are opening up a whole new world for me. And i like it

blossompossum on Oct 26 '09 at 8:27pm

*watches blog*

ratkiss on Oct 26 '09 at 8:28pm

got any photos of it?

whoa melted soldiers-that's funky cool!

ratkiss on Oct 26 '09 at 8:30pm

I want so much stuff from this site.
artschooldropout.net

B 7 on Oct 26 '09 at 8:32pm

so much awesome :O

ratkiss on Oct 26 '09 at 8:35pm

etsy has a bunch too!

mike bautista on Oct 26 '09 at 8:35pm

Oh man, that soldier piece is amazing.

I have as much experience in plastics as Dustin Hoffman, though.

ratkiss on Oct 26 '09 at 8:36pm

If you make things let me know!

B 7 on Oct 26 '09 at 8:38pm

I heard Dustin Hoffman crafts his own 'The Graduate' action figures and sells them from a cart on the street
So you are saying you have a lot of experience Mike, yes?

mike bautista on Oct 26 '09 at 8:41pm

Curse yous!!!

Polyester Jones on Oct 26 '09 at 8:42pm

well, I melted the keys from the electric typewriter so they were a little bit twisted but you could still read the letters
and I used them with white tiles to mosaic the top of a piano bench I had
here is a large picture

B 7 on Oct 26 '09 at 8:42pm

Looky looky i got hooky

ratkiss on Oct 26 '09 at 8:43pm

I like that!

B 7 on Oct 26 '09 at 8:43pm

whoah man that's awesome!!! What a cool idea

Mya Jamila on Oct 26 '09 at 8:52pm

Hey Amelia, I could ask my grandpa.

I'm pretty sure he makes plastic casts of his lead soldiers...

Polyester Jones on Oct 26 '09 at 8:53pm

I thought he used plastic molds -- but I didn't think he poured coloured plastic like this.

Mya Jamila on Oct 27 '09 at 7:15am

His molds are kind of like... plasticine i believe. And i think he has poured plastic first if he doesn't have something suitable to cast from...

But I could be wrong.

Polyester Jones on Oct 27 '09 at 7:41am

but has he poured plastic to make figurines or to make molds? and what kind of plastic is it?

bcrider on Oct 27 '09 at 8:17am

Yay, glad this helped, though I guess it made things more confusing. :D

kevinwells on Oct 27 '09 at 9:00am

make me something!!

this reminds me of how much i loved my Creepy Crawlers kit when i was a kid:

Mya Jamila on Oct 27 '09 at 9:41am

No idea.

I'll be calling him sometime in the next week so *crosses fingers* I'll ask him then.

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