Wands Made With Epoxy Resin - No Lathe
Introduction: Wands Made With Epoxy Resin - No Lathe
This project was inspired by <PERSON> who made a hidden forest wand on his YouTube channel. I thought it would be neat to try and make something similar but instead of making the resin clear I wanted to add some color. I was hoping that it would almost look like the wands were glowing with power. I don't know if I achieved that specific effect but I am happy with how they turned out.
Supplies
3/4" x 3/4" x 14" wood
Bench
Vise attached to Bench
3lb. Hammer
1" x 30" belt sander
Parchment Paper
Duck Tape
Epoxy Resin
C clamp or Hand Screw Wood Clamp
Pigment Powder
Disposable Mixing cup and Stir Stick
Razor Blade
Sand Paper Various Grits up to 600
Small Round File
Clear Acrylic Spray Paint
Step 1:
I looked through my scrap pile and found some walnut that was 3/4 x 3/4 inches square. The pieces was about 12 inches long. You don't need a long piece of scrap a short 6 inch piece will work just as well.
Step 2:
I was originally going to try and replicate the "hidden" forest look. When going for this look you want to break the wood so that it has a lot of interesting edges at the point of fracturing. So I chucked my scrap walnut in my bench vise and gave it a good whack with a 3lb. hammer. This took a couple of good whacks until it snapped. The only real thing to consider here is to make sure you tighten the vice really well and you also make sure that the broken piece is at least 3-4 inches long so make sure to mount it in the vise with enough wood protruding out of the bottom of the vise so you end up with a long enough piece. A longer piece will work as well but I think 3 inches is as small as you want to go.
*A note about the hidden forest look, I didn't end up going for this look in the end because I realized that if I used clear epoxy I would end up with a lot of bubbles since I didn't have a pressure pot at the time. The cracked wood still works though because it allows for better adhesion to the epoxy resin.
Step 3:
With pieces broken I used my 1x30 belt sander to round over the edges as best I could. To get a decent result I just keep turning the wood as I apply pressure to the sander. Eventually all the edges are smoothed out and the handle starts to take shape. 981
It is far from a perfect cylinder but that doesn't really matter. There is more sanding to come.
Step 4:
Next I cut some strips of parchment paper that are wide enough to create a cylinder all the way around the walnut handle. I used clear tape to seal off the edge of the parchment paper. Nothing really sticks to parchment paper so here you are really just creating a seal by wrapping the clear tape around it self several times making sure to overlap. You want to make sure you wrap the tape around multiple times to prevent any leaks. Basically here you are creating the mold for the epoxy. You can make it as long or as short as you like, I think I made mine about 10 inches long so with the wood handle I will end up with a wand that is 12-13 inches long. Remember to leave some room for waste on both the wood side and epoxy side.
Step 5:
So this part is a little tricky but it can be done. I used a piece of 3/4" electrical conduit that had lying around, you can use a wood dowel or a piece of PVC, as the form for my parchment paper mold. I slip the conduit in to the parchment paper cylinder then I use some duct tape to seal the seam running length wise on the parchment paper. I then turn the piece over and apply another strip of duct tape to the opposite side completely encasing the parchment paper cylinder mold in duct tape. With the conduit still in place reinforcing the shape I make sure to squeeze the duct tape all around to get good adhesion. For extra security you can apply more pieces of duct tape and make sure to extend the tap all the way down to the wood, this will also help prevent leaks. Once I am happy with the duct tape application I remove the electrical conduit.
Step 6:
Now its time for epoxy! I use a clamp to hold the wand up vertically. I mix my epoxy per the instructions and I add some blue metallic powdered pigment. I don't know how much to mix so I just guess. This epoxy has a decent working time so if I under estimate I can just quickly mix some more. 254