Making a Resin Cast Ring out of Glowing Flowers

   I decided to make a casted resin ring that was mostly clear with tiny flowers inside. I also wanted to add a small amount of glow powder. To do this I had to cast a puck shape and use a section of PVC pipe that I have cut out as a mold.

   I used polyester resin because it's easier to get bubble-free cast with it versus other resins, like alumalite for example. I sealed off the bottom of the PVC pieces just putting a piece of packaging tape on it. Then being careful I pressed it onto the PVC as evenly as possible so there are no leaks for this ring.

   I used two colors of flowers. First maroon and second, a yellowish gold color. For the glow, I'm not using regular glow powder because I wanted some larger pieces of it to be visible in just a few little clusters. So I added a small amount of resin to the glow powder and then I mixed it up until I had little clumps. I got all the little clumps to be about the size of coarse sand.

   I mixed up some resin and used about an ounce. I spent a long time mixing because it's incredibly important to make sure that resin catalyst is spread evenly throughout the resin. That's so you can get just a solid piece. Sometimes you'll get a gooey resin that doesn't set all the way or other weird little issues. So it's really important on this step to make sure you get everything mixed properly.

   Next, I poured the resin in the mold and mixed all the flowers and glow powder. I added all the ingredients layer by layer and used a small screwdriver just to fix any spacing issues I saw. If there are flowers clumping up too much, I spread them out. It is pretty easy.

   You only have a certain amount of time before the resin gets too gooey to mess with so you do have to work a little bit. After I got everything set in place, I stuck the whole piece in my vacuum chamber to get rid of any of the bubbles trapped in the resin.

   After leaving this overnight I pulled it out. Earlier, I put a little bit of mineral oil on the inner diameter of the PVC pipe so the resin blank would slide out easier.

   I mounted the ring in the jaws of my lathe and then I poured out the center of the blank. I used a center drill to get the hole started and then a boring bit on my lathe to continue to widen the hole. Once I got it into the correct size I used several grits of sandpaper.  Then two polishing compounds to polish the inside so it just is perfectly see-through have no scratches.

   Then I cut down the outer diameter of the ring and sand and polish again. The ring is finished! I really do like the minimalist look it has to it just on my hand. It's mostly transparent. The string is certainly pretty cool and interesting to look at during the day where this ring shines is at night and that's not a joke this ring literally shines.

Check out the video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ak56jQnLlEM and subscribe to Patrick Adair Designs.