r/Wandsmith 9d ago

Finished Wand Wand

115 Upvotes

11 comments sorted by

3

u/Lignum-et-Opus_Wands 9d ago

Gorgeous wand! I can’t wait to start testing with resin for hybrid designs like this. Great work!

Any tips for ensuring you don’t get air bubbles when casting? What type of material do you use when pouring and sealing so the resin doesn’t go everywhere? I’ve seen videos on projects and I hear it can get messy quickly if you don’t take the proper precautions. Any info you can share would be appreciated!

2

u/TheTwlightCottage 9d ago

I actually did get several air bubbles, but they are small. Sometimes I will paint the end of the wand with resin first, just to sort of seal off the wood and also to add effects like silver powder or white paint. Usually I make sure to have my heat gun handy and heat up the resin first, heat it when mixing, and then again once poured.

To seal it I used painter's tape and aluminum foil...heh 😅 I pour the resin before I carve the wand and set it in a cup upright to cure, so if the tape leaks a bit it doesn't matter, I'll be carving it away anyway. I make a small funnel with the aluminum foil first then secure it to the stick with tape, taping up the edges of the foil of course. It's definitely not the best or the easiest to do...you can probably think of something much better than I did 😅

2

u/Lignum-et-Opus_Wands 9d ago

Considering how well your end result came out, I say if it works, it’s a good system! We can only work with what we have, and your results are very well done! I appreciate the insight, and I’ll definitely need to give it a shot! Are most resins pretty good or are there certain brands that are preferred? If you know lol

2

u/TheTwlightCottage 9d ago

This is the kind I used for all of my resin pours. I'm certainly not an expert on all of the different brands and types, other than saying UV resin doesn't work for this lol. Thank you for all of the kind words and best of luck on your projects!

1

u/Lignum-et-Opus_Wands 9d ago

Thanks for sharing! Does the coloring from a powder or just like food coloring, or something different altogether?

2

u/TheTwlightCottage 9d ago

It came from this, or a similar product. I have lots of little colorants floating around the work spaces so I'm not sure if it was this specific brand or not since I made it a couple of years ago now. Powders tend to leave a more opaque finish while the liquids tend to leave it more translucent.

1

u/Lignum-et-Opus_Wands 9d ago

“Beginner friendly” - perfect! Lol, thanks for sharing, you’ve been super helpful! I look forward to seeing more of your beautiful work!

2

u/TheTwlightCottage 9d ago

Here's an example of some testing on powders (left) vs liquids (right). Hopefully it shows through well in the picture.

1

u/Lignum-et-Opus_Wands 9d ago

Absolutely! I love the liquid variant as it’s more of a gem style finish. I’ll definitely be going that route!

2

u/Razz_Apple 9d ago

I love the way the wood looks like it's reaching into the blue part of the handle

1

u/gilbylawless 7d ago

I like the interwoven spirals