When I first started making orgonite, I struggled to find a way to keep the surface area tack-free and glossy. If you work with epoxy resin, you might not have this problem, but polyester resin retains a slightly tacky surface which softens when heated. This means that when your resin piece is cured, you might find fingerprints on it after holding it too long.
Apparently this tackiness only occurs on the surfaces exposed to air when curing, so usually plastic, glass and metal moulds aren’t such a big problem, but silicone moulds are another story. I’m assuming this is because resin shrinks while curing, and silicone is flexible enough to allow air into the mould.
Sanding and buffing
Many resin artists use sandpaper in progressively finer grits to sand down the resin, finishing by buffing it until it shines. I did try out this method for a while, but it’s a lot of work to do by hand, and I didn’t manage to get the pieces to look as shiny as they were fresh out of the mould.
Lacquer spray
Another thing that other orgonite makers have recommended is clear lacquer spray paint. I had varying measures of success with this. It’s easy to apply (just spray it) and produces good shine, but it can have long curing times. I used this for a while, but sometimes I had to wait for weeks for a piece to cure, and eventually I got fed up with it.
My solution: Bonda Seal
Finally, I emailed a few resin manufacturers to ask what product they would recommend (it’s funny how sometimes the most obvious answer only comes to us after we’ve tried everything else). One man recommended a product called Bonda Seal, which I’ve been using ever since.
Anyway, I highly recommend this to fellow resin casters and orgonite makers.
Some tips for using this varnish:
- Do it in a well-ventilated area, and/or wearing a respirator, since the fumes can damage your lungs.
- Specks of dust show up quite clearly after the varnish has dried, so if it’s important to have a glass-smooth surface, make sure there’s no dust in the brush that you use and cover the resin object while drying.
- Keep a tissue with some acetone on hand to clean up any mess and wipe the bottle after pouring.
Unfortunately this product is only sold in the UK as far as I know, but I’m sure there are equivalent products in other countries – please leave a comment if you can recommend any varnish product. As for Bonda Seal, here’s a link to buy it.
Thanks for the tip. I’m using surfboard resin which dries pretty good for the most part but sometimes it still comes out to bumpy and uneven so I tried to add small amounts to fill in the wholes and grooves but this works allot better. It helps to make the perfectionist happy. Thanks for sharing
Yes, this works to fill in small grooves (only small ones mind). Sanding them out works too.
Hi there, i am myself an orgonite maker and i always had problems with pendants taking many weeks to really harden enough not to easily leave fingerprints or marks on the surface. this doesn´t happen with bigger pieces, they harden in a day or two. i am assuming this is because the smaller the piece the less heat it creates.
Even if i put more catalyst it still takes many weeks to harden enough. i have to leave my pendants inside a box for many weeks for them to be “safe” (more than a month) until i can sand the sides and the back (by hand) in order to sell them. Recently i have double dipped some pendants that had metal sticking out of the back , so i imagine it will take even longer as it´s just a thin layer.
Yesterday I was working on one of these last pendants that I double dipped and I made a mistake and left a fingerprint and nail marks in the front of the pendant very easily. That was really frustrating after all that work and care. Well I assume they will have to stay in the box for a few more weeks.. I use silicon half sphere moulds for my pendants and when I remove them the front is crystal clear. But I have to handle them with lot of care so that they stay that way.
i was considering trying lacquer spray but you say it takes a lot to dry too so that’s not an option. That non-yellow resin varnish might be good, I use clear polyester resin so the varnish layer will have to be clear too. I would love to be able to make pendants and not have to wait all this time for the resin to harden enough. Its really frustrating, I cant imagine someone having to wait all this time in a more professional business.
Thanks in advance for all the advice you can give. God bless you
hi there, good looking pieces you have there! congratulations. i want to ask if you have ever used a food dehydrator to speed up the curing of the pieces after removing from the mold? i found some tips on the internet of people using a food dehydrator to cure the pieces faster for sanding and applying varnish. i tried and put my pendants on a food dehydrator for half an hour and to my surprise the pendants were very hot and full of little bubbles on the top 🙁 the resin was already bubbling. so much care to have a fine glass looking top and in half an hour i ruined most of my pendants. the strangest part is that these people say they leave them there for 12 hours or more and they come out even better. i suppose if i left my pendants for 12 hours they would be all melted for sure. i think i have to do some 5 or 10 minutes cycles allowing them to cold before another cycle. whats your experience? i hope to be able to disguise the little bubbles that formed with a little sanding. thanks