Musings on UV Resins and Polymer Clay- for comparison shoppers

 Over the past 4 months I have been experimenting with UV resins. I am covering a variety of materials including polymer clay and porous botanical items so my issues with bubbles may be more frequent than other users. All of these products were purchased from US sources and shipping costs have not been factored in the the price- if you are in Canada or another country outside of the US I advise you check on shipping costs prior to confirming your purchase as costs can often come close to the price of the item itself. I am in search of a Canadian supplier of products in larger quantities- especially one that can offer wholesale!

After reading this blog I recommend you pay a visit to Cindy Leitz's site where there is an outstanding discussion on resin that goes far beyond my musings here! My fellow west coaster and very good friend Tina Holden also has excellent observations about resin on her incredible  blog.

Magic Glos- by Lisa Pavelka

Retail price on company website 1 oz $9.50 US /6 oz $50.00 US unit price- $8.33/oz

Wholesale source- desperately searching

Magic Glos was the first resin I worked with so I went though the "resin learning curve" with this one. I wasted a lot of my first bottle with trial and error but by bottle number two  I had very little waste.

The product comes in a plastic bottle with a flip cap top that can be used for controlled pours. It domes very well and bubbles dissipate instantly with an embossing gun. It is quite thick so there are fewer spills when the items go into the UV oven. The product cures within 30 minutes. 

I have a problem with the Pavelka oven design oven though- it's frustrating to get a beautiful dome on a piece and then lift it up and ever so gingerly slide it into the oven only to see a flood of resin spill off the piece. Spills are inevitable and clearing the hardened resin off the oven floor is tedious. I recommend that you make your piece on a little glass tray then place the tray in the oven.

Ultradome

Purchase on the Ultradome website -2 oz $12 12.00 8 oz $30.95 unit price approx $3.86 

Bulk purchase available but shipping a large item such as this incurs high freight costs for cross border purchasers.

Ultradome was the second resin I tried. There is a screw on cap so the  the first thing I had to do was go to Industrial Plastic to purchase a nozzle cap. The Ultradome website offers their product in in convenient kits and you can order separate caps and lids and all sorts of wonderful supplies. If you order UltraDome I suggest you request an appropriate cap. When I began working with the product it domed nicely but when I used the embossing gun to get rid of the bubbles the surface tension collapsed and the the resin flooded. I always read instructions after I begin working and the instruction sheet advised me that a butane torch was the tool for getting rid of the foamy bubbles so I headed to the Hardware sore and got a little torch for $20. (The UltraDome website offers mini torches. The torch worked well but many passes were required Ultradome is a bit on the runny side and found myself having to mop up many spills during the critical moments when the domed item is placed in the oven. I found that letting the piece sit for 30 minutes before putting it in the oven address the issue of "latent bubbles" those pesky little buggles that make an appearance during the curing process.

Curing time for Ultradome is very good- it's done within 30 minutes or less.

Ultradome has a genius oven design that addresses the balancing act of placing items in the oven. Their oven has an open bottom so you can set up your pieces, leave them in place and position the oven on top of the items the way you put a lid over a pot- here's a movie of the process. http://www.ultradome.com/UDMini.mov The ovens are $175 US though so I'm going to try to make one myself. Another oven option is on UltraDome's sister site that has a focus on resin jewelery which offers a smaller and more affordable oven with a glass slide in tray.

UPDATE- I have continued working with UltraDome - I invested in a 2 oz dispenser and Luer Lok tips and it's a fantastic combo! Latent buggles no longer an issue!

Gel du Soeil by Judikins

Retail on Judikins website 9ml 8.00 ( .30 oz) unit price $26/oz

US wholesalers available- check your suppliers.

 Luckily I have a wholesale supplier for testing this one! Retail $8 for 9ml is pretty steep and if you do the metric conversion math, that's $26 per ounce!. You can get marginally better prices on eBay. This resin is the most expensive of the three. My 4 oz bottle of Gel du Soleil came with a flip lid with a pouring cap and a list of health and safety warnings. The resin has the same level of runny-ness as UltraDome but is less foamy when it's poured. Bubbles dissipate with the embossing gun or torch. Gel du Soleil takes considerably longer to cure than Magic Glos or Ultradome. When covering 3d mixed media inclusions It seems to lack the self leveling properties of the other two resins and seems to shrink somewhat and cures with a rippled surface. Second coats worked for achieving a smooth dome but with two pieces involving fabric the resin warped and buckled out of the setting.

Judikins has a UV oven with a design similar to the Lisa Pavelka line.

Resinable Suggestions- little things that are useful to know

if you don't have one, invest in a magnifying glass to catch those pesky buggles.

If resin gets on your clothes put a squirt of dish washing liquid directly on the splotch- leave for an hour then put in the washing machine on cold with laundry detergent.

Cleaning up your settings- dip the completed piece in Tarn-X- it shines the metal, loosens up any little spilovers and doesn't affect the resin.