Hi there lovely people!
I'm new to resin casting and do not yet have a pressure pot or vacuum chamber and have been trying to figure out how to eliminate the large amount of tiny bubbles that are all over the surface of my resin pieces. Currently, I can't afford a pressure pot/vacuum chamber and was wondering if there was a possibility that I could get around buying it for now. Possibly, I made the mold incorrectly or I could be introducing moisture to the environment. I called Reynolds Advanced Materials and they said that I didn't need to buy a pressure pot and that the mold shouldn't be getting the small bubbles that it is on the surface. Reynolds suggested I leave the mold in the sun for a few hours and that the resin I had bought was too slow of a set time and that the bubbles wouldn't form if I bought a faster setting resin. Also possibly using talcum powder on the surface of the silicone. I tried casting with a hot mold and also mixing the resin in a tub of hot water, which was recommended from a video that I found on youtube. Nothing has worked.
The silicone is Rebound 25.
The resin is Smooth-Cast 321.
I'm adding a few drops of UVO green for coloring.
My mold was a brush-on with a two-part plaster mother mold on top of it
Here is a link to my a picture on my instagram of the casting with bubbles:
I'm contemplating finding a resin-casting artist in Los Angeles that I could intern for in exchange for having access to using their vacuum pump and pressure pot.
Thank you so much for reading and have a wonderful day!