A "Leftover" Stopper

Bill Arnold

1974
Staff member
Messages
8,622
Location
Thomasville, GA
Over the past three months or so, I've been learning more about casting resin to make acrylic items. In the process, I had small quantities of dyed resin left after completing a pour to make pen blanks. I kept a couple of larger forms handy and poured the leftover resin into them until the mass was large enough to use. This is what I ended up with for one blank. It started with some red that I really wasn't pleased with, so I dumped it into a form. Next was some excess pearl white and antique bronze. Following that was some blue with a little white. The top layer is some antique gold and blue.

Leftover_StprCrkscr_1a.jpg
The bottom red layer is kinda translucent, so you can see a bit of the mechanism. I'll hit the internal shiny stuff with some flat black before doing a permanent glue up to hold it together.


This is a stopper/corkscrew combination.
Leftover_StprCrkscr_1b.jpg


The corkscrew part of the assembly would normally stand above the stopper portion. I hollowed out the center part of the bottom area of the acrylic to conceal the flange of the corkscrew.
Leftover_StprCrkscr_1c.jpg

C&C welcome.
 
Clever...and useful. This is kinda like Glenn's coasters. Little bit of this and little bit of that and pretty soon ya got something really nice:)
 
That's how you do it! I have a couple of votive candle molds used for leftovers. I always make a little more resin than needed for pen pours and viola!! This one a a lot of nice character.
 
Neat idea, Bill. :thumb: What polishing method are you using?

I use wet sandpaper in 220, 320 and 400 grits. Then switch to wet acrylic finishing pads in 600, 800, 1500, 2400, 4000 and 12,000 grits. Next is a two-step buffing - first wheel is with blue rouge - second is plain cotton. After assembly, I rub on a little renaissance wax and buff with a soft cloth.
 
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I use wet sandpaper in 220, 320 and 400 grits. Then switch to wet acrylic finishing pads in 600, 800, 1500, 2400, 4000 and 12,000 grits. Next is a two-step buffing - first wheel is with blue rouge - second is plain cotton. After assembly, I rub on a little renaissance wax and buff with a soft cloth.
600, 800, 1500, 2400, 4000 and 12,000

600, 800, 1500, 2400, 4000 and 12,000

Looks like a good progression of abrasives. :thumb: For some reason, the stopper doesn't look as glossy in the photo as I'd think it would with that finishing regimen. I'd expect the acrylic to be about as shiny as the chrome parts. :huh:
 
Looks like a good progression of abrasives. :thumb: For some reason, the stopper doesn't look as glossy in the photo as I'd think it would with that finishing regimen. I'd expect the acrylic to be about as shiny as the chrome parts. :huh:

The acrylic looks plenty shiny in person. Maybe I need to try some different light angles in my photo setup. All of the light goes through fabric on the sides and top, so it's very diffused.
 
Bill I'm starting to really like them cast pieces. Still havn't made one of these bottle stoppers, even though Jim B sent me some to try out.:eek:

Learning to mix the resin, wait until the right time, then pour and blend different colors, and finally turn something has been quite a change from all the flatwork I've done. But, I was ready for a new challenge!

The bottle stoppers have been interesting to turn because they can be so free-form. I've practiced with different lathe tools and made lots of mistakes, which led to "design changes", but that's part of the fun! (...at least that's what I keep telling myself...)
 
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