I went to my kitchen for breakfast one day, and when I tip my box of corn flakes over, lo and behold, out pops a giant corn flake. Instead of risking my girlfriend’s e-bay reputation, I think I’m going to encase it in clear acryllic, and keep it as a paperweight or something.
Is this possible and/or affordable? Where could I have something like that done? Also, does it involve some sort of extreme heat, which would do something bad to the corn flake?
Possible yes, affordable maybe, right at home, no heat is needed.
There are liquid acrylic resins used for just this type of thing. Two liquids, one of which is usually a catalyst, which you mix and pour into a mold.
Here’s a supplier in the state of Texas, where I live. Just google the product you like, you can probably find it elsewhere just as easily: http://www.sunbeltmaterials.com
For this I’d use a small bowl, spray it with the releasing agent (very important), mix up the stuff and pour it in. The problem here is bubbles, which you WILL get when you mix the stuff.
The big boys use vacuum chambers, or customized machinery to achieve the same purpose. That can be very expensive.
Rapid vibration can help remove some if not all of the bubbles, and pre-painting the resin onto the flake can help with some more, but unless you use vacuum I think you’ll still have some.
Still, that’s a mighty big cornflake ya got there. It should be saved for your grandchildren.
“When I was a kid, cornflakes grew as big as your head!”
“What’s a cornflake?”
That’s not a big cornflake… it’s well below the threshold to categorise it as a nacho chip…
As a teenager, I used to make these with leftover fiberglass resin when I was repairing my surfboard. You just mix the stuff up, put half in a dixe cup, put your item in, then pour the other half in. After it’s dry, tear off the cup and buff it with fine sandpaper and steel wool.
They were cool christmas presents to make when I had no money.
You can make a decent vacuum chamber from a refrigerator (or better still, an air conditioner) compressor, a length of automotive vacuum hose, a piece of copper tubing, some hose clamps and a large jar. Punch a hole in the lid of the jar and fit the piece of copper tubing through it, and apply a gob of silicone RTV to seal it. Clamp one end of the hose to it, and the other end to the inlet of the compressor. Put your item in the jar, screw the lid on, and turn the compressor on. A good compressor can pull between 25 and 27 inches of vacuum, good enough for degassing purposes.
I should have mentioned that I never had the bubble issues mentioned by others. Allthough I can see how that’s possible, and maybe even likely with something as coarse as a cornflake. I suspect Phnord Prephect’s suggestion to pre-paint it first will make everything good.
Obviously, you’re wise to do a prototype first with a more pedestrian grade corn-flake to try this all out. Kindof a bummer to encase your Guiness quality item and have it wrecked.
Also beware:
Too much hardener, and the polyester block becomes extremely hot and sometimes cracks (and often will peel loose from the embedded object, turning it silvery.)
Too little hardener, and the surface of the block remains forever tacky.
Don’t mix the polyester in a wax-coated cup. You’re bound to scrape up lots of wax shavings when stirring.
Search on polyester resin casting:
http://www.google.com/search?q=polyester+%2B"resin+casting"
I don’t have anything to add. I just had to stop in and say hi.
Well as strange as it seems, I have to cast acrylic stuff all the time for work. I’ve also done several ‘experiments’ embedding stuff to make paperweights and keepsakes. So let me lay a couple of years of trial and error wisdom on you. First, experiment on some run of the mill cornflakes until you get the hang of what you’re doing. The first thing you’ll need is the acrylic. You’ll need the resin, catalyst, and the surface curing agent. Michaels art/hobby stores carries most of this stuff, but if you have trouble finding it locally you can order it from here;
http://www.creative-wholesale.com/casting%20resin.html
And this is the website for the company that makes the acrylic I use. There are some good how-to pages.
http://www.eti-usa.com/index.html
The most important thing is to have a mold with a really smooth finish. The smoother the finish in the mold, the smoother the finish on the cast piece. I don’t recommend trying to sand or buff the cast piece – it is extremely hard to get a good finish that way. Best to use a good mold to begin with. Don’t use the molds they that ETI sells, they aren’t any good. Go buy a new piece of tupperware or some other plastic food storage bowl that is the size you want. The inside should be really smooth to the touch like running your finger over glass. And try to find one without a big burr in the bottom from where it was made.
You don’t need a vacuum chamber to use this product. When you get the proportions of resin and catalyst correct there is a chemical (?) reaction that drives the air bubbles out of the acrylic as it cures. The hardest place to get rid of bubbles is on whatever you embed - like a cornflake. Definitely practice ‘painting’ some of the acrylic on the flake to reduce this.
Remember try this on some average cornflakes first. They may get “wet” in the acrylic and look like crap. If that is the case you can buy a product called Ultra-Seal that you apply to them first so the acrylic won’t soak in while it is curing.
It sounds like what you are going to do is have the flake “floating” in the acrylic. This will require casting in multiple layers. This is slightly more advanced and requires a little practice. Go ahead and spend the money to buy some ‘surface curing agent’ and add some to your final layer. This stuff keeps the bottom of the piece (the top layer when you are pouring) from being tacky. But it also makes the acrylic a little cloudy in the process, so don’t use it in a layer where you want good visibility.
Lastly, this stuff stinks while it cures – I don’t mean smells bad, I mean you can feel brain cells dying off stink. I do my pours when I can then leave the area for several hours. Sticking around in the fumes will give you a major headache. Hope this helps. Good luck. Email me if you have any more questions.
Rainy
