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vintageaerith — Tutorial: Cosplay Jewel-Making
Published: 2009-03-23 23:31:33 +0000 UTC; Views: 162881; Favourites: 4786; Downloads: 2621
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Description
Painless, and hopefully profitable for the cosplay crowd out there. I have to cast a large quantity of half-dollar sized dome jewels for Nia, and the experience has been kinda fun, so I thought I'd share it with you all. ^^Thanks to HCC Cosplay for inspiring/instructing me to make them, though I found my own method, which is what this tutorial illustrates.
Aaaand thanks to ~spiked-stock , who pointed me in the direction of that site AND is keeping me sane while I make my Nia costume. x3 And is the best sewing teacher ever--I crashed her room for five hours the other night to make my skirt.
Hope this is helpful! Post if you have any questions!
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Comments: 472
You're welcome! I hope it's helpful~
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Now I know that I need to find some mold release. No wonder I can't it them out of the molds without breaking and sanding off or distorting the mold to peel them off. Maybe I can finally use my molds twice! (by the way, have you had problems with the backs of your jewels never drying? I've left some of them for months and they're still sticky!)
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Hm, I only had the sticky problem if I used an unequal proportion of resin and hardener...it turned to like, taffy consistency and I had to masking-tape over the two jewels I poured with that mix, they never hardened enough to get out of the mold. =_= I'd say, if you're still eyeballing measurements, maybe it's time to start measuring them more carefully to avoid that problem...I've had to start doing that. xD And I hope the mold release works! You shouldn't ever have to only use a mold once!
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Very simple and wonderful tutorial! Can't wait to make some jewelery now! <3
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Thank you! I hope you get good results.
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what a great tutorial! i think i may try this with a pendant i need to make :3 thank you for posting this!!
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You're very welcome! Let me know how it goes~
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this is so unique!!!
i'll definitely try it!!!
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Hehe, let me know how it turns out!
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Thank you so much for this! I had read the HHC tutorial, but I was worried that Epoxy wouldn't turn out as good because they said they preferred the Taps brand.
I'm going to make resin gems for a Raven from Teen Titans costume and this is going to help so much!
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I'm so glad it'll be helpful for your cosplay! Please let me know how they turn out~
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I'll be sure to. :]
Also a quick question, about how much did the supplies (not counting the plastic cups and spoons) cost?
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Oh, I think the EasyCast cost like $10ish? Palettes were $1 or $2 at most, dyes were kinda overpriced (dun remember how much they were but I didn't even end up using them, I used oil paints), spray was $3ish. But that covered ALL the jewels I needed~
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Awesome, thank you.
Also, you're beautiful.
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You're welcome! And uwahhh, thank you ;~;
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^^
Okay so I just put mine in the mold. I put in several drops of red dye and they still look pink. Are they going to get darker as they harden?
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'Pink' is a result of putting red in a clear resin, since the majority of the jewel is still transparent (since pink's just a less saturated/lighter red). You're probably going to want to add dye until it looks truly red, which may mean going a little darker/more opaque. You may want to try adding a smidge of yellow, too, so that the color gets "warmer" instead of "cooler", taking away from the pink illusion.
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Well rats. They're already about 3 hours in.
Oh well, I'll try again tomorrow. But thanks
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Sorry for the confusion! I hope you can make do with what you have, too. Try painting the back of the jewels a true red so you don't waste them!
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I wanted to thank you again for this tutorial! I've made dozens of jewels and my costume looks so much better for it. In the next month or so I should have some pictures
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Of course! I'm so happy it's been helpful. 
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Oh thanks.. This tut is so helpful! 
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Thank you so much! This tutorial is definitely going to help me A LOT.
Just a couple of things- if you need jewels that have corners and flat surfaces (to make it look like a cut diamond, for example), is it possible to find molds like that that work? If not, is it possible to sand the resin down without totally destroying the jewel or its shine?
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No problem! I'm so happy it'll help you out. Definitely send me results so I can post some!
I actually had to cut one of my jewels (the green one as the base of my necktie) into a hexagonal shape--it didn't create the look of a cut diamond, like you said, but it did create a three-dimensional jewel, slightly rounded, in the geometric shape I needed. You can cut them with scissors while they're still sort of rubbery (but dry). As for sanding...I have not tried it personally, myself, mostly because I didn't cast anything deep enough to really have surface area enough to sand. If you have a really deep mold (make sure it doesn't have those corners), try making a really deep/thick jewel to test on. And YES, there are definitely molds by Castin' Craft that are in various jewel shapes! They'll pop out because of how they were designed. I am just reinforcing that you can't use, for instance, paint palettes with deep corners or edges--they simply won't come out because they're not flexible enough.
Hope that helps!
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Of course! I'd be happy to!
Hmm... Okay. This makes sense! I may have to try a couple of times to cut them while they're rubbery, that seems like the easiest thing to do.
Oh, okay- so no paint palettes with corners. Specific molds are okay. Got it. I got a bit confused over that.
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Oooh, this is really useful! I've been wanting to work with Resin for a while now. Thanks!
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Hehe, you're very welcome! Glad it'll be of use to you. Let me know how it turns out! I'd love to post some user results.
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Have you found any other paints than oil or resin specific that worked?
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Actually, ~kagomeyasha claims she used watercolor, following my tutorial! She was doing a very light color, though. Also, =Perzypoo told me food coloring worked well. I'd suggest making more than you need and doing a test first, with whatever you happen to try~ Let me know how it goes!
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Ah! Food colouring i have, and thank you i will
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This is really interesting! I had never thought to cast into things like that - my molds that I wind up making are never smooth enough to get that real shine to the resin! Thank you for making this tutorial
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Thank you so much! I can't take credit for that particular idea, I got the palette bit from the tutorial link I referenced in the image itself and in the description. Great thought, isn't it? And you can buy as many of those things as you need for super-cheap. ^_^ I just came up with an easier solution than using real resin/catalyst and expensive, hard-to-find dye, and overall an easier tutorial to follow for beginners.
I hope this helps you! I browsed through your gallery and you are VERY talented, I absolutely love your cosplay work! Thanks so much for the fave, too!
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Awesome. This was just the tutorial I needed!
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That was my hope! Please let me know how your jewels turn out, I'd love to see results! ^_^
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wow this is so helpful!
thankyou!
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You are veeeery welcome~! <3
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this would be awsome for a seth (trinity blood) cosplay
p.s. How old are you in the pics? you look 12!
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Lol, I'm 20 years old. xD I have a tiny bit of a baby-face, but it might just be these pics. I look my age in my cosplay deviations, I think. LOL
Yeah, Trinity Blood definitely has a lot of jewels in its character design. ^_^
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hell yeah!
Esther could do with some though...
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You're welcome!
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this is really helpful,
although i have a question
if something were to go inside
the resin, would i have to make
two layers of resin?
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As in, if you embedded something in the resin? You'd just need to make sure it's completely enclosed (like, you pour some resin, you put the object in, and then you top it off and make sure it's COMPLETELY encased inside).
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oh okay!
it won't sink to the
bottom right?
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