InLace / InLay

[sgimbel]

Instead of making your own frit you can order frit on the web or get it at any stained glass store. It's meant to be melted, takes a kiln at 1300 degrees, but for what you are doing it would be perfect. It comes in course to ultra fine grinding and it's available in a ton of colors. It's sold in 1 lb jars, that's a lot of frit, and prices vary from about $6 to $12 a jar. depends on the color, Reds are mucj more expensice. I do stained glass I work with frit all the time.

[Neal Moore]

What if you used a clean pane of glass instead of waxed paper?? I don't know if the resin mix would bond with the glass as the surface isn't very porous. That would give you a shiny surface on both sides....unless you can't get the glass to come free.

[workin for wood]

Sorry...I had to run to work this morning.

CSUSA which is craft supply USA, sells inlace. It's available in some solid colors or a clear. They also sell the coloring powders and metals for metalic effects. Comes in a can like a small pint of paint. You measure it out and add a few drops of catalyst, the catalyst does not have to be exact, less is better than more. Dries hard, doesn't hardly shrink if at all, dries fast, can be thickened or thinned. Not what I would recommend for large openings, but good for small. Perfect to fill a scroll saw blade cut up in wood up to 1/4 inch thick, but would need be smashed in from both sides. It's a good product, the workable time is very short though.
pic 1 is inlace from CSUSA

Micheals casting resin...your imagination is the only limitation for this stuff. You can just pour it in a cup of sugar and it'll turn into a solid plastic chunk of sugar. You would require pressure in that situation. It's used for casting of course. Pressure comes from building a pressure pot, which is typical in pen making. Air pressure is used to force the resin to push through the sugar so the sugar is totally encapsulated rather than the resin just sitting on top of the sugar. To fill holes like yours, pressure isn't necessary. You can simply mix your resin and colors and pour it in. You can end up with a few air bubbles sometimes, this is the reason pen makers always use the pressure pot. Using a cabinet scraper, you can scrape the resin, when cured of course, down to being level. You would not power sand it as you will just clog your paper and end up with streaks across the surface from melting plastic caused by heat of the sander. Once the surface is flat, you wet sand it. It's plastic, all plastics are wet sanded. The higher the grit, the more it shines. MM pads go to 12000, then you can switch to plastic polish and then automotive polish after that., but I would skip the polishes. After wet sand to 12000, let project dry a couple days, then spray it out with a polyurethane.

If you encounter a bubble or two, simply pour some CA glue into the bubbles to fill them level, and they'll disappear.
pic two is casting resin with blue and red dye over metallic blue nail polish. You notice, it's wood and it's resin all in one, and it's an awesome effect.

[workin for wood]

I don't know Neal, maybe glass would work fine, although you'll still have to sand the bottom. You have to weight the piece down into the liquid and have to pour a bit more than you actually want in, so you have excesses to remove off the top. Can get some seepage under the wood still between the wood and the glass, and of course you have to make a frame to pour it all into which means you need a piece of glass the same size as the picture you make, which you probably don't have just lying around, but maybe you do. I just cut a small piece of scrap plywood and make a frame around that with glue so nothing can escape. No nails, just all glue. The frame and bottom are trimmed off later using bandsaw and or tablesaw. Casting resin is very sticky too, so it might actually stick to glass once cured, wouldn't surprise me. I line my little framed box with wax paper in hopes to re-use the frame, but usually some resin manages to leak through and I have to cut everything to get it apart. See, I build these little frames and I glue random pieces of scrap woods from intarsia projects onto the bottom of the frame. After I have several of these made up, then I pour them with resin and end up with a new piece of wood. It's mystery plastic wood that would otherwise just be in the fire pit. Useless for most things, but makes for great pens.

[USMC1126]

I tried something similar, it was called envirotex lite, its a 2 part mixture that hardens clear and glossy. You can add paint in with it when you mix it and if you put your piece in a metal baking pan, once it dries it will pop right out. I got it at michaels or ac moore I cant remember, but both sides are clear and glossy.

King

[Neal Moore]

Jeff...That's a great way to make use of those scraps from expensive exotic wood. That's almost 100% recovery!!

[Scroll'ng Dave]

Hey Jeff, thanks for turning me on to CSUSA... I've actually been there before, some years back but I wasn't looking for InLace at the time. I bought a bottle of CLEAR; with fingers crossd it'll give me what I'm looking for when it comes in! You mentioned some kind of pad to sand it with, 1200 grit - you called it a "MM pad". Whats' that stand for? Is it a Scotch or 3M brand? I too like the idea for using up the exotic scraps! Got a picture of the finished product?

Dave

Also, which section of Michaels do I find the resin?

[Scroll'ng Dave]

King, I looked up the 'Envirotex Lite', this is the same as Sytem3 - just as expensive too! I might give this stuff a dry though cause like I was saying, if the System3 mix is not exactly right; it just won't cure. A little too finikey for my liking. Thanks for the idea!

Dave