How To Gold Leaf a Resin Casting

Are you looking to learn how to combine your passion for gold leaf with resin casting? What is gold leaf resin casting, and how do you go about it?

Well, that is precisely what we will be exploring today, showing you a recipe for making some nifty resin coasters loaded with delectable gold flakes.

What You Will Need

Before you proceed, make sure you have the following:

• Clear cast resin
• Petri dish silicon mold
• Gold leaf sheets
• Tweezers
• Toothpick(s)
• Opaque resin dye

Make sure you are working in a well-ventilated area, covering your work surface and wearing gloves and a mask to avoid upset.

Step 1

The first step in gold leaf resin casting is mixing up a clear resin batch. In most any resin project, you will want to do this in a 1-to-1 ratio. Most resin kits come with 2 parts, so follow the specific instructions included in your own resin kit.

A good rule of thumb is to let the resin sit for a little while on its own so that the bubbles that form during the mixing process can make their way out at their own behest.

Step 2

Pour this clear resin into one of the petri dish molds to about the halfway mark, pouring more clear resin into the other molds and letting them sit so they too can rid themselves of stray air bubbles.

Step 3

While the resin has not yet dried, add some of the gold leaf to the dormant mixture. Since gold leaf can be incredibly fragile, you are going to want to be as careful as possible.

Thankfully, this is where the tweezers come to the rescue. Use the tweezers, then, to break off small pieces of the metallic leaf. Then, drop these pieces of the gold leaf into the clear epoxy resin that you have sitting dormant and awaiting the gold – in much the same way as with gold flakes in food.

This part of the process is yours to own and make as creative as possible. Some prefer to avoid using any geometric or symmetrical shapes, whereas some prefer this entirely.

Step 4

To achieve some semblance of layering so that the resin coaster will eventually seem 3-dimensional, you can use a toothpick to push down some of the gold flakes. Some projects will warrant this more than others, so, before you go out and purchase toothpicks and paint, think about the specific needs of the task at hand.

Again, this part of the process is completely down to you. Perhaps you will not even desire a 3-dimensional look of this kind, preferring sharper edges of glitter in the post-process, in which case you will have saved yourself some money on supplies.

Be gentle with the movement of the toothpick or pin, for even the smallest movements can have grave consequences. In particular, such grave movements can create more god-forsaken bubbles in the setting part of the process.

Once you are satisfied with the appearance, it is time to let the gold leaf and resin sit and fully cure on their own.

Step 5

Now you are going to want to repeat the mixing process, only this time you will add an opaque dye of some kind. This can be any color you choose, though it is especially effective when you use a white opaque dye.

The process will indeed be almost exactly the same as above, except you will add just a few drops of opaque dye at a time as you are mixing it all together.

Keep following these steps until you achieve the exact hue that you desire. If you are planning on mixing colors together to get a more unique tone as in pictures, then you might be at this for a little longer. If, however, you are simply using a white dye, then it should not take too long to get the desired effect.

Step 6

So, once you have got your desired color, pour the resulting resin into the previous batch of resin that was clear and loaded with gold flakes.

Allow this resulting mixture to sit for at least 24 hours so that it can properly cure and harden up against the elements. Some resin enthusiasts might suggest that you can leave it for a shorter time, though if you are going to fill anything with resin you should be prepared to leave it be for a while.

The act of hardening into resin is a spiritually permanent process, so leaving the resin to do its thing for such a long time allows you to think about the permanence of both this decision and of others in the real world.

Step 7

Once you have left the resin to dry and cure for a sufficient amount of time, you can pop the entire block out of the mold. You should be more or less instantly satisfied with the creation and, if you followed the instructions correctly, there should be a distinct divide between the opaque white resin and clear resin. Thus, the gold flecks should appear suspended in the air, like gold flakes in a drink.

If you are not entirely satisfied, then do not hesitate to give the resin a rubdown with some fine-grain sandpaper to smooth out some of the hard edges of the molding process.

Final Words

So, there you have it! Hopefully, this recipe has been of some use to you in understanding gold leaf resin casting for yourself.

FAQs Gold Leaf Resin Casting