DIY Fantasy POTION Made from Leftover Epoxy!

AD: World of Tanks: tanks.ly/37blbWA Use code: TANKTASTIC for a T-127 Tank, 500 Gold 7 days premium access.
Patreon: / nerdforge
MERCH: nerdforge.store
This is the day it happens. The day I decided to take all my forsaken epoxy resin garbage and take it on the ulimate journey of turning them into epoxy potions. This quest will not be an easy one! Brace yourself for an epic journey through dust, tears and sandpaper! How will this epoxy-glazed tale end?
MATERIALS:
Epoxy
TOOLS:
Sandpaper
FOLLOW:
Instagram - / thenerdforge
Discord - discord.io/ner...
Facebook - / nerdforge
Twitter - / thenerdforge
Website - www.thenerdfor...
BUSINESS CONTACT: [e-mail]

[@Nerdforge]

Ideas for what else we can use leftover epoxy for?! Also if you're interested in dat merch, here's the shameless plug (helps us making vids and helps you with clothing!) : teespring.com/stores/nerdforge

[@mellytempest]

You should totally do something related to gems or precious stones! Maybe a sort-of treasure chest lamp where, upon opening it, the epoxy gems glow an unearthly shine?

[@danaondrackova3431]

A light source? If you drill a hole in it and put some light in it, maybe cover the whole coloured epoxy in gold or silver wires or in some twine, it could look like a hanging fairy light

[@Moonlight-tr7jv]

Glowing gem necklaces!

[@danaondrackova3431]

@@Moonlight-tr7jv Or a head piece!

[@Moonlight-tr7jv]

@@danaondrackova3431 yessss!!!

[@dragonshadow1902]

"I don't have the tools." "I don't have the skills to do this." "Which makes me think, let's do this!" If only more people thought this way.

[@jf_kein_k8590]

There are, these people are usually called politicians.^^

[@chelseascreatures]

I vote this as the new shirt design.

[@saraangel6696]

far too many politicians do this already :(

[@beatrixthegreat1138]

A lot us probably used to but where beaten down too much by others.

[@kilimlicenciada5946]

Trump thinks like that

[@Miguel_morales99]

Little tip when casting something in resin that doesn't involve silicone. Always spray your mold with some form of mold release agent, that way whatever you're casting won't stick. Great build as always also 👍

[@mixiekins]

I've heard Vaseline (petroleum jelly) is a fantastic and cheap mold release. 🙂

[@aallen1350]

Most plastic won't stick (like 2L soda bottles, plastic sheets used for signs, tubberware depending on the shape, ect) or if you use the foam core board, cardboard, or wood you can use a layer or two of packaging tape/ clear tape to laminate the surface and make it absorption resistant :)

[@0cujo0]

Also paste wax will work too

[@cmdraftbrn]

parchment paper according to evan&katelyn. and they are currently the resident youtube epoxy addicts. dont know if epoxy can be flame polished like acrylic can.

[@freyjaandersdottir3311]

A heat gun can also help, depending on what material you used to make the mold.

[@katelyn-marie-918]

Me: **watches nerdforge to see the creations and thinking about doing them** Also me: I’d probably sand my fingers off.

[@GreatSmithanon]

True story, I sanded the pads off of several fingers in high school welding class because I wasn't paying attention. I felt a brief burning sensation and then realized I had sanded off part of my fingerprint. Healed after a few months, but still, mildly disconcerting.

[@anastasiasholeinthehollerc8697]

@@GreatSmithanon oh my goodness, did they grow back, probably not? Just picturing this makes my skin crawl, you poor thing.

[@Imurai]

Well... Martina DOESN'T have her left pinky, sooo...

[@dawnplayer1018]

Honestly same i would too... im so clumsy i brused my food on a basket then kept hitting my bruse with my ankle

[@EthalaRide]

You should talk to Evan and Katelyn (their channel is literally EvanAndKatelyn) they are the Resin gurus basically. They do everything under the sun when it comes to resin and resin-like crafts.

[@Nerdforge]

EvanAndKatelyn's arcane resin powers are unknown to nobody ;)

[@EthalaRide]

@@Nerdforge Also that book shirt reminds me of a character from the D&D livestream show Critical Role (Caleb Widogast, the Fantasy!German Wizard) and I know he would totally wear that shirt on the show. He has actual book holsters. *BOOK. HOLSTERS.*

[@NatalieWestgate]

Resin time, resin time, do do do do resin time!

[@DMonZ1988]

The only thing evanandkaitlyn haven"t tried is drinking resin and shutting up as long as it takes 1minute epoxy to cure. I'd love to see both.

[@sean3278]

Peter brown also does a lot of resin based stuff

[@heatherdee8043]

I think if you had left the "potion" as an orb and just faceted the (thicker) "bottle" layer, the effect may have been more what you were after....plus you wouldn't have had to try matching the shapes! I'd love to see you take another crack at this 💗

[@heatherdee8043]

I've totally seen faceted bottles where the interior area is a different shape.

[@EchoEckoEkho]

That's an amazing first effort! And I think the the layer of transparent epoxy over the colored is still made a really cool effect, even if it's not what you were going for. It makes me think of an irl version of a stylized video game potion.

[@mikehyde3404]

Just love her positive vibe and energy

[@benmurray7163]

Regardless of how successful or unsuccessful this project was, you still make an absolutely awesome and very funny piece of content. That's a two for one, right there!

[@fluffykitty6349]

Always use protection kids. Me alwaying forgetting to use my mask. But remembers to use my face shield keep up the amazing work xoxo

[@PriceTheAvocadoKing]

Me reading this 9 months later when masks and face shields now have a totally different meaning :)

[@SugarBearCreations]

sometimes sanding and polish just doesn't give that gloss look we crave. I literally buy some expendable brushes and add a coat of epoxy on top to get that sexy shine!

[@harmony331000]

Solar's Adventures yup that’s what I do as well

[@forgotn42]

1:38 That's something Michael Cthulu does a lot. I think being able to use the wrong tool to get the job done right is a sign of a good maker.

[@paulusthegrey]

"Duct tape is like the Force, it has a light side and a dark side and binds the Universe together". Not original bt true!

[@Murrfle]

A tip for sanding epoxy: keep the sanding and polishing papers on a flat, firm surface. For small projects I usually just pop the glass out of a picture frame and place my sheets on there, then more to project's flat surfaces over it in circles or figure eights so the sides come out as flat at possible. Also, I don't know if you can get them where you are, but look in to Zona Polishing Papers. They're wet/dry and VERY good for polishing resin and sharpening craft knives and chisels once you get past about 300 grit sandpaper. The ones I've got came in a pack of 6, with a range from 30 microns to 1 micron.

[@DankaDoctor185]

Potion Seller, I require your strongest potion. You're not strong enough for my strongest potion.

[@IHateNumbersOnNames]

*POTION SELLER. I SAID I AM GOING INTO BATTLE.* *AND I NEED ONLY YOUR STRONGEST POTIONS.*

[@archiva1112]

"Potion seller": *loud sigh* Here's your coffee. Cash or credit?

[@riuphane]

First off, AMAZING job, and great idea! Having very limited experience here, I'm mostly talking based on theory and what I've seen from others (positive couple, stone coat, nick z, and a hand full of others that I watch, plus my own work), I think you've got the right idea, just a little more fine tuning. Perhaps being a bit more precise about your angles and dimensions will make it easier to figure out how much to take off. Also, if you wet the surface, it might be easier to see through the scratched up surface so you can tell how much material you have. If you have a thicker layer of the "glass" on the outside, it might be more obvious. As for the accents, I think they were perfect! I know you feel they looked really fake, but I thought it made it look more fantasy personally. And for the materials, corrugated plastic is probably the closest to what you're using but with a little easier release. Also, as mentioned in other posts, some sort of release agent (spray wax is my recommendation) will make demoulding (sp?) much easier... Hope that helps, and again, this is awesome and I can't wait to see more like this from you! Fight the good fight!

[@samanthawall1178]

Use Vaseline as a mold release it’s what we used at school when we were using resin and epoxy

[@ShaniTheBurningTree]

That’s what I was thinking. Thinking of ideas. Just been doing acrylics lately may try this.

[@Littlewings1211]

You can also get mould release sprays now that are easier/less messy than something like vaseline.

[@Loki-pz1uk]

You also can use wd-40 apparently

[@charliefawn2519]

I have sudden extreme excitement at finding this channel. It's perfectly exactly what a fantasy nerd would love. What an artist!

[@itskitty808]

I love how resourceful you are. You always improvise when ever you don't have what you need. I respect that. Most people would just complain about not having what they need and end up not doing their projects because of it. But not you. You're like "oh well! I can always make a makeshift belt sander!"

[@GreatSmithanon]

next time try putting a couple of LEDs in the cork pointing down to give the "potion" a glowy, sparkly effect.

[@thornlilyn6888]

Nerdforge, I'm not sure if you'll see this but, one do you just have a room where you keep all your magic like items? like a little place you can just run to when ever you want to hide from the world? also what about a dragon egg for the left over epoxy? it doesn't have to be very big and it wont take to long. another idea is like navy the fairy from legend of Zelda. or a crystal masquerade mask? idk but the last thing I can think of is an elemental crystal, rune, thing..... XD idk although I love how the potion looks. its like the ocean.

[@WolfAgelKirst]

I have completely zero experience with epoxy 🙈 ... But I really like the vids you make ... and your energy, what an incredible positive vibe you give! I'm already looking forward for your next video.

[@jamfx7942]

I think keeping the inner "liquid" in the circle shape and the haveing the hexagon pattern on the outside would also help differentiate the 2 layers of epoxy.

[@LittleLuckyLotus]

So I made these resin aquarium scape brick things (with painted plastic fish and plants inside, super cute) But when it came to polishing I found those car headlights kits, where you attach sanding pads (500,800, 3000 grit, i think) to the end of a regular drill. It was incredibly how easy it was, it was like $20-25 and had multiple sanding pads and it came with a polishing gel that I could put on at the end. 100% my go to product for cleaning up resin projects

[@SargeWolf010]

For a 1st attempt at making a bottle not of glass I'm impressed

[@SargeWolf010]

I've use old glass wine/vodka/whiskey/etc. bottles with food coloring in them ...

[@SargeWolf010]

Old perfume bottles work to says my sister ...

[@kylem9196]

I saw in an earlier video you had a totally unsafe vacuum box for setting epoxy to get all the bubbles out. (I am sure it is stored near your unsafe belt sander somewhere.) Try putting your next mold in there to clear up the "glass" around the potion then sand sand sand polish polish ....Oh and totally love the look when you found a safe way to cut on the ban saw.

[@filopat67]

I think it looks good, just needs to be clearer so you could see the "liquid" part inside. Instead of trying to sand and polish it, I would try to sand it first to be somewhat smooth and then brush on a thin layer of clear epoxy and let it cure to form a clear finish. Spraying the finishing epoxy on would be best but it need special equipment to do. Even a spray on clear laquere might work giving the bottle a see through finish.

[@WilSisney]

I really enjoyed watching your process with this video. I know that you were looking for a method to use up existing resin, but if I were to do this from scratch, I would do it differently. I'm still new to mold-making and casting, but here's what I would have tried. First, I would have made a silicone cast of a bottle. That's not strictly necessary, but will save you a ton of sanding. Then I would have slush-casted a gel resin (like a Smooth-On 325 clear) using a roto-cast approach to coat the outside layer of the bottle while leaving the inside hollow. Then I would have poured the potion-liquid inside with another resin (325 would work, or I could go for any other clear snap-cure resin). That would give you the glass bottle look with a filled liquid, and it would have saved hours of sanding.

[@KacielNolwen]

I would love to see a second try at this! The one you made was an amazing first attempt! I love the colour, the cork and cord just make it so much more real too!

[@Just-a-stool]

I love how you made a safe box for the belt sander. I don't have a bench mounted one, but I do have a handheld one so I had a friend hold the sander as I sanded the material

[@brianahawkins8124]

Incredible job making the leftover gems into potions, I love both concept and actual potion bottle the first how about Gaia's Tears a Nature potion the ribbon looks like leafs right. Sorry Spell Tome of Water & other magic books your gonna have to wait your turns for a while. There many idea's for the gems & I know you'll find the idea, keep up the great work NerdForge. :)

[@emberalus2229]

This channel is so good and inspiring/influencial!!! There's so many horrible DIY channels that just totally miss the entiry fantasy outcome and you always put in soooo much of your imagination and creativity and it always turns out so amazingly beautiful and unique, truly the only good fantasy DIY channel (frankly the only one) there is.

[@loreleii2173]

I have some ideas for you to try! 1) you should try to hollow out the bottle neck more and actually add a little liquid! 2)You could even attempt to make a bottle, cut it in half horizontally, hollow out the layer between the ‘glass’ layer and the colored epoxy , as long as the colored part is still attached to the bottom, it would float and could look like it has a deeper color in the middle. I think that could help to separate the glass layer more. After, I’m the gap you could add maybe sand, glitter, charms, liquid, oil??? Idk the possibilities seem endless! I hope you get to try again!

[@nyxarity4257]

Plenty of people left great ideas for the mold release suggestion. It might have helped to get a more "glasslike" appearance if you'd made your mold closer to your desired end result in the hexagon shape instead of leaving it as just a cube. It might have centered the colored resin better so that you'd know where to make the new angles. That being said other people have mentioned just leaving the orb shape of the resin and working with it in the bottle which would also work a bit easier on the production side of a project like this.

[@rebsdioramas]

Nice build as always. A couple of things to help you out in future, With hot glue, to remove it use isopropyl alcohol, it'll remove the "stickiness" of the glue which makes it just peel away from anything it's stuck to. For the mold you should've used a release of some kind, another thing that can help is line the mold with some kind of packing tape, the shiny surface can help the resin not to stick and should give a decent finish to the resin it's self. For the "glass" I think you could've made your life easier with the epoxy, this is what I would've done: Do the bottom glass piece as you did then make a shallow box mold, say A4 size? and pour the epoxy so it'd be about 2 or 3mm thick or as thick as you wanted the actual glass, let it cure most of the way but not fully harden then cut it with a blade into squares to match the facets you have on the internal potion bit, then let it fully cure. Once cured I'd probably mitre off the edges so the facets of "glass" mate up cleanly then use epoxy to glue them to the potion. For the top I'd do 2 more molds, one flat for the top of the bottle then once that's cured either a rectangle one on top of that for the stem of the bottle then sand and cut the final shape or 3D print a mold that'd be near enough to the final shape of the stem so the minimum amount of sanding is required. It might be a bit more work but I think the final result would've been much easier and more consistent in the end. Just an idea if you plan on doing this kind of thing again :).

[@theogantenbein7870]

„We just added duct tape for aesthetic purposes“ is one of those sentences i never expected to hear in my life 😁

[@therailrangervmtg8658]

Watching your videos feels like travelling to a fantasy/magical dimension and just relaxing there :)

[@fragmina729]

This got me to remember all the glass I been grinding on the diamondwheels. The time it takes and grinded fingernails.

[@dablakh0l193]

When you use foamboard for making epoxy casting, you can coat the inside with petroleum jelly. You can wipe it on with a rag, or a brush. It does not have to be a large amount, just enough to coat the paper face of the foamboard. Then you can easily remove your casting. As for cutting or sanding geometric shapes, you might consider making a wooden jig that you can rotate accurately to 4,5,6 or 8 positions. Then you can hot glue your piece to the jig and either do the major work cutting on the bandsaw or your sander. I'll see if I can find my jig patterns and send you a link to them. Otherwise, I really like your creations.

[@bazzatron9482]

Hey there, a long shot that you'll see this, but I got recommended your channel and I had an idea that I thought I'd share with you to make this project possible in maybe a day - and with basically no carving for the glass. First - shape your bottle contents as you did, then paint it with a thin layer of resin or polish it however. It needs to be smooth to save polishing later.) Cast this shape in silicone, but only about halfway up (or make a 2 part mould so you can batch out these potions entirely.) pour a layer of "glass" into the silicon mould, and repeat what you did with the foam board, pour so that the glass will come halfway up the bottle contents, and be more or less uniformly thick. I'll refer to this adding the bottom layer of glass later as "offsetting the Z axis". Next, sculpt a master for your bottle neck - maybe turn something out of wood or sculpt in XPS. Hot glue this to the top of your model potion, and cast it in silicone again. Discard the carved neck. Pour the resin into the neck mould, aim to make it so you fill the mould slightly too much, repeating the idea with the initial pour so you offset the contents on the Z axis, but from the top this time. Once the neck is cured, place the contents into the mould and pour again. This should leave you with a missing band in the middle. Initially this will be helpful with alignment of the two halves - try to get the gap as even as possible. To complete the piece, you could either fill the gap with more resin, or superglue in something nice like Mica or Mother of Pearl (horrible dust if you sand these...!!!), or band it with leather. Either way, as you'll be pulling straight from a mould, you'll not really have to polish anything except the contents. Highly recommend getting a buffing wheel for your drill or lathe for this - they're super cheap.

[@simasedrakyan]

Plexiglass is a good mold material, also some epoxy companies have like a spray that you spray before pouring to make it easier to release epoxy from the mold

[@coinage8356]

Ive seen a lot of people go back and paint a thin coat of epoxy over the surface they are sanding to get a crystal clear coating without having to wet-sand too much. These are super cute and I think I may want to do some of these myself!

[@savagepatty]

Band and table saws are a must have if you ask me. I can’t remember my workshop was like before those two lol. Tho I would have made a clear bace first and sat the inner potion on top and then moulded the foam around the potion shape with a 1cm gap, add some beeswax to the foam board mould or a mould release agent and then done the resin pour around the potion freestanding on the bottle bace. Than when removing the mould all you would need to do is cut the bace to shape and sand/polish the “glass” layer. I’d also think about adding a small light into the bace now that I think bout it. Maybe Cannibalise one of those plastic light up cups from the $2 shop and bore a small grove in the bace for it. The down side would be that you could see the light mechanism if you look underneath but sit it on a table or in your palm and it should work well.

[@LittleFreakcess]

I love that you decided on showing us this even though you yourself are not 100% satisfied with it!! it gives me hope and lets me see that the artists online are not these perfect humans who touch sth and it just becomes perfect the first time they tried it! ♥ Btw this looked super cool even though it was not what you had in mind haha sending lots of love to you

[@BlackWolfCosplay]

I love that this started as a way to reduce waste and in the end you probably ended up sanding away more than you saved XD but I still loved the potion bottle in the end, and it's a really cool way to re-use the old resin! I think the only thing that didn't quite work was you couldn't tell the clear resin from the coloured one very well except for the bottom, but it still looked great all the same! :)

[@MylesGabriel]

I make epoxy live edge river tables for a living...if you want to use something that will work very well, that's not silicone, that you can get in multiple thicknesses and will literally pop right off resin: polypropylene sheeting or polyethylene sheeting. You can re-use it over and over, it's easy to clean and maintain, and you can use hot glue to seal the seams and the glue will peel off when you take it apart. As soon as I saw you use that foam board, I was like: uh oh.... I knew what was coming, lol. You can buy PPS in sheets as big as 4' x 8' (even larger if you need) and thickness from 1/16" - 1"... You can use a fine tooth finishing blade on a table saw and cut it into strips. Thin pieces you can bend and flex to make rings/circles. Anyway, I hope this helps, you asked for suggestions for mold materials, so I hope this helps. Love your videos btw... You're inspirational and very talented.

[@ericp7522]

You should definitely try to make more potions in another video since now you know what issues and mistakes you had last time. I think you'd make some really amazing ones in round 2! You're always so creative

[@festro1000]

you could try a vacuum vent above the work area where you grind the epoxy so that the loose particulates get sucked up rather than go everywhere else. Also hollowing it out and putting RGB lights would probably turn it into a nice light fixture.

[@stumcconnel]

I think it came out looking pretty nice! Great way to use those scrap epoxy pieces - Always nice to see waste material put to good use! You might get a better distinction between the inner and outer parts if you brought the outside to a much higher polish with a buffing wheel? As for casting, yeah, silicone is expensive. You can save a bit of money by using tin (condensation) cure silicone rather than platinum (addition) cure if you're not too fussed about having a long library life. For around half the cost, you could use polyurethane rubber, but you'd need a really good coat of release agent, something like a wax spray release, or mix some vaseline with white spirit (also known as naptha in some places) to thin it and then brush it on. That would also work for the foam board. If you're going to do a bunch of these, I'd say it's well worth the investment to use silicone. For a start, you'll save a lot of epoxy, but also a LOT of sanding and finishing! The tricky part would be holding the coloured epoxy blobs in place, but you could probably do what you did here - pour a thin layer of epoxy into one side of the mould and then set the piece in it while it's still tacky. Or maybe use clear acrylic (or pre-cast epoxy) pins / dowels, with fitting holes integrated into the mould to hole the part in place.

[@DJDarkGift]

I think it came out fairly well. As far as your question about release agents, there are several commercial products available online, but if you're looking for something on the cheap you can always apply some vegetable or mineral oil to the foam core with a paper towel and that should do the trick. As for the finished potion bottle, if you find yourself with a sanded or matte finish product you can sometimes lightly go over the finish with either a good heat gun or a gas torch, like the Bernzomatic Propane or Mapp Gas Models. Just be careful as to not overheat the product, and with all situations regarding the use of fire or flames be sure to use the proper and suggested safety precautions and procedures, not to mention the help of an adult if needed. Hope the suggestions help.

[@millawelge5643]

Can you do like at the end of the year just gather everything you've done and show all of it together?

[@zackbrackeen2266]

Use acrylic sheet, 1/16th of an inch thick. Spray with mold release and it will pop off with a thin wall mud knife (more like a narrow flat blade with a handle) hope this helps! Also, you can use a round plastic tub of sorts and tap, gently, with a rubber mallet and it will pop out without using mold release. Then it upside down and tap the bottom, if you havent poured it all the way to the top, it should release and pop right out onto the table

[@GingerSnapping]

Corrugated plastic works great. Using mold release will help. you can also use thin acrylic sheets.

[@cherishmason3700]

Hey Martina, Hansi, I have 2 questions and 2 suggestions. Questions: 1) Can I base 2 OCs (Original Characters) off of the 2 of you? 2) If so what do you want them to be? I was thinking you, Martina be a elf, witch hybrid or something like that. Hansi could be a human with clear sight that let's him see the supernatural clearly. Suggestions: I noticed you don't upload as often anymore. I'm not sure why but I thought it might be having no ideas. So here's my 1st suggestion: Look back at your past projects. You've made multiple designs for each project. Yet you only make 1 of them and never revisit the project to make another. So you could go back and make another design. You could make new designs too. You've learned a lot since most of your projects. So maybe go back and do another with the new skills you've learned. Your magic wand and magic staff for example. Here's my 2nd suggestion: Mix the things you've done. I've never seen you make a figure for your Dioramas. You've printed or bought them. I understand they're small so many make their tools or something. Like a magic staff or large shield from resin or something. Or maybe make a magical Diorama that has a figure trapped or sealed in a resin crystal. Or make a set. A Diorama, a painting, and maybe tools. Tools: Weapons, armor, jewelry, clothes, and a book. Life sized armor for a male, a female, and maybe a pet. Same with weapons, jewelry, and clothes. An the book could have info about creatures or something. An I don't mean just make the book. I mean draw and write the information. Make a world of your own.

[@BrittanySue90]

You can use clear packing tape (the kind used for like mailing packages and such, it's nice and wide) for anywhere you don't want an epoxy to stick, though having a mold release spray also helps too! I highly recommend Peter Brown's channel Shop Time for resin tips and tricks and other cool wood turning stuff!

[@dilay6134]

Strong foamboard and white glue is great way for pouring polyster like metarials. But you need to wait few days (to dry), tape outside of corners and go a second coat on white glue in the insides. And if you can make a wood model first, you can make a mold with sliycon and pour the epoxy in there, so you dont have to sand it that much (tiner, aceton (or nail polish removers is best way to clean the resin type metarials) (Amazing videos!!❤❤❤)

[@Darkthestral1]

This was great, defiantly can't wait for part 2 A few tips, you can probably find a way to mount a shop vac up to your belt sanding jig, it won't get all the epoxy dust but should help if you can get it close enough Also with the glass layer of the bottle, you could try mineral spirits to help see how thick it is. It'll make the epoxy more translucent without sanding so it might be a help so you can see the thickness better Last sanding it down to a shinier finish would probably really help make the final product Cant wait to see the continuation :)

[@Syrkyth]

Peter Brown does some awesome resin projects, he gets super clear casts like, most of the time. The rest of the time he's casting axe handles out of gummy bears and turning resin stabilized wood into crazy cool projects. Excellent first attempt!

[@miz_leviafan]

Epoxy resin becomes transparent or non-transparent depending on what kind of surface mold. Molds for making flowers make the inside of glossy and therefore, the result of the product is transparent. Often for their own mold, take org. glass, or plastic. And so the video is very beautiful)

[@naarbin]

For the mold you can use the plastic from soda bottles. To make a similiar shape of mold, use some kind of spacers (like the eraser from the top of a pencil), like when they reconstruct flesh on a scull at the museum. Nice idea, too. The bottlea.

[@shadowsaiph]

As far as I know, a lot of people use foam core board for their epoxy as well but the secret to nto making it stick is spraying it down with a mold release beforehand.

[@sintoxic]

Use mold release next time, when casting with resin :)

[@cori0420]

I like the idea of the potions. Maybe do a smaller clear resin pour to go on the outside and use that fancy Dremel tool you just got to carve some matching (from your wizard's staff) designs in the "potions bottle"

[@iudeka]

I just simply love this woman, and her determination to do all the projects she want even if doesn't know how to do it. Martina inspires me to try new projects without doubt or even if have no idea how to start, but the important is always try :D

[@CPHayward]

Red health potion, Blue mana potion. :) Also... Using waste epoxy is a good idea. But casting the waste epoxy in epoxy that you then remove...? Maybe a mould that's closer to the finished shape? Enjoying your vids, best part of creating, is tackling things you don't have the tools and skill set for. That's how you evolve as a maker. Awesome

[@luciabartoletti4564]

Hi! I just wanted to tell you how excited and happy i'm everytime that i see you make something, it inspires me to no end. Is great to see a lass like you using heavy equipment, is kinda validating like "you can do it too!" So thank you so much!! 💝💝

[@oculusangelicus8978]

a good release for a mold if you aren't relying on a perfectly smooth surface, you can rub down your mold with a small amount of petroleum jelly and you won't have a hard time releasing something from the mold.

[@gregmccormack5709]

Very cool idea for salvage build ..... if there was space inside you could add dice inside and use them as tabletop healing/buff potions with the number of dice already inside.

[@MDJ5]

make the mold out of corrugated plastic sheeting and spray the inside with mold release when it's shaped. works like a charm

[@DrawerOfTheFallen]

You could probably assemble a bottle around the liquid by putting shards together with some glue - it would also leave some air above the liquid and hence look more like a real bottle. Another plus: much less sanding. Just macke a plate out of epoxy, let it dry, cut out the pieces you need and assemble your bottle. Clear epoxy to fill the gaps between the shards and something to hold it in place while it gets dry.

[@chloehogg5904]

Watched this on early access on patreon, and I just had to watch it again! Love the vids!

[@YSiExistiese]

A couple of advice, if you polish the part of the liquid before applying the glass layer visually separate to have another texture. To save yourself the loss of so much epoxy, you can make a mold the way you want the bottle to be about and then refine the edges.

[@TheTechnosasquatch]

You can line molds like you used with clear packing tape and that releases from the epoxy pretty nicely.

[@PureRandumosity]

For the next one you can try casting the bottle shape you want in a rubber mold first. So just when you shape the resin ball into a potion make it a little bulkier then you actually want it, cast it, then shave it down some more and then put it in the mold you made with the resin to get that liquid in a bottle effect without all the sanding you did. It would help getting the main body shape, for the spout you can secure a tube or some cylindrical object to the resin potion shape you made before casting it in the mold, I’m not an expert but that’s what I would try

[@JohnnieTech2]

Melamine is great for epoxy molds. Your main issue is going to be the corners and making you sure you seal them well so epoxy does not creep into them. You can use a light bead of silicone or specialized tape for it as well.

[@Bamcrafting]

a good material for mold stuff that comes off easy is mold release and its a spray that helps the product to get out easier

[@merlin_XY]

Can you use mold releasing compound/Agent (spray) on the foam board? If you can I would suggest making a pre-shaped mold by placing foam board on your epoxy trash after you carve it to your desired shape to give you a unified spacing. Then using foam board to make your mold over top of that. Then remove the spacer and trash core. reform the mold bottom. pour in a little resin about a foam boards thickness, put the trash centered on top of that when it is somewhat hard. then put the top of the mold on and seal it and pour in the rest of the clear resin. I don't know if any of that would work as I have not worked with resin casting, but it works in my head. Also I don't know if it would cause bubbles. maybe use two thicknesses of foam board for spacers just in case, so the resin flows more freely around the trash. I love this channel. 💖

[@Bluejsa1]

That long necked design would be a cool 2nd go at it. I think it turned out great for a first go around

[@Seishin_]

Plexiglass is used a lot for epoxy moulding (I think it has different names in different places, But Im pretty sure its just a plastic sheet, You take off the sheet protecting it and then it can be used for a mould)

[@MistyxMarie.]

I think it looks super awesome! They make a thin handheld like mini belt sander and I think you really need one!

[@Srjl]

Coat the inside of your mold with mold release. Comes in a spray can and makes it super easy to get your cast out after casting it.

[@twistedknotz5485]

Typical nerdforge ingenuity. I dont have this thing I need. So I'm going to make it. Then we can do the project. Lol. Love it.

[@StringsForMetal]

I dont know if this has already been commented. but regarding the use of the band saw. From my understanding and what i have learned, you should always lower the top of the saw to reduce the gap between the work piece and top section of the saw. This increases the stability of the saw, making it less likely to jiggle and get cleaner cuts, while also reducing the risk of injury by having the blade jump of the rotating wheel and harming the user. other than that, love the vid. Greetings from Trondheim :D stay safe

[@Punkoala]

Love that you made the belt sander housing. When ever I come across anything that I dont have I turn round and say "I'll build it" and my wife turns round and says "No" and shakes her head 🤣

[@MrBaldypete1]

Damn good first attempt. It's not perfect but it's not terrible either. You saw your outcome, you realised the things you didn't like about it and what caused them and have ideas on how to improve upon them. That's how we learn. Keep up the good work!

[@lottie7813]

That entire sanding and polishing montage is such a mood I love it

[@anniek4681]

There are alot of videos of people working with epoxy. But they usualy turn it. Just like you would do with woodworking or woodturning. The sanding is usualy to finish. They use also a clear finish were you make it very shiny. It probably makes also the clear layer more visible. A fellow KZbinr Nick Zametti does a lot with woodturning resin/epoxy. Maybe you can ask him.

[@SarutaValentine]

I love how your videos are made as their own art form

[@Malgorash]

I did not even need to see the end of the video to like it, that creativity with the handmade belt sander was amazing ^^ And then there is everything else so OMG please keep making more :)

[@Lordtheobald]

I've seen that using the clear tapes used for packing is great.

[@rudolmeyer]

10:35 -10:40 "it's start to look like a potion.." does anyone else see a dreidl, or is it just me??? lol

[@BlackCat_2]

My best suggestion is to use HDPE. Lots of products I find in the stores have HDPE (or 2) plastic containers (shampoo and conditioner bottles, lotion bottles, plastic coffee cans, plastic milk cartons off the top of my head). You can also find HDPE sheets on Amazon that can be cut to size etc. HDPE will not stick to resin. It is really wonderful. :D Love this idea of using previously cast pieces again. I have some fails and other pieces I just didn't like that I could use. - Heidi

[@MarvelleBanks]

I've seen people use plexiglass as molds. It is firm and comes off easier when you are ready to release the epoxy from the mold. It comes off in big, clean breaks. I have also heard of people using Tyvek tape.

[@halieghsaulter7735]

A regular cardboard box completely lined with clear packing tape works as a cheap and easily removable mold for some resin projects

[@delb64]

Love your craftmenship skills and your videes. This suggestion may help save you time. A good investment is a bench grinder, fitted with polishing wheel mops also a woolen polishing bonnet. Sand down with very fine wet and dry sandpaper. Then polish on machine using polishing soap for resin. Finaly buff up with Lambs wool mop. It is fast and glass smooth and clear in a fraction of the time. I polish all my resins in this way. Perfect super finish. Bench grinders are quite ceap. Also usefull for high polishes on metals etc,

[@angeladewolf1979]

you can use mold release and use the cardboard stock to i use it all the time for casting larp items

[@hazelparr8461]

Use plexiglass or styrene to make your resin moulds. Also instead of trying to get a glass layer around you could have just positioned the shaped piece into the epoxy to just create the neck saving on epoxy time and that awful dust. Maybe some colour change mica paint or powder would help the aesthetics of the jar? Xxx

[@PunCala]

I think the failures are the best part of your channel. It's soooo much better than falsely hyping up the end result. In fact, I'd love a compilation video of your failures. Also, the failures make good comedy! PS. I actually prefer this potion to the one you made later.

[@lorrieruff4402]

LOL so much dust!! As you sand try having your shop vacuum running next to the sander to catch as much as it can. Hopefully this will cut down on some of the dust if not most of it. I am sure you can rig it up to the best location to do so. I think there is a spray you can use to help release the stuff from the mold. I like to see what you do next.

[@DMonZ1988]

I think it looks really nice, and well done for going through all that effort so patiently, but yeah i think next time you could paint or pour the glass on layer by layer and then sand just a little, and hopefully it would still end up pretty clear. Making it wet in between should help see how far you've sanded, i'd imagine. Nice work though Martina!