Tutorial: Cosplay Jewel-Making by cafe-lalonde

No problem at all!! Glad that it's still relevant! <3

Actually yes, that's exactly what I did! I made the clay base (and usually pressed the gem into it to make sure the final shape would be right) and then baked it and painted it before glueing the gem in the middle

Good luck!!

The process of casting "real" polyester resin is more difficult, must be completed outdoors, and involves different proportions of the resin + hardener than I mention in this tutorial! This was mostly meant to be the easiest-possible process to getting resin gems, and involves this resin "epoxy" (doesn't dry as rock-hard, potentially less pure, etc) instead of the real stuff. That's why I mention that specific brand as opposed to this being a generic tutorial on how to cast resin! (I hope that makes sense)

Thanks very much!

I just use hot glue!

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You'll have to use fabric glue.

Of course! I hope it's helpful to you!!

Hmm, this may work if you let each individual layer completely cure before pouring the next one? However, you're bounded by 'gravity', if that makes sense--you would pour a partial color into the gem mold, and it would fill the bottom. Then the next layer would fill it and they would go from the 'front' to the 'back' of the jewel. This might look neat for spherical gems, though you might get a 'muddy' color looking through the first color because it would have every color behind it (and form kind of a multi-color brown). But, it would allow you to have 'rings' of color coming out from the center! Layering the colors wouldn't work with any other shape, methinks.

I would imagine you can do that! Keep in mind that the resin produces an exothermic reaction, so the resin may stick to the silicone mold--just make sure you use lots of mold release or some other form of barrier, or in the worst case scenario destroy the mold to peel it off at the end. I would run a test first!

You can cut them once they get to the 'gummy' consistency (after about 7 or 8 hours!), I've done that~ You can't cut them while they're still liquid-based OR when they've totally cured, so just keep poking the back of them after they've solidified a bit!

Yep! I throw in some appropriately-colored acrylic paint to color the gems all the time. Don't use TOO much or it'll turn them opaque, or you can also pour the gems clear and paint the backs of them to give them the color you want.

As for other places to find molds, I would try Amazon!

I usually just glue them

I believe you can buy it on Amazon.com, if you are able to import it from other countries! ;w;

Good luck with it!!

Thank you!! I hope it's helpful to you

My only tip would be to definitely back the jewels in something! i.e. aluminum foil, or just a piece of paper, first--because the jewels are clear, the pattern of your glue shows through. So I would VERY much recommend you spray foil or paper with spray adhesive, which coats it evenly, before sticking it to the back of your jewels. When I did Nia, I just hot glued in a squiggly/spiral pattern directly on the back of the jewel and stuck it to my belt, but then you could see the drawn 'glue' lines through the jewel, so putting a layer of paper or foil between them is optimal. I hope that helps!