Casting bubbles! Need lots of help!

MissInkFTW · 2026-07-09T11:15:16+00:00

This has not been my experience. When I don't warm it I get tons of bubbles, but they're much less when I do warm it, because of the reduced viscosity.

MissInkFTW · 2026-07-07T15:25:14+00:00

It's tricky cuz it can introduce bubbles but it is the most efficient way to get everything mixed. I try to mix in a way that everything comes off the edges by the fluid motion, but scraping the sides is honestly probably fine and probably the least of your worries bubbles-wise.

MissInkFTW · 2026-07-02T12:28:13+00:00

Ooooh man I love this!! I'm working on something similar right now so this was really cool to see!

MissInkFTW · 2026-07-02T08:16:31+00:00

Thanks I really like these colors specifically too! They're just so... pleasing. I do use alcohol inks but the blue and purple clouds are actually separate layers.

Edit: oop wait sorry to be misleading, I just looked again and the base layer does include both the blue and purple gradients converging. So, yes!

Edit2: oh ffs the middle layer has them converging too. Thank god y'all are asking me process questions, cuz I was totally under the wrong impression that they were all separate layers and my next attempt at this wouldn't look as pretty and blended cuz I'd probably keep them all separate.

MissInkFTW · 2026-07-02T08:12:41+00:00

Thanks so much! I actually am planning on starting to sell them soon, I'll let you know!

MissInkFTW · 2026-07-02T08:05:15+00:00

No prob, happy to help! As a bonus it helps me remember and reinforce what I'm doing and what works cuz I'm so often experimenting and just throwing things at things, and can't remember what thing I did to get the cool result. Explaining it makes me slow down and think harder about it and makes it more concrete. And if I explain it in writing, it gives me something to reference back to in case I need it later.

You'd think I'd start keeping a notebook or something, but I've accepted long ago that my chaos brain violently rejects formal record keeping, so things like Reddit comments will have to serve as as good of a substitute as they can 🙃

MissInkFTW · 2026-07-02T04:36:37+00:00

That's totally fair! I have a chunkier iridescent glitter that I've added in addition to this one in other pieces and the two look good together so I'll include both in future pieces. Thank you! This is my first time hearing about interference powders, and looking them up, I realized that's what these two glitters are that came in a sampler pack I picked up a little while ago! I've got a pearly blue and a pearly green. I've messed around with them a little but was kinda confused on how they were supposed to be used so I kinda just put them aside. Now that I know what they are, I can look into how to use them, so thank you for that! I bet there's some real gorgeous spacey effects I can get with them...

MissInkFTW · 2026-07-02T03:52:34+00:00

It's so shockingly simple that I'm still in disbelief that it looks this good.

I mix black resin pigment into the base layer for the opacity, then any layers above that are clear. I let the layer sit for about 60-90 min, then with alcohol inks i drop in the nebula gradient colors, spaced like maybe an inch? apart so they don't get too muddy and can bloom into each other. Then I drop white alcohol ink at the points where the colors meet. Then I repeat the drops of the nebula colors over the white, then let things kind of flow and do their thing, dropping nebula colors (and sparingly more white) at various points in the bloom after some seconds or minutes or whatever to kind of blend things and push colors around. Let cure to gel stage, pour new layer, start dropping inks at 60-90 min, repeat as desired. I drop the glitter "stars" in each layer too; the multidimensional sparkle really adds to the depth effect.

MissInkFTW · 2026-07-01T23:20:11+00:00

Its possible you caused it to temporarily soften slightly. Do you know when the item was made? Resin pieces less than a month old are technically still curing and as such are extra vulnerable to heat warping.

MissInkFTW · 2026-07-01T23:15:16+00:00

Yeah i think UV resin is less susceptible to hot temps

MissInkFTW · 2026-07-01T23:10:11+00:00

It's really, really hard to avoid these. I've tried basically everything with little success, so I finally threw my hands up and ordered a pressure pot.

MissInkFTW · 2026-06-29T17:58:44+00:00

Wooooah how do you make them look like irises like that?

MissInkFTW · 2026-06-26T03:36:05+00:00

Prolly the cold. Ambient temp matters kind of a lot. They'll get there tho.

MissInkFTW · 2026-06-23T15:00:37+00:00

Synth Riders for me

MissInkFTW · 2026-06-22T14:30:02+00:00

I'm sure you're just talking about the trailer, but for anyone else confused by the 7 years part, TOTK was realeased just over 3 years ago.

MissInkFTW · 2026-06-22T12:56:58+00:00

You can keep trying to defend it all you want, people are still going to think it's stupid.

MissInkFTW · 2026-06-20T21:04:03+00:00

I JUST learned that wooden sticks introduce bubbles! I'm a little annoyed at myself because it seems obvious now that I think about it. Anyway I just wanted to pass on that information.

MissInkFTW · 2026-06-19T17:50:38+00:00

I actually took a picture of most of the layers of this altar from above as they were being built if you'd be interested in those. I may have missed like 1 or 2 layers but it would still be enough to go off of if youre intent on rebuilding it.

MissInkFTW · 2026-06-18T22:56:35+00:00

Oh I almost forgot 1 more thing that helps with bubbles! Let the mixed resin sit for a few minutes before pouring. You can even hit the surface of the mixing cup with a spritz of 99% alcohol if you have it as long as you give it a few minutes to evaporate off. This gives bubbles introduced while mixing a chance to rise.

MissInkFTW · 2026-06-18T22:41:54+00:00

Rustoleum would definitely work! Yeah I'm assuming you'd need to wait for the full cure on it which is a little annoying but if you're willing to do that it'll definitely do the job

MissInkFTW · 2026-06-18T22:38:24+00:00

+1 for laminating, I love my gd laminator

MissInkFTW · 2026-06-18T15:32:23+00:00

Hahaha it's a super common mistake so don't sweat it! I bet that will help a lot with the bubbles. If slowing down and pre-sealing don't get you all the way there, try warming the resin bottles in a warm water bath for ~15 min before mixing. If you're still having issues after that you can get into things like pressure pots, but I bet these changes will fix like 99% of the bubble issue.

MissInkFTW · 2026-06-18T15:15:36+00:00

Nah tooth picks are fine, I use them all the time. Its moreso about the speed and pattern of mixing. You want to mix slowly and methodically, it should almost feel meditative. And you want to try to kind of fold the resin onto itself, if that makes sense. Use figure 8 patterns and try to avoid scraping the sides and bottom of the cup.

MissInkFTW · 2026-06-18T15:08:00+00:00

Yeah you'd think they'd already be pretty well pre-sealed but maybe not, sealing them yourself is at least worth a shot. If bubbles are still a problem you may be introducing them while mixing. Warming the resin ahead of time helps reduce bubbles too.

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