print polishing/ finishing?

[manakawari]

I plan on doing some prints soon that I will be creating a silicone mold with and then casting in resin...These will be embellishments so they will need a very good shiny finish.

I have never yet attempted to polish a solus print so I don't know how well the prints can be polished but for those unfamiliar with resin printing, its important that the master is smooth and shiny because if it is, the resin copies generally decast with the same shiny finish.

to save me the work of needing to polish every casting, I would love to have the ability to create a perfect , shiny master that will allow for castings with a perfect finish as well.

What I would like to know from the forum is, what should I do in order to achieve this? is there a specific resin I should be using that will allow for the best shine? perhaps a post processing method such as vibratory tumbler with ceramic media? what about the ceramic resin? would that be a better option for creating a shiny glass like master?

perhaps a post polishing spray laquer that would also aid in producing a super shiny piece?

without much experimentation im torn between first trying solus proto resin with a tumbler to bring the best possible shine or just go straight with the ceramic resin..my thinking is that the ceramic resin would be harder and if thrown in a vibratory tumbler with ceramic media, I should be able to achieve a very good master but im worried about the trouble of using that resin and would much rather use solus proto.

Thoughts?

[Archerm]

I actually just polished a spot on some green resin and it came out very shiny. It depends on the resin and you need cure it very good and use a slow speed while polishing.

[eg123]

manakawari

I use lacquer for some of my prints and it works very well to get a shine, mirror like finish, like what you are lookin for.
I have casted and made silicone molds and have had very good results.
You can use spray lacquer from the hardware store and that works well.



I would recommend testing it first on a model.
If you spray too close to the model you may get too much in some areas but once it dries you can hardly see the difference.
If you get an air brush you can spray more evenly .