So, you know how I like to talk about when things DONT go to plan.... well I have one for you! Back in August I ordered some new resin so I could cast models to sell at the Hullabaloo. Well unfortunately the resin they sent me was a bit dodgy, so I didnt have any white Sweet Lullabies or Albert/Victoria sets at the event, and I also wrote off a set of moulds for Night Heather, Moonlit Dale and almost the Sweet Lullaby one (which survived as it was made of a different rubber, but I wont bore you with those technical details here). Well, after a bit of a rant to my supplier and having checked the batch numbers etc with them, they cheerfully replaced the bad resin with some new stuff. Id bought a gallon kit (about 7Kg) and was worried about disposing the bad resin due to the chemical content, so the supplier advised I mix the whole lot up in a bucket, let it set and then dispose it in its mixed (inert, ie none-chemical or dangerous) form. We were expecting some family visitors Saturday but I had a spare half hour before they arrived. So I grabbed a bucket, it was a bit dirty but I didnt think it mattered as I was throwing the resin out anyway.... mistake number one! Adam popped the bucket on a bit of exposed sandy soil just in case it splashed out as I poured and mixed the resin (this was not a mistake, Im glad to report, and shows how a linear thinker like Adam is very handy to have around when youre a creative-but-not-very-logical thinker like me!). I poured in part A of the resin, then poured in Part B and mixed it all up. I took a few snaps as I tend to document everything, then shoved the camera in my pocket. My Mom called me just at that point but as the resin was thoroughly mixed and I knew it would cure happily now, so I answered the phone to say hello... mistake number 2!! After a very quick whats new and realising Id wandered into the house, I went back outside to check the resin was curing as expected... but strangely, it had started to bubble up! Curious, I took a quick snap of the reaction thinking it would settle back down, but it didnt. Now, resin doesnt bubble up like this outside of the vacuum tank, apart from when I use certain filler powders. I hadnt thought about the soil acting as a filler that could cause a strange reaction. I watched in horror as it rose up and up and up, and over the edges! Saying a VERY quick gotta go! to my mother and shoving the phone in my pocket, I grabbed the bucket and moved it away from the newly laid patio slabs (mistake number 3!!)... ...the foamy resin spilled out all over my ungloved (mistake number 4!!!) hands, then started streaming along the sandy part of the garden, heading for the slope that goes down to the cabin, where all Adams tools were laid!! So, sticky-handed and rather flustered, all I could think to do was to dig a bowl into the soil (bare-handed, ouch!) and built a little dam to stop the uncured resin pouring down the garden and causing more carnage. My camera fell out of my pocket, bouncing off the small brick wall and into the mud (but thankfully not the resin!), doh! As the oozing, bubbling, awful soil-filled resin mixture filled the bowl Id dug and threatened to continue its voyage of destruction further, I knelt helplessly on the damp grass, covered in soggy muddy sandy soil and all out of ideas as to what to do next... then, thankfully, the air-filled mix finally collapsed back to its single gallon mass and sank back down into the soil-bowl. By this point the chemical reaction that makes the resin cure had finally kicked in and it began to solidify! An hour later, it was fully cured and I simply lifted it up from the soil and could dispose of it safely. PHEW!!! And that, my friends, is how to get the safe disposal of bad resin completely wrong!! Let this be a lesson to you - dont forget that these materials that we play with are chemical, caustic, live materials which can go very, very wrong when you dont give them the respect they demand! I dont know exactly why the resin frothed up like it did. I suspect it was because I had introduced a contaminant to it that it is not designed to deal with. The soil may have been damp, that would have introduced moisture to the resin which can cause strange reactions, or there may have been something within the soil that reacted with it (sand, chemicals... our house was built on the grounds of an old leather works, so there could have been any number of chemicals in that soil!). Luckily, I knew to remove the liquid resin from my skin immediately so no skin irritation has occurred, however Ill be picking bits of nasty soft bad resin out from my wedding ring for a while yet. This could have been so much worse than it was, Ive learnt a valuable lesson and reminded myself that it is ALWAYS a bad idea to rush things when dealing with chemicals! So in the next week or so Im hoping to get back into casting (get that backlog finally cleared and some new models cast!). This has been a healthy reality check and reminder that I need to take these exciting materials seriously when I start using them again.
Posted on: Mon, 27 Oct 2014 14:04:26 +0000
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