Making Fake Gemstones and Other Polyurethane Prints With Dyes and Metal Powder.

This is quite experimental as a project.

Hi, I am making Urethane Molds from Helmansman spar urethane lacquer. It consists of Urethane subunits and Mineral spirits. You can make Amber like gemstones by pouring in the Urethane Laquer into weighing dishes and adding copper powder and using a UV light to polymerize the polymers.

I use a lot of dyes like Congo red powder, Methylene blue powder, Acid fuschin, etc with alcohol with the Urethane. Note: This is a slow project each Polymer takes a long time to convert into a plastic rubber-like material. This for each polymer can take Weeks exposing the polymer to a UV disinfectant lamp.

The polymers resin is harmful always wear safety goggles, a face shield, and gloves when working with them. They can severely irritate and stain your skin. DON'T LET THE RESIN TOUCH YOUR EYES.

Also, the resin is flammable keeping any direct flames or sparks that may cause a fire to be kept away from the resin. Also the UV lamp is very dangerous to your eyes and produces some ozone.

Note it is important to get the following resin Polymer from Helmsman here an MSDS on it so you can know if it will work with the dyes and metals. https://www.minwax.com/document/SDS/en/US/0274261... Ask Amazon etc if there are any lacquers that have no zinc or copper that may interfere with the results.

Chemicals:

Silicone type epoxy.

Helmsman Spar Urethane Clear Satin.

Isopropyl alcohol, or ethanol

Dyes like.....

Congo red powder (Etsy).

Methylene blue powder (Etsy).

Malachite green powder

Sodium fluorescein powder (Lab supplier, eBay, Amazon, etc).

Alizarin Red

Dimethyl yellow powder (Etsy)

Glacial acetic acid 99.98 percent (eBay or a lab company supplier that will sell you these chemicals).

Supplies:

Lab or Jewelry Scale. Anything that can weigh 0.5 grams to 200 grams or greater with a 0.1 +-g error in the weighing abilities.

Spoons, glass stir rods.

Clamps, rod stand.

UV disinfectant lamp 254 nm here is an example... https://www.amazon.ca/U-V-C-Light-254nm-Germicidal...

UV safety goggles to protect against the harmful effects of the 254 nm wavelength.

Pour in about 50 ml of the laquer into a plastic cup (graded with ml (10, 20, 50 ml, etc). In a beaker add 1.5 -2 grams of copper powder into the laquer mix around with plastic spoons and using a weighing dish put the Laquer into the dish.

7 cm by 7 cm LxW and Height is 2 cm.

Then turn on the disinfectant lamp and let it run for 5 hrs the lamp will produce some Ozone but it is not harmful at these levels. Always wear protective goggles (UV goggles). when working or entering a lab and keep other people out (Dangerous to be exposed to UV light).

Every 1-2 hrs mix the resin with a glass stir rod it will coat the glass so be careful on how you handle the resin. We want the resin with the copper to mix evenly ( or as much as possible) in the dish. We then let the mold solidify for 24 hrs. Leaving the UV lamp on for 5 hrs letting it cool for 1 hr and turning the lamp back on.

Note make sure you are doing this in a well-ventillated area.

The following dyes were used Congo red, Methylene blue, Alzurin red S with acetic acid, Sodium fluorescein, Acid fuschin, and many other dyes.

Here Methylene blue is added 3 grams is added to 60 ml of Urethane primer very carefully and allowed to cure. The curing takes 24 hrs (5-6 hrs under a UV lamp) then cooling at 20 deg C.

Add 2 grams of Auramine O to 20 ml of ethanol or Isoproponal alcohol and add 50 ml of primer (Urethane laquer), then mix them in a large cup that you throw away afterward. The green resin in the Pic is auramine O.

Then add 2 g of Congo red powder to Alcohol (any simple alcohol except Methanol) and mix it with the laquer stir it with a spoon or a glass stir rod to get it working. Pour into a weighing dish and place the UV lamp about 4 cm to 5 cm on a 45 deg Angle downwards onto the resin. Curing takes about 5-6 hrs to do and then you must cool the lamp by letting it sit for an hour.

Add 3 g grams of Mantil yellow to 10 ml of Alcohol (Ethanol, or Isopropyl alc) and add the resin slowly from the can. Swirl into the weighing dish and with the UV lamp expose the resin (Urethane) to the resin Wait 5-6 hrs and allow for the resin to polymerize.

The resin needs to cure for at least 24 hrs. The UV exposure for the lamp also depends on the pigments used. Each pigment absorbs in the Polymer differently.

Here is some more info on curing the resin into Urethane like plastic.

I have tried many types of resins and the only one that works well is Polyurethane with Mineral spirits. Other types of cheaper Varathane Ultimate Spar urethane do not work at all. It contains Xylene and other products that interfere with proper polymerization.

The xylene in the resin can damage the dish and cause them to leak.

A spoon once the resin has cured can be placed under the resin in about 12 hrs (Normally) for some dye polymers. A spoon (Plastic) is used to flip the polymers once the resin cures.

We can do this with a lot of resins. I have done this for many dyes (Aurmine O, Alizarin red in acid, etc)

We wait for the resin to fully cure, this takes a lot of time. It may help to put a fan on the resin and hold the resin being cured about 5 cm away from the resin (I did not do that since it would make it a bit more complex) however this can work.

We flip once (in about 2-5 hrs under UV light (UV lamp) and we allow it to harden partly. We use a spoon or a glass stir rod to poke the resin if it still oozing out the resin let it sit for a few more hours and alterinate it between using a fan and keeping the lamp on. Note do not have the fan directly on the lamp near it but Not directly flowing around the lamp.

Use a spoon or metal spoon to dig into the polymer and slowly with as little force as possible flip the resin that has partly cured. Then put into a new tray with the resin into another tray and activate the UV lamp. Turning on the lamp for about 7 hrs seems to work.

Of course, the dyes may have different effects on the curing time of the resin.

I even tried Alzurain red in acetic acid and added it to the cup with the Urethane polymer. It worked but it was a lot slower (a month more) than other resins. I put the resin into plastic cups and sealed them with lids. I waited for 1 week for it to partially solidify. I poured it from the cup into another clean weighing dish.

Then I exposed that resin (Alzurin Red) to UV off and On for 6-7 hrs for a total of 24 hrs and let it sit undisturbed for 1 month.

This took about 1 month to cure the acetic acid 99.8 percent 1 ml sort of interfered with the resin a bit.

The Var polyurethane does not work it simply doesn't solidify and you can try exposing it to greater amounts of UV for a greater period of time. However, in my experience, it does lead to the curing of the resin.

I recommend a Paintbrush thin one to coat the Silicone gel onto the 0.06-inch thick wire make a loop on the wire and place the epoxy on the wire in the middle of the resin once it has cured and dried.

The curing of the resin takes about 6-12 hours. A paintbrush small one may be used to allow the silicone gel epoxy to be fitted to the cured resin.

The resins from a specific type of Urethane Polymer are very unique. You can make gemstones Artificials ones with different dyes and materials (copper, cobalt, zinc, and other metals).

Curing takes a long time to do but it the worth the wait you get this neat gemstone and different types of art. Follow the protocols and procedures and you get good results don't use any ones with Xylene. Neat art can be hanged and made into art out of Urethane resin laquer.

You can place objects that are light and don't fully submerge in the laquer in the final stages of Polymerization to attempt to make other Imprints.