Glass!

[LeetNinja723]

I'm sure you can color clear glass, but what I'm wondering if it would be easy...and look good?

I'm interested in gaining a collection of glass paperweights as a set of Chaos Emeralds. I've found all 7 colors on ebay, but I'd rather do it myself if I could do so easily, (and so I can pick the colors out myself)
I don't want any brush strokes or stuff on my finished emerald, so I'm not exactly sure how I would go about painting it.... I thought of spray paint...but doesn't that leave like spray marks?
is there anyway to like....dip them in a dye or something?

I still want them to be see through, cause that would be awesome.

After a bit of researching I stumbled across Resin Casting and whatnot. and this seems like my best bet if i want to do it on my own, because as awesome as it would be to have my own 7 Chaos emeralds, MAKING THEM MYSELF would make it so much more awesome, you know?

Not i just have to figure out how to make custom molds for resin casting...I figure I'ma have to sculpt it outta clay and then get some kinda mold material. and then the resin to use in said mold. and 6 different dye's for the colors.

Its probably cheaper to simply buy all 7 already made, colored and perfect off Ebay,

What do you guys think I should do? Go the easy and probably less expensive way and buy 'em online? or go through the fun way of casting them myself and probably spending more moneys?

I kinda want to cast them, because them I could cast a shitload of other things, (like dragonballs and a triforce and even the three spiritual stones from OoT ) :D

[Titch]

I only permit you to make them if you also make a Master Emerald too.

Also, nice to see you are still alive

[LeetNinja723]

The Master Emerald is a must if the other 7 are present in the collection. 

I can buy them all on ebay for about 60 dollars. Which in the long run may be a bit more cost effective than getting the clay, the mold material and then all the resin and dyes.

Gah!? Idk what to do.

[Destichado]

Have a furnace?

Cadmium Sulfide     Yellow
Gold Chloride    Red
Cobalt Oxide    Blue-Violet
Manganese Dioxide    Purple
Nickel Oxide    Violet
Sulfur    Yellow-Amber
Chromic Oxide    Emerald Green
Uranium Oxide    Fluorescent Yellow, Green
Iron Oxide    Greens and Browns
Selenium Oxide    Reds
Carbon Oxides    Amber Brown
Antimony Oxides    White
Copper Compounds    Blue, Green, Red
Tin Compounds    White
Lead Compounds    Yellow


If you paint the glass it's going to look like painted glass -ie: opaque, looking more like a stone than a gem.  If you want to stain the glass, you must melt it and mix in (like kneading dough) metallic powder.  

If the glass has a distinct bottom, you could put a plastic film on that side to give the illusion of color from some angles.  Paint will work much less well because it will make the bottom obviously opaque and it kills the refraction.  
If you can set the glass in a fixture you can use colored light to good effect, but that's difficult and expensive.

This is a really easy project if you're okay with crappy results; if you want to do it right it's just as difficult as starting up a smithy.  
My advice?  Buy what you found on Ebay.  

[Ollie]

Titanium oxide for white as well.

[Emma]

Resin casting is pretty easy and fun.  If you really want to cast it, go for it.  It's a neat little project and sounds like it would be easy enough to get you started in casting.

You'll have to make a 2 part mold, though.

Here's a video of how to make a 2 part mold.

I've never done it before, but I've been wanting to try for a while to make things like digivices and stuff costumes.

Now, that being said, it can be kind of a waste of time to cast things unless you're going to need multiple copies of something in the same shape.  It takes a long time to make your original out of clay (depending how intricate your project is) and uses a fair bit of resources to make the mold, so unless you're going to make multiple copies of the same shape....I wouldn't bother.

[Destichado]

Should have thought of that, but I was too focused on the glass part.  Resin is very doable.

[Emma]

ALTERNATIVELY,

you could try painting pre-shaped glass with nailpolish.  Some types of nailpolish are opaque, while others are transluscent.  Depending on how big they are, you might be able to pull it off.  But, it can also leave brush strokes, so....meh.

[LeetNinja723]

I've decided that Resin is the best choice and its what I'm going with. I'll be making 6 gems so I think the cast will be worth it. (plus, I could keep the cast if I want to ever make them later, or make a friend a set or something, you know?)

Instead of sculpting my gem out of clay I decided to buy a clear one from Michaels and simply create the mold out of that.  It seemed like the best and easiest way to get exactly what I want. Plus it saves me from making a 7th one since there is a clear one in the set. >

You'll have to make a 2 part mold, though.

Thing is, i DO NOT want a seam. Is there anyway of avoiding this? or will it be simply a matter of sanding/cutting the seam off the finished product?

[OHCOMEONROBBIE]

It's pretty hard not to get a seam or those bubbles. You could try making one of those pressue chamber things which would give you a bit better finish but you'll have to keep in mind you may end up making more than 6 as it will probably take a few go's to get the process right. You'll still end up with some visible defects though but sanding/cutting and a bit of molding putty to fill up any gaps and it would probably turn up alright.

[Destichado]

Thing is, i DO NOT want a seam. Is there anyway of avoiding this?

Well, of course.  Make the seam horizontal, not vertical.  Deep cone in one half, truncated cone in the other, seam at the junction.  You'll still need to sand, but you won't have a visible seam to remove.

Also, you'll need polishing compound and a buffing wheel of some sort.  The little one on a dremel or hand drill should be fine.  Buffing and rouge is the only way to make a sanded surface glassy again.

[LeetNinja723]

Here is the original "master" that I'm going to be making the molds out of.  I'll probably snap pictures of my process along the way, for you all to see.  You seem interested in this endeavor. :]

On a similar note, this while thing is rather confusing because I have one person tell me one thing. And someone else tells me something different, or adds a step.  So I think I'm going to end up winging the first couple to see if it works. :[  Which kinda will suck.