Winchester-Nabu Detective Agency Year Five:
Evidence Preservation
AMBER LOVE 27-FEB-2022 Find out how all this began. Catch up on Year One, Year Two, Year Three, Year Four and previous Year Five cases at the Winchester-Nabu Detective Agency.
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Related Cases and Research:
Please watch the videos! I worked really hard on these.
In Case File No. 34-242 “Fur You I Die,” which was done first, these small scale tests worked out rather well. They included bones, eggshell bits, and owl pellet pieces with alcohol ink coloring.
In Case File No. 38-246 “Treasure of the Garden State,” I showed how I planned on preserving some of the smaller and interesting evidence we’ve discovered. I opted to work with epoxy resin and silicone molds. I tried feathers, Gorgon skin, and eggshells. Go back to that file to see what didn’t work.
Patreon backers have been getting updates on these projects since I began. I have a couple of tricks since then. To get most of the bubbles out (if that’s what’s desired), I put the resin bottles and the mixing cup with the resin on a coffee cup warmer. I was doing most of this work during a cold winter and my work space is next to some terribly drafty windows.
Not a single spot in this house is level.
Always remember a respirator. I didn’t have one at first and thought I was fine. Then after cleaning things up and stopping for the day, I would get awful headaches. I have no idea what Gus feels, but sometimes he chooses to stay in the room. He could go anywhere else. Hopefully, he hasn’t been harmed.
If you get epoxy resin on your skin, use something like Epsom salt with a little water to make a quick salt scrub that doesn’t have anything else in it like essential oils. In one of the videos, I told the story of how I just wasn’t thinking and forgot this simple step.
These creations could work really well for:
- cosplay (obviously, people have been doing that for a long time)
- altar decor for witches of any tradition (imagine elements and quarters)
- for focal objects for meditation; I’ve used mine during my morning meditations a few times and enjoy it.
- memorial items; if you have ashes or fur from a pet, check the tutorial by Steve McDonald.
I recently bought UV resin but haven’t tried it out yet. I also got metallic mica powders which look great in other people’s tutorials, so I hope I can put them good use next time the detective agency needs some evidence preserved with flair!
Resources:
I’ve been going through as many episodes as possible of the following YouTube channels:
- ArtResin
- Artsy Madwoman
- Steve McDonald’s Arts & Crafts
- Nerdforge
- Evil Ted – admittedly I haven’t watched in a while, but his work is brilliant
- and of course, Smooth On, even though I’m not using their products (I have in the past when I tried working with latex and foam)
Things I did use (affiliate links):
- Resinfans kit with a lot of alcohol inks, stirring sticks, cups, and the epoxy resin.
- Alumilite Amazing Clear Cast resin kit which was bundled with some cups and sticks
- Let’s Resin molds
- other molds I bought so long ago at Michael’s Crafts