DIY Aquarium Ornaments and Caves

[chantelle]

Hey!

So Ive been looking into making some ornaments for aquariums and some caves too!

Ive read alot about using polymer clay or normal clay which is used to make terracotta earthenware as long as it is heated in a kiln. Anyone got any experience here?

Looking at some ornaments, most ornaments are made from polyresin.. is this polyester resin or Polyurethane Resin, does anyone know?

I also heard someone say they put lightweight garden ornaments in their aquarium?? I dont even know how that'd work because arent most garden ornaments made from cement like Portland cement which I doubt is submersible.

What im looking at doing is making some caves and things from clay,
But then also making latex moulds of ornaments and things and then using a polyresin or something for ornaments.

Polyurethane seems to be more like an ornament casting product
polyester seems to be more like a glass/plastic casting product.
Unless im missing something?

I looked at epoxy resin too and that seems to be a glass/plastic resin too.

Im looking for something similar outcome to what a cup or pot or one of those paint your own money box things you can buy where its like a ceramic and then you paint.

Has anyone had any experience with this stuff?

 

[paulW]

No real help here. But it all depends on how many caves you want and how big do you want them to be.

I buy caves at http://www.plecocaves.com/ Seems reasonable for the amount of work it would take to get clay, find a kiln, etc to DIY it.

Another idea is to get clay terra-cotta pots at a gardening store and just tile snippers to chip away an opening. Cheap caves, not very precise cutting them, and maybe not the most attractive.

There are other threads where people silicone gravel or sand to PVC pipe. You can see how those look.