I’ve started work on the project that got me into dice making in the first place. My friend Dom died earlier this year and his wife asked my to use his ashes in a set of memorial dice. We talked about it for a bit and settled on several things.I am making her a very large die, 100mm, that will encase a few small personal items of his, a 60mm die for his ex who was still very involved in his life, and several sets of standard dice for them to use. All of them will incorporate his ashes in some way. I’m also printing an insert for the 100mm die to make a base that his personal items will rest on.
This is my first test print for the 60mm die and there are some issues I have addressed for the second print which, barring any issues will be the one I polish and use for the mold.
I learned a lot since we decided on this memorial project and one of those things was CURE INHIBITION. For that reason, the mold will be tin cure silicone instead of platinum cure when molding 3D printed dice. I will also need some deep pour resin to make the 100mm one.
As someone who has incorporated cremains into dice before, I would suggest adding them to blank inserts. Once in the resin, they will turn brown-ish (not a problem if you are making opaque dice).
The plan is to do it differently in each die. The 100mm has a partial blank that will act as a stand for his items. That blank will be made from his ashes. The 60mm will do something similar but instead of items it will have a lock of his hair on the partial blank. The standard sets will be a swirl of his favorite colors and his ashes.
I talked to someone else who makes resin memorial items and they warned me about ashes sinking and not being grey when encased and my plan is to put some of the ashes in an alcohol bath and stir it up, let it sit for a few minutes, and pour the ash that hasn’t settles into a drying dish so I can collect the ultra fine ash to use for the standard sets to help prevent it from sinking. That aside, the color won’t be a huge issue.
I had sifted mine, but your steps should give you a more uniform consistency.
You can increase the viscosity to help suspend the ashes by using a "pin dip" of clear school glue (Elmer's is the brand I use) often used for making slime. Add it after mixing the remains into the resin and mix again. I use this trick to suspend chunky glitter and it worked well for the cremains.