With all the epoxy gurus here I thought I would ask a question.

Have any of you guys poured epoxy solids?

Encased things in epoxy?

My daughter said one of her friends said she wanted some paperweights for
Christmas with fish in them or fish shaped paperweights or something like
that. (Yes my daughter's friend is weird.) I thought I might buy some toy
fish at the local toy store or whereever I can find something suitable and
then pour them into some epoxy solids. I figured a cube, a tetrahedron, and
maybe a dome. Making a mold for a sphere is not out of the question either,
but I was thinking maybe just a hemisphere for number three.

I can make molds out of wood or aluminum for the cube and tetrahedron. For
a sphere or hemisphere I would probably have to go with wood.

I was thinking if I go with aluminum I would polish the interior surfaces,
put a tiny bit of clear RTV adhesive silicon in the seams and spray the
inside with non flavored cooking spray to prevent sticking. Basically screw
the pieces together. When the resin is hard remove the screws and knock the
sides off. Then cut the bottom square and epoxy on a layer of felt. Any of
you guys see any problems with that approach?

For wood I was thinking I could make it similar to the aluminum, but coat
the wood pieces with epoxy first. Would take longer because I would have to
make sure the resin coating the wood was fully cured, and thick enough to
machine smooth for drilling and assembling the mold. The advantage to wood
is I could more easily make a sphere or hemisphere shape, and it would be a
lot cheaper than a piece of aluminum thick enough to make a reasonable size
sphere.

You have any tips?

Any Alternatives?

Reasons why my idea is totally stupid?

I have several gallons of two part epoxy left over from a previous project.

I also considered milling some fish shapes out of wood and using them in the
"paperweights", but I am concerned that escaping air might cause bubbles in
the end solid. I suppose I could paint the shape with epoxy before encasing
it.