I am working on learning to create decorative items.  Not jewelery but items for wall hanging and such.  In order to do this i intend to cast the items in various metals and want a good way to coat them so that while the coloring stands out the metal is still a part of it, if that makes any sense.  I noted that resin was being used for jewelry and could be tinted and dyed opaque or transparent/translucent so am thinking this would be a good medium for coloring my casting.  My question though is can you brush resin on and then polish and smooth it afterward?  Everything I have seen so far has bee using it in a mold or shaped form.  Can it be used to coat as well?  If so where would be the best place for me to find the info? 

 yes, you can brush it on. you might want to consider Rio's version which is self-doming. I use EnvirotexLite which is kind of thin and runs down the sides easily if you are not careful. many of the folks on Etsy use resin to seal pendants which are essentially paper mounted on a Scrabble tile. I often give my polymer pendants a coating of resin.

What is rio's? 

Right now I'm still in research mode and trying to get the materials to build my furnace along with figuring how to finish the items I cast.  I plan on starting simple crosses and such then into more complicated things such as japanese lettering kanji i think they are called.  After that im not sure where i intend to go, possibly abstract or custom things for friends and who knows maybe even start a small custom order business with it. 

oh sorry, I forgot you said you are not doing jewelry. Rio Grande is a very large jewelry supply supplier. just google to find the phone info. you might also contact the makers of Envirotex Lite to see what they have to suggest. again, google for phone info.  

 Groovy beans and thanks much for the info.  If i need to borrow yer brain again ill be sure to ask first but wont hesitate heh.