Thought I would respond briefly to the various comments people have made:
Various people have suggested various means of shaking the mold, to help the
bubbles rise. I can put the molds on one of my power tools, and switch it
on, to provide some vibration. So that's reasonably easy.
There are three kinds of bubbles: 1) little tiny bubbles that are from the
mixing of the resin, and from a reaction of the resin to moisture in the
air. Mostly I am just ignoring those. They don't affect the result enough
to worry about, as yet. 2) The mold can trap air, usually resulting in a
medium sized bubble at a particular flat spot or corner in the mold. These
are correctable by venting the spot in the mold that tends to trap air.
3)There is a tendency of plastic to ooze into the seam between the mold
halves, and this allows air to re-enter the top of the mold. The solution
to this is to leave some plastic pooled on top of the mold, and to mitigate
the oozing. The way to do that is to press the two halves of the mold more
firmly together.
As for various suggestions involving vacuum pumps and whatnot; I am aware of
the technique, and appreciate your suggestions about how to do it
inexpensively. I am still of the opinion, however, that I can get an
acceptable result without adding those extra steps. And if I can, I
definitely want to, as I think it will make the technique much more
approachable to those of us who might want to try it.
Thanks for all the positive feedback!
Vince