Things That Can Be Done With Epoxy Resin - Beginner Level
by rocket radhi in Craft > Art
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Things That Can Be Done With Epoxy Resin - Beginner Level
Hi All,
This instructable about total fun things you can with Epoxy Resin, This is new to me, so of course posted this for amateur's like me, who are interested in resin art but thinking their way to start it. I hope this is useful to those budding resin artists.
Basically resin art is about mixing resin and hardener in correct proportions, so chemical reaction happens and when get what we intended to make with it by turning those two liquids into solid pieces.. like coasters, jewellery, pop sockets decor, home decors, resin art wall clock also protection layer to your painting leaving glossy finish. What all you be seeing in this instructable few of the above mentioned. I was very excited while and now double excited to share this experience.
Supplies & Safety First
Epoxy clear resin - 225 g
Hardener - 75 g
My resin and hardener mixing proportions is 3:1, follow mixing proportion as per manufacturer instructions. Always mix in the exact amount, without tolerance
Solid pigments for resin art (necessary colours will be shown separately in each topic)
Opaque pigments - Blue & White
Coaster mould
MDF coaster - 2 Nos
Jewelry moulds
Paper cups
Popsicle stick
Weighing machine
Gold foil sheet
Safety warnings, Always wear
1) protective glass,
2) Mask covering your nose and mouth
3) Gloves that fits you well
Never compromise here, while mixing resin and hardener, unpleasant smell comes which is not good when inhaled for a long term. Resin art is all about fun. But safety before fun is very important
When its touch bare skin, immediately spray rubbing alcohol/IPA and wash thoroughly with soap and water.
Your safety is always in your hand
Setup Your Art Area
Resin doesn't sticks to everything its being touched. Resins doesn't stick to silicone( so most of the moulds are silicone based), polypropelene, most of the PVC, Plastics, greasy area, shiny side of wax paper
So its all prepping your work area with plastic covers or polypropelene sheets, so that it doesn't stick to unwanted area. Don't worry these can be reused next time you do it too.
So i added newspaper as base, covered with old plastic sheet. My silicon mat, where my perfomance will happen.
Done with all the specifications, now lets enjoy the work.
Place the coaster mold above silicon mould
Measure Volume
Everybody knows basic mathematics of calculating volume as per the specified shape, but for a irregular shape?? how will be determine.. Two pages long integral ??.. Don't sweat. Just pour water in mold, fill it with required amount and pour the water back to measure the quantity.
Now measure the quantity of resin and hardener to that amount, for eg, My mold required 45g for filling one coaster. I wanted to make two coaster so 90g of resin required. My resin mixing ratio is 3:1 so 67.5g of resin and 22.5 grams of hardener will be correct proportion to yield 90g combination for two coasters
How to Mix and How Long to Mix
This is FAQ (First Arising Question) in mind, your manufacturer should have mentioned clearly below process
Mixing time
Pouring time (pot time)
Curing time
Mixing time is for combining resin and hardener correctly. generally few mins
Pouring time is for how long you can play with your resin, that is your decoration time. Generally 30 minutes to 1 hour
Curing time is how does this take to dry completely, pouring state to gel phase to solid phase generally this will be 12 to 48 hours depending upon the size.
If mixing time is not given mix until it turns transparent (image 4)
Another trick to always mix slowly to avoid creating bubbles. you really don't want bubbles ruining your art work
Colour Up the Party
I divided the 90 grams ratio into 50g, 25g, 15g segments. When i bought these solid pigments, first colour i wanna try was pearl pink it was so mesmerizing. Take a pinch and mixed it in 50g resin. Pearl violet in 25g resin, and gold foil sheet in 15g clear resin
Pearl Pink Beauty
Pour pink shades from the corner to center, when they are half running pour pearl violet mix and fix pour resin gold sheet mix in the edges.
Swirl It
Now is your time to enjoy, you carefully play with the combination to get the expected design you are looking for..
MDF Coaster
MDF coaster basically wood type of coaster, it very economical.. and they make good heat resistant. Before doing the work, mask it with masking tape, so that you remove unwanted resin droplets sticking to your base or sides of coaster while removing the tape
Setup
Give your base a height and non touching surface, place it above a paper cup. Measure your resin.. i consider about 20g on each coaster. Hence 30g of resin with 10g of hardener, extra 3g is from popsicle stick and paper cup weight.
Divide the resin in required divisions
Opaque Pigments & Solid Ones
For Blue theme, i chose dark blue & White opaque, mixed those two separately and combined colour of white and dark blue to obtain light blue.. as anticipated it gave beautiful blue hue.
For galaxy theme, pearl black, pearl grey, red matte and pearl violet
Pouring Therapy
Pour dark blue mix precisely
Add Second Colour
Add light blue and touch the merging edges to create beautiful.. this is purely in a way of each person creativity.
Adding Waves
Pour white and give beautiful swirls with tooth picks to give waves, add light blue again to fill the other end
Galaxy Coaster
Atleast that what i tried.. ;P
First pour the red planet , add the black beauty.. levelise
Galaxy Part 2
Add little of violet resin, here and there. now pour pearl grey mix and let the resin flow take care of rest. set aside
Pop Socket
Pop sockets are very trendy these days, they are attached behind mobile, helpful for taking selfie watching a movie perhaps.
For that i used this beautiful moon stages mold. Where the full circle makes the pop sockets specification perfectly.
I just love moon crescent, so i mixed violet glitter with resin and poured in
Halloween Special
In full moon, pour pearl black and give required shape. Give silver moon on top, wait for few minutes and pour the pearl orange beauty.
Cover Your Art
Take any of your art work, say acrylic or oil paintings.. Of course dried one.. how will you protect your master piece? few other methods are practically. out of which resin protection in one of the best protection. Based on the size take required amount of clear resin, pour all over your work, spread it evenly and set aside
Jewelry Making
Best solution for your handmade jewelry with creative level unlimited. you make any shape (given in mold) in any colour you prefer, you never have to worry about someone else wearing your earring design. Also you can fill with your leftover resin too. for eg., this pearl pink is leftover of first coaster shown. Even though you calculate everything, there might be 2 to 3g remaining, which are perfect for jewelry.
pour your resin into resin mold, using syringe will be perfect fill. in case you couldn't have it. Be ready to clear away the mess out of the shape, I use earbuds to absorb excess resin, so that my jewelry size and shape stays intact.
Pendant
I want explore my metallic shades, so i mixed metallic copper and leftover pearl orange and white from previous show case.
Pour metallic colour into pendant section
Earring 2
Now experimented by combining two shades for one earring set. Pearl orange and opaque white
Finally Done
I can't wait to check out the results of these beauties
Left Them for One Night
But my resin cure time is 24 hours, so i have to wait for 12 hours more..
Demoulding
Next morning i started demoulding, i started from the one which i started first.
It was my first try, i loved the outcome
Cute Little Leftovers
Filled these tiny gems mould, from the colours where i couldn't make jewelry out of it. These could very beautiful Add ons to your next project the way you like.
Output
So all the cat is out of the bag now.. so pretty.. don't you think ?
Add jewelry earring hook, jump screw for accessories
Thank You
Wear your resin jewelry and stay unique from others
Thank you for coming this far, hope you had real fun reading and knowing about basic epoxy resin art.
Please let me know your suggestions and thoughts on this in comment section. I'll be happy to hear about it.
If you like this do vote for me !!
Adios!!