Wednesday 18 May 2011

Resin Experiments

This is my first resin experiment-I learned not to pick it up after only a couple of days, as, although it seems set, it is easy to make a big thumb print in the middle of it! I also learned that mica flakes disperse into a kind of shimmery layer at the bottom-an effect I like.
I read in my resin instructions that silicone moulds are good as they don't need to be coated. I do want to make things other than just boxes so I have given it a try. I used cupcake moulds-wrinkly ones(a charity shop purchase intended for school but not taken there) and non-wrinkly ones. The resin comes out so easily.
The seventies here I come! Do you remember all those resin paperweight type things with dried flowers and seashells in? Resin must have been a bit of a craze then. I never liked them but maybe I was wrong! These flowers are not dried-they are picked straight off of the primula in yesterday's post. In my head I imagined the fresh flower, perfectly preserved in all its beauty. As this is as much science as it is art this was only one theory. I wondered if the flowers would somehow rot or be damaged in some way. What actually happened was this-they are preserved perfectly in shape and detail, but bleached to a creamy yellow. The bleaching happened really quickly. Then I remembered that the catalyst for the resin is peroxide-aah-ding-lightbulb!




Small crinkly cake mould and china.
A bead and a piece of wire and-hey presto-a pendant I will never wear!


This is a book with a circle cut out of the cover and lots of layers of paper, china arranged in it, and then filled with resin. I was going to keep the other pages but as it was such a thick book I have taken them out and will have a go at making my own sketch book to put in it. I used tinfoil to make a barrier between the resin and the rest of the pages and then glued many more pages to the back of this where the resin had leaked.
The next thing I am going to try is glitter birds-I have two small bird moulds from Hong Kong-I don't know if they sent me two by mistake or I ordered two by mistake-they have the added bonus of being sent in two separate string tie envelopes-I love those! I am going to add glitter to the resin. When these are dry I am going to encase them in more resin in a box. I think!
Googled resin art-found one I like so far-Brooks Salzwedel

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Fabulous - you always have amazing things to share with us! It's good to be home and catching up with everyone - but I wish i could have brought the heat back!!

Janine said...

How fun! Did you take the Sharon Tomlinson and Deryn Mentlock's online class using resin? Deryn gives a tip on removing bubbles...she sets her piece under a low heat light bulb the older kind we aren't supposed to be using anymore. I have used a heat gun but you have to be careful...too much heat will burn the resin and well it is all an experiment. The lightbulb method is safest. I still have some left over from the class and want to get back to making jewelry. I am waiting for better weather here.

Leenie said...

What a fun project you've presented. I had my head down raising kids in the 70's and missed a lot. I really like the look of the final products. You have a real eye for the unique and unusual.

Dimple said...

My mom took up resin work in the late 60's, for a while. I hated the smell!

You have some very nice products, though--I especially like the flowers!

Anonymous said...

I really like the flower paperweight! I remember resin pieces from my childhood at the beach. It seems like every little shop had a resin paperweight with shells or a magnet.