My First Foray Into Resin

I think I might have mentioned that Marc treated me to a resin set as part of my Christmas present ……..

I’ll admit I’ve been frightened of it ever since, but after one of our a two hour plus telephone conversation  where we usually put the world to right, he persuaded me to give it a go, otherwise what’s the point of having it, and as he also bought me a couple of pendant trays to go with it, I had no hiding place!

I decided to start VERY simple, with no expectations for this first trial, watching a few videos on YouTube to refresh myself of the process. I’ll be honest, none really stuck out at me as being that brilliant, some just showed the process set to annoying plinky plonky music that got on my nerves, and others, well, I just wanted to say for goodness sake stop the waffle and get on with it!  I am not the most patient of crafters as Marc is oft to tell me.

Anyway, I started by mixing a small amount of resin (one to one - equal parts) to lay in the bottom of the mould compartments I have chosen to use. The mixture was bubbly, which you don’t want, but following the instructions, I held my heat gun about 8 ins above each compartment and the bubbles appeared to pop.

I waited about ten minutes before adding some really basic bits just to see how things worked, this was pure experimentation. I placed those that only had one side (like the snowflake and snowman) front side down, not sure why  and then when I thought the resin had suitably settled, I left my comfort zone totally and sprinkled ultra fine glitter on top to see what effect it would be like behind the embellishments.

Then followed a long 24 hour waiting game, not an easy task for someone as impatient  as me to see how an idea has turned out.  I wasn’t sure of timing, but thought 24 hours with absolutely no fiddling would be enough before attempting to remove anything from the moulds.

I’ll be honest I was expecting the worse but praying for the best, because if they came out pants I knew it would put me off trying again for a long while.

I was quite impressed, a couple of disasters like the snowflake that disappeared in the glitter, the cloudy letter B in a circle and the wrong choice of glitter with the pumpkins, all easily sorted the next time round. The best ones, in my opinion are the Christmas tree and snowman …….  I just need to take my time, and wait until the resin is set enough to take the glitter without it sinking to the bottom. I also need to take my time making sure embellishments are standing straight and that stars etc. are distributed more evenly (with the aid of a cocktail stick), again, while the resin is a little less runny.

As I write this I have another set “curing”, having learned an awful lot from this first lesson. I have two ideas in particular that I want to hone, one using a metal Christmas tree embellishment and the other a short string of tiny metallic Christmas lights, which I plan, if they work, to use as parcel or tag charms (?????)

I also need a couple more trays with same shapes i.e. squares and oblongs, that are also the same size, so that I can make more than one of the same idea at a time.  My trays of choice are currently sat sitting in my Amazon basket, I hope to press the “buy now” button after I see how this next batch turn out, fingers crossed!