Art Resin / Epoxy

Over the last few years I have noticed an emerging trend of art that has a thicky shiny coating over it. After some research discovered that artists would pour an epoxy/resin over their art. As the epoxy dried it gave the art a wet, shiny look. But to the touch it was a hard, thick protective shell. 

Intrigued, I googled some more and I discovered that this process was easy to do - and the mixture was available to the public to buy. So about a year ago I bought some from ArtResin.com with the intention to do some art. My order was delivered and truthfully I was a little bit nervous to tackle the project. Mixing chemicals isn't really something I'm awesome at (memories of grade 7 science class) - but I can tell you that after trying it, it is SUPER easy and the results are so fun. Really, any adult can do this. I made an art box with a photo of my brother (shown above). If you're interested in the process, more details after the jump.

First up I chose a photo that I liked and cut it to the size of the box. I simply printed it out on photo paper on my ink jet printer. I cut it to size...

I used a wet glue but after the fact I realize I should have used a glue stick. My way still worked, but my project likely would have improved if I had done a dry glue.

Because it was a wet glue it started to curl a bit - so I flipped it over to dry in place.

This step wouldn't be necessary with a glue stick. Once the photo has dried on the box, next comes the epoxy process. SO FUN!

Here is where I'm going to jump into the details of "how to" with text. I was home alone, and mixing the resin is a time sensitive operation - and being my first time I decided not to try photographing what I did. But basically it's very simple. Mix equal parts of the Resin (left) and the Hardener (Right), Mix vigorously in a clean container with a paint stick, whipping it like cake batter. Then you carefully pour on top of your art, using a clean sponge brush to gently push it around. The odour wasn't too bad, but I still did it outside. I brought it inside to dry, after realizing the fumes weren't bad. 

I do want to say that after I did my photo box project I took the time to browse some of the videos on the manufacturers website. bad timing on my part. I wish that I had watched this video before I did my project because there are some helpful tips and improvements on how to do the project. So if you're going to do a similar project, watch a video first.



Anyhow, that was it! It's really a simple project once you're set up to do it. It takes an hour perhaps from start to finish (setting up, doing it, clean up) I'm going to make some of these for gifts this season. I'll post more as I make them.

xo Linds