Initially I wanted to learn how to work with resin because I wanted to create geode-like coasters that I saw on the internet. They just looked so incredibly beautiful to me but I never ended up purchasing any of them because they all were so pricey and I could never justify spending that much money on coasters. Especially because they all seemed so small (their diameters were usually around 6-8 cm).
So instead of spending a lot of money on pre-made coasters, I ended up spending 10 times as much on resin, pigments, inks, acrylic paint and all the tools necessary (cups, spatulas, digital scale, heatgun and I could go on). 😀
I find it hard to work with resin because it behaves so unpredictable. Every little step of the whole process matters and every little move can ruin the piece. I could go existential and say that ‘working with resin can teach you a valuable lesson about giving up control’ but I myself resist learning that lesson every step of the way. I always have a very exact idea about how I want the end result to look like and after all the money I spent so far on materials, I can honestly say that not one of my cerations turned out how I wanted them to turn out.
Still, I grew fond of this particular piece. I have it on my desk now and use it as a little coaster for things like nail polishes and eye drops. The base of it was a white hexagon resin coaster and once it was cured, I went in with the fun stuff. I learned a really cool technique from YouTube where you pour alcohol on the surface of your creation and then use drops of alcohol ink and a heatgun to achieve this random, wavey pattern. I used blue, green, yellow and some gold. After I made peace with the end result (it wasn’t exactly what I had in mind, but I could not rub it off and restart because the inks stain the white straight away) I let it dry for a good day and then poured clear resin over the top to seal it.
After it was all done, I asked Shaun to take a picture of it because he’s so good with that. He even sneaked my logo in the frame.
art from scratch 