The Perfect Handmade Gift for the Geek in Your Life
Remember that iconic 70s and 80s arcade game, Space Invaders? For those of us old enough to remember, this project is a fun throwback to your teenage years. This resin Space Invaders coaster would make a great gift for the geeky person on your gift list.
Work out the volume of your mould by filling it with rice and tipping it into a measuring cup. Mix enough resin to two thirds fill the mould. Mix it well and then divide it between two cups. Colour one green and the other black. Pour the black resin into the bottom of the coaster mould and set it aside to cure.
Spoon the green resin into the trivet in the shape of a Space Invader. You can find pixelated pictures for this online. Make sure the Space Invader will fit inside your coaster mould. Use the toothpick to push the resin into every corner of the pixels, pop the bubbles and set the resin aside to cure.
Place packing tape across the back of the Space Invader and peel the Space Invader out of the trivet.
Trim the tape close to the resin. The unattached pixels can be repositioned when you place the Space Invader into the mould.
Mix enough resin to fill the mould. Pour a thin layer on the black and place the Space Invader on top. Top up the mould and then tease out any bubbles. Leave the resin to cure.
Gently peel away the silicone from the resin and pull the coaster out.
One of the easiest ways to turn your resin castings into jewellery is to attach them to jewellery blanks. You'll need to use a strong adhesive for a permanent bond. A lot of people recommend E-6000 but I've had only limited success with it, especially on bracelets and rings that get knocked around a lot when you wear them. I've found I get a much stronger and more secure bond with 5-minute epoxy adhesive. It comes in two parts, just like resin, because it IS resin and that's why it's such a strong adhesive. But to make sure that you get the best results with it, you need to mix it properly.
Start by dispensing equal amounts of each part from the tubes or syringe onto a plastic surface. I use an ice cream lid because the cured adhesive can easily be removed and the lid reused.
Take a paddle pop stick and begin mixing the two parts together. It's important that you scrape all the adhesive from the edges into the middle so it can be mixed in thoroughly.
Now keep mixing it with the paddle pop stick and you will notice it takes on a milky white appearance as you mix and the tendency is to think that it's going off and that you should use it at this stage. But not so... this is just part of the mixing process. Keep mixing! Mixing a small amount like this will take around 2 minutes.
It will become clear again and that's when you know it's ready to use.
Now apply it to the surface of the jewellery blank. You don't need to apply it too thickly or to spread it all the way out to the edges as it may ooze out in the next step.
Position the cabochon onto the adhesive.
Then flip the piece over and make sure the jewellery blank is centred on the back of the cabochon. Hold it for a couple of minutes until the adhesive has grabbed. If you set it down too soon, the cabochon may slide off centre.
I like to leave pieces for several hours before wearing them to give the adhesive a chance to cure. But refer to the directions on your adhesive which will tell you how long it takes until the bond reaches full strength.
Resin art is a fun way to create a piece of contemporary art that you can proudly display in your home. And it's not difficult to get started with pouring resin. If you've been admiring all the incredible fluid art pieces on Pinterest and want to know how it's done, then this tutorial is for you. It shows you a simple technique for creating resin cells in your artwork. The black and white colour scheme makes the cells even more dramatic!
I've put together a shopping list of all the supplies you'll need to make your own piece of resin art:
Before you get underway, protect your work surface with a plastic painter's drop sheet. Resin is really sticky stuff and you don't want to get it on you. Wear goggles and gloves at all times and work in a well ventilated area.
Elevate the art panel on some cups and then level the canvas. Resin will always find the low point so if your canvas is not level, the resin will flow in that direction, which can spoil your artwork.
Before you begin, tape the back of the art panel or painting panel with painter's tape and burnish the edges. This will make it easier to remove any resin that overflows.
Mixing and Colouring the Resin
Measure out 125mls (4oz) of Part A and 125mls (4oz) of Part B of EnviroTex Lite in the same cup. Mix the resin thoroughly, following the mixing instructions included in the resin kit.
Pour 30mls (1oz) of resin into each of two small cups. Colour one with silver and one with gold. Use enough powder to make them opaque.
Colour the remaining resin with enough black pigment to make it opaque.
Pour the black resin across the art panel in large bands of colour. Keep some large open spaces for the white resin.
Mix another 250ml (8oz) batch of resin. Pour half into another cup and colour it with enough white pigment to make it opaque. Set the rest aside. (It can be coloured later with either black or white to fill any gaps as needed.)
Creating Resin Cells
The magic ingredient for creating cells is demethicone. It behaves like a repellent and disperses the resin. Add 5 drops of the dispersion media into the white resin and stir through very lightly. The amount of stirring you do actually determines the size of the cells.
Pour the white resin in the open spaces on the canvas alongside the black. You will see cells developing where the two colours meet. If the cells don't begin to form, pick up the painting with your gloved hands and tilt the panel just enough so that the resin begins to move. This should open up the cells.
Drizzle the thickened silver resin along some of the edges where the black and white meet. You don't need to add too much, just to add some highlights.
Learning when to STOP!
Use the heat gun to move the resin out towards the edges of the canvas. As the white resin moves across the surface of the black, even more cells will open up. Pushing the resin around is fun to do but it's easy to get carried away and you need to STOP!! If you overdo the heat gun, the colours will mix too much making the patterns overly busy. You really want to keep some solid bands of colour. If you still have gaps around the edges, pour more resin from the cups to fill them in.
Drizzle some thickened gold resin wherever you would like gold highlights.
Use the heatgun to soften and spread out the gold a little. Keep the heatgun moving at all times and take care not to over heat or burn the resin.
Brush the sides of the canvas with the resin that has fallen onto the dropsheet.
Now your canvas is finished... but the resin will keep moving until it reaches gel stage. Once you're happy with how the canvas looks, pass the butane torch across the canvas to pop any bubbles. You may need to do this again a couple of hours later. Leave the canvas to cure overnight.
Clean off any residue from the dispersion media thoroughly with a soft, dry cloth. If any silicone oil remains on the surface of the resin, it will repel the resin top coat.
Mix approximately 375mls (12oz) of EnviroTex Lite (do this in two batches) and pour it across the art panel. Pop the bubbles and leave the resin to cure 24 hours.
It's almost time to hang your masterpiece. But wait.... there's still tape and resin drips on the back to remove. You can see how to do that in this short video:
Pin this project!
Now that you've removed the tape, go ahead and hang your masterpiece.
What do you do when you've made a resin bangle and it hasn't turned out very well? Maybe it's filled with bubbles, or the colour isn't what you want, or there's some other blemish that you wish you could hide. Today I'm going to show you a trick I sometimes use to disguise imperfections. And it looks absolutely stunning!
I'm starting out with a bangle that is full of bubbles. Other than the bubbles, there's nothing wrong with the bangle.
Here's a shopping list of what you'll need for this technique:
This is a messy process and I like to work on a non-stick craft sheet because it's so easy to wipe clean afterwards. Before you begin, put on your gloves.
Apply a drop of one of your chosen colours onto the surface of the bangle. Whilst it's still liquid, blow through the straw to make the ink splatter and spread.
Take a second colour and do the same thing. You can overlap colours if you like because dried alcohol ink is reactivated by wet alcohol ink, so the colours will blend. Cover the whole bangle in this way. If the alcohol ink gets on the inside of the bangle, blow the ink until it splatters and can't be spread any further.
Now comes the magic!
Apply a couple of drops of metallic alcohol ink. It will run but that doesn't matter.
Now, immediately add a drop of Claro Extender to the metallic ink. It will keep the ink from drying too fast. It will also reactivate the colours underneath.
Position the straw over the metallic ink and blow it around so that it disperses across the surface of the bangle. It will create a rich ripple or marble effect. You can also try blowing it around without using the Claro Extender for a more solid look.
Apply the metallic ink over other areas of the bangle. Disperse any excess on the inside of the bangle too. You can see how it's lightened some of the really dark areas of alcohol ink.
Now you need to set aside to dry. Alcohol ink dries pretty quickly, but if you have really piled on the alcohol ink, leave it to dry for a few days before the next step.
Sealing the Bangle to Protect It
This next step is optional but if you choose not to do it, then see the note at the bottom of the post.
Put the bangle on some newspapers or a plastic drop sheet and spray it with a couple of light coats of Krylon Triple Thick Crystal Clear Glaze, allowing each one to dry before applying the next.
Note: If you choose to skip the sealing step, then make sure that you keep all alcohol away from the bangle. There's alcohol in a lot of products that you might not even think of: cleaning products, perfume and hairspray, to name a few. If you don't want the alcohol ink to get reactivated and rub off onto your skin and clothes, then sealing the bangle is the way to go!
My hands get some pretty rough treatment in the studio and because they are always in front of the camera, I get a regular manicure to keep them looking good. You've probably noticed that my nails are always a different colour!
Whilst visiting my nail technician last week, I noticed she had some gorgeous 3D bubble roses on her nails and I realised immediately that this was something that we could do with UV jewellery resin. It's just a matter of building up layers of resin and painting each layer with colour. In the nail world, they paint the rose petals with gel nail polish but I've used alcohol inks which worked just fine.
JoolTool or metal file to grind the bottom of the bead flat
To turn your bead into a ring, you'll need:
a filigree ring base
5-minute epoxy adhesive
chain nose pliers
How to Make a UV Resin Rose Bead
Start by applying a bead of resin to the tip of the ball tool.
Place it under the UV lamp to cure. You'll need to rotate the tool constantly so the resin doesn't drip or cure lopsided. This will take several minutes depending on your nail lamp.
Apply another layer of resin over the cured resin and dip the ball into the bead caviar. This will become the stamens of the rose. Then place it under the nail lamp again, constantly rotating it until the resin has gelled and the beads are adhered.
Apply a coat of resin over the bead caviar and cure it under the nail lamp, rotating it until the resin gels.
Squeeze a drop of white and pink alcohol ink onto the palette and dip your brush into each colour. Paint three of four petals around the resin ball. You want them to cup the caviar a little.
Once the alcohol ink has dried, apply a coat of resin to the whole ball and cure as before. If you apply a thick layer then it will take more time to cure. If your layer is thin, then you'll need to apply a second coat.
Paint another layer of petals on the resin, lining them up in between the petals of the first layer but so that they sit slightly lower.
Continue adding layers of resin and alcohol ink until your bead is the size that you want.
The bead should be easy to remove from the needle - just give it a twist and pull it off.
Now you need to flatten the bottom so that it will sit on the ring base. I used the JoolTool with a grinding disk because it removes the excess material so quickly and you can see what you're doing as the ninja disk rotates. I absolutely love this tool! But you could just as easily use a hand file to get the same result.
Turn the Resin Rose Bead into a Ring
Use the pliers to open out the prongs on the ring base a little so that the bead sits snugly.
Mix up the 5-minute epoxy and apply some to the base of the bead.
Press the bead into the ring base and hold it in position for a couple of minutes.
And now your Resin Rose Bubble ring is ready to wear!
Avoid this mistake!
For the first bead I made, it seemed like a good idea to form the UV resin around the tip of a ball tool but that made it very hard to remove. To get it off, I had to use the grinding attachment on my Her Embosser Tool to create a flat base around the base of the bead.
Then I had to switch to the drill to drill out the resin from around the spindle of the ball tool. I was lucky that the spindle came out of the ball tool so that I could drill almost vertically down to the ball tip without the wooden handle getting in the way.
Then I had to grip the shaft with a pair of pliers whilst pulling and wiggling the bead until it came free.
It took a fair bit of effort so I highly recommend building your bead on a needle tool!
