Halloween: Resin to the Rescue Salvaged Stand

 

I love it when a plan I didn't have comes together.  I picked up a couple of those flat-ish glass round plate / dish / tray thingies. I'm really not sure what they're called but for me, they were "surface to play with!". I fugured they'd make great trinket dishes or a smaller tiered tray or something. I was thinking originally that I'd play with alcohol inks. 

While taking them out of my craft closet, OOPS! I dropped one and since we have HARD tile floors, it broke. But it didn't shatter, and as someone who likes to salvage things it looked like it could be glued back together. I then got the idea of doing Japanese Kintsugi, the process of adding gold leaf to cracks in pottery, and THEN I remembered I also had some resin from Dollar Tree to play with. Still with me?

Supplies:

• Dollar Tree Clear Glass Dish
• Chunky Glitter
• Resin (I used Epoxy Resin vs UV)

This is the dish thingy I'm talking about. They're usually with the kitchen stuff. And you can see how almost perfectly it broke. I used some Aleene's Clear Tacky glue to glue it back together. 

This is the resin I picked up at DT and the ones I've been in recently look like they've restocked it because it was impossible to find for a while. You need both A and B which work together. Last year, I also found this container of chunky glitter.

I dumped some of the glitter atop the dish and spreadh it out using a dry paint brush, making sure I covered the visible cracks. Then, following the instructions for the resin, mixed and poured.

Since the glass and resin are both clear, it's hard to see the effect in a picture, but this is after the resin was poured. I set it aside to cure for 24 hours. You can see the one piece I couldn't fill in, but it doesn't matter because whatever ends up going on top will obscure it. 

I was so happy with the way it turned out that I went ahead and used the unbroken one and another set of resin to make another! 

For now, I'm showing with this cute Skeleton Bunny I found at Walmart and fell in love with. 

Gotta love a happy accident, right? Now, of course, I want to do a couple of these for Christmas and Hanukkah! 

My First Resin Project!

I may or may not have accidentally prematurely posted this before :) so you may or may not be confused! We'll just pretend that didn't happen OK? 

I have LONG wanted to play with Resin, but have been intimidated to try it. When I recently had the opportunity to try Envirotex Lite by ETI (Environmental Technology Inc) , I was so excited to jump right in! I am not always good at reading instructions…ask Mr. Chocolate. But I CAREFULLY read the instruction sheet that came with the package which was super easy to follow.

EnviroTex Lite has many many uses from finishing furniture to home dec uses to jewelry making. I decided I would do a pendant.

I bought these fun bezels from the Bezels, Frames and Filigree collection by Bead Landing at Michaels. I was so excited I pulled them off the card before I took a picture! I had this great collage paper in my stash by Kand Co so the hardest part was deciding on a focal image.

Decided on this one (you can’t go wrong with Paris) and punched a circle out, then using PVA glue, glued it to the center of my pendant (you can see the glue’s not quite dry here but it dries clear) . Make sure you coat it really well so you don’t get any edges coming up

I also had some glass micro beads in my stash. In doing some prep reading about using resins, I followed the advice not to use plastic or coated beads because of interaction with the resin. I poured some in this bezel as well as a smaller bezel from the same package.

OK GO time on the resin. READ THE INSTRUCTIONS CAREFULLY! Just sayin’…if you’re like me and usually don’t. Mix your resin. Oh man. I was nervous. And I should NOT have been! You mix the two components together in a clean cup (ETI provided plastic cups and wooden stir sticks). When I thought it looked ready ( which I based on stirring it for the two minutes the instructions said) , I was ready to pour!

Sorry , no pics of this part of the process because I was so focused on not goofing up! A little goes a LONG way. I used an ounce each of the resin and the hardener and had leftover.

It’s hard to tell from this pic but this is after the resin has been poured and set. Mine bubbled when I first poured it and the instructions said to go over it lightly with a match or butane lighter.  I chose to do this project when hubs wasn’t home in case it came to this! Also in case it was smelly…he doesn’t do smelly. It was not at all but I ensured good ventilation just to be safe.
I just waved my pencil torch lightly over the top and voila, the bubbles disappeared! You can see the micro beads floating in the resin.

You can see the depth of the resin here a little better on the smaller pendant. I filled it w/ micro beads, poured the resin on top and then sprinkled a few more micro beads on top. Why? Cause I did.

Once my pendant had set and dried ,  I went to work on the necklace, just wire wrapping a collection of crystals, pearls and agate, and using different lengths of chain. But the focal is this pendant which I’m so happy with and LOVE LOVE LOVE working with this resin!

Thank you SO much ETI for the chance to experiment with Envirotex Lite. I am HOOKED!

ETI sent me this product to try out. You won’t believe all that you can do with this product.  Envirotex Lite was created by Environmental Technologies Inc. (ETI), which is the home for many resin and mold making products.
 

The use of resin in jewelry making, mixed media and paper arts continues to grow in popularity. Today, artists are using ETI’s products in many crafty ways and they will be showcasing these works of art on their new blog "Resin Crafts".

Check them out on:
Resin Crafts Blog
ETI on Facebook
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