How to get started with Resin Painting

Beach Theme Resin Art

          Hi friends...sharing my new found love and craze...resin painting! And can you believe this is my very first resin art...and I an chuffed to say I am sooo proud of it  as I learnt it all by myself by trial and error [ and ahem make that many many errors]!!

Beach Theme Resin Art

Resin when used as paint has a mind of its own and my 2nd piece above didn't turn out quite as I expected as far as t blending of colours went but it still does look quite pretty doesnt it?

Beach theme Resin Art

 I have been experimenting like crazy with resin and this one is my latest piece which I finished yesterday ...it  is a layered painting...I let one layer of resin painting dry for 12 hours and then added a 2nd layer of resin paints over it ..so it is more rich and you can see the glitter in the  layer underneath also.

Resin Art

What prompted me to write this post is that though resin art is technically simple there is a good learning curve in it and  even though there is a ton of information out there...everything is not covered especially from a beginner's point of view!

I have posted Videos of these resin seascapes on Instagram so please do check it out to see the  real beauty of resin! https://www.instagram.com/drsoniasv/

           I am actually not a complete neophyte in resin work as I have been using resin [ an unbranded one] since a couple of years to make handmade  resin embellishments using silicon moulds but this is the  first time I have used resin as an artistic medium.
If you have never tried working with resin I strongly urge you to first start your resin journey using moulds. Using resin with moulds is comparatively easy and super fun!
Using resin with moulds is a  cool way to make your own earrings, charms, bag charms, key-chains etc
And here are some of the  numerous ways in which a paper-crafter can use handmade resin embellishments :
Multiple resin elements:House Shaped Organizer Box
Resin dolphin,cabochon and water droplets:Ocean themed mixed media Box
Resin dolphin: House Shaped Organizer Box, Sun and Sea Photoframe , Ocean themed mixed media Box,
Resin Fairy :Texture Media Experiments ,Jute Flower Penstand ,Altered Heart Tutorial,Resin Fairy Card
Resin leaf : Collage Clay Crafts;Resin heart:Mixed Media Mini Book
Resin cabochon: Mixed Media Altered Box Tutorial
Resin flower vase: Resin Flower Vase Card

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A post shared by DrSonia (@drsoniasv) on Nov 7, 2019 at 6:41am PST

Recently inspired by resin work I had seen my crafter friends [ Tanvi Shah and Anushree Vaish] post on Facebook, I took the  plunge and bravely ordered  resin  and dyes from a brand called Epoke which is used by professional resin artists.

Epoke Resin

What attracted me to this particular  brand is that it is non yellowing[ many clear resin brands have a tendency to yellow over time], non toxic and food grade safe.

Colouring Resin

Resin Dyes

You can use Alcohol inks to tint resin to give it a translucent nearly transparent appearance which is good for making resin embellishments. I found that for resin paintings opaque pigments combined with a just one translucent shade gave the  best look. Theoretically you can use acrylic paints but whether the  brand you are using will be compatible with resin is a risk as it can interfere with the  curing of resin and spoil your whole work of art if it acts up! I picked up some metallic, translucent and opaque colors from Epoke.
For paintings...my favourite are the  opaque colours and though they are expensive you hardly need a tiny pinch to colour your resin! Just remember that you don"t have to go all out and buy the  whole set[ He-he I know that many crafters are tempted to go the  whole set way!]

Base
Wood and especially cheap MDF is the  most popular base and the  best choice for beginners.Canvas is not for beginners as it wont take the  weight of resin unless you do time consuming steps like backing it with wood to take the  weight
I used a scrap piece of wood from my husband's stash [ he dabbles in a little bit of woodworking now and then]as the base.

Scrap MDF wood

Preparing the  Base

Give at least 2 coats of  gesso to your base.

I  learnt the hard way that just one coating is not enough...resin is so translucent that you will be able to see even the  brush strokes and wood grain on your base if you are using light colors of resin.

Wood primed with Gesso

Resin will drip no mater what you do!! To make it easier to clean the  backside of your painting you can cover it with tape or use a light smearing of vaseline on the  borders of the  backside of your wooden piece.This makes it easier to peel of the  dripped resin once your painting has cured [means dried nicely]

Preparing the  base

Preparing the  working surface
Resin painting is messy  and exciting but to make sure you don"t spoil your table cover it with thick newspapers and a big sheet of plastic.

Raise your base [which is a wooden plank in my case] on some plastic or paper  cups as resin invariably drips and if you don"t raise your base it can get stuck to your working surface

Leveller

Now you need to make sure the  base you are painting on is level....this is soooo important! I learnt the  hard way that if you are not finicky about your leveling...all your precious resin will just drip off one part of your painting [you can still salvage it but you will  have wasted precious resin! ] . You can use a bubble level like the  one pictured above or use a handy Level tool from the  Art resin website.

Art Resin Level

You just have to open the  website link on your mobile and place your mobile on your base. As long as the  back of your mobile does not have any bumps , your mobile will work as your level tool.

The tool from Art resin is actually super accurate and I warn you it can be in fact frustrating to get the  levels to tally zero!! 

Tip for leveling : use wooden or plastic ice-cream sticks to raise each corner of your base to get it to level

Plan your  Extras [Embellishments]

Start Measuring and Mixing your Resin only after you have everything ready

including any embellishments such as glitters, shells, sequins etc you may be planning to use. 

Chunky Glitters

Resin will start to cure pretty fast depending on the  brand you are using and you cant afford to waste time looking for stuff after you have mixed it!

Measuring Your Resin and Hardener

Cups

Resin work involves accurate mixing of the  2 components of resin and depending on the  brand you are using you need to measure either by volume or weight.

Use Paper or plastic cups to measure your resin and have on hand some plastic or wooden ice cream sticks to help in the  mixing [ I use plastic tongue depressors as you can easily reuse them...resin just peels off from it once it dries ]

The brand of resin I had used earlier required mixing by volume but Epoke requires mixing in a ratio by weight . In such cases your best and easiest option is a digital kitchen scale.

Digital Scale

Don't forget to have some cloth or tissue paper to wipe stuff as you go...resin painting is messy work!

Tissue Paper

Have gloves handy too unless you want to spend hours washing your hands to get rid off sticky resin!

Heat Gun

I saw many artists use a heat gun or a blow torch to move their resin paints around.....Paper crafters may be having a heat gun for embossing and drying paints in mixed media work. 

I found the  heat gun good to remove bubbles in resin but the  Epoke brand of resin which I used had an auto bubble release formula so I didn't really have any problems with bubbles in all my paintings  

As far as moving the  paints around....it tended to really mix your colours if you were not careful and you could very easily get a more controlled blend of colours with your plastic spatula . So yes the  heat gun is not the  most essential tool for a novice resin artist.

Keep a few Moulds on hand

Resin is expensive and you won't want to waste even a drop so have on hand a couple of moulds to use leftovers and even the  drips which spill onto the  plastic surface you are working on [you can scoop up drips with a plastic spoon and use it to fill your moulds]

Moulds

Once you have everything ready.....measure and mix your resin components . Epoke recommends mixing for a good 5-10 minutes and then resting the  resin for 10 minutes for air bubbles to release. Each resin brand will have it's own recommendation on mixing time, pot time and cure time. With Epoke you get a good 45 minutes to complete your painting after mixing your resin...if you have everything ready...you will be done without any hassles.

I mixed 6 colors to make my ocean themed paintings and then simply poured the  colours one by one on my base and blended in the  colours with the  heat gun or the  spatula...it was cool and exhilarating !!!

Resin Resources
In this post I won't take you into resin painting techniques...there are numerous enchanting videos both on YouTube and Instagram for that but  here are two websites with a ton of information
Artresin
Resin Obsession

I love anything related to the ocean and so all  my resin paintings are inspired by the  sea! Here are  2 more  resin art pieces I made ... this time not on wooden scraps but on store bought MDF.

Resin Art

Love how the  chunky glitter shimmers on the  resin.

Resin Art

I used shells from our various beach holidays . Resin is a wonderful way to showcase shells as it is a fabulous adhesive and the  shimmer of resin showcases the  beauty of shells perfectly.

Resin Art

Love how the  waves/ clouds [ whichever way you think of the  white wispy elements !] turned out....I created them by twirling a skewer stick in the  resin!

Resin Art

The best thing about resin is art just happens!!!  I had applied a fairly uniform thickness of glitter in the  dark blue area but while the  resin cured...the  glitter moved to create a beautiful  design!

Resin Art

I am so happy I could find a way to display years of shell collection in such a lovely way.

Resin Art

Hope you like my resin  paintings and hope this post will be of use if you take the  plunge into the  beautiful world of resin art!

Resin Art