I have a few suncatchers / ornaments on hand for last minute holiday gifting. Drop me an email, message me on twitter or tag me on my facebook page (see social links down on the right) if you would like to see them. Rectangular ones cost $25 each and are generally between 6-7 inches tall (including hanger) and square ones cost $15 each and are generally around 4-4.5 inches tall (including hanger). I also have some coasters available. I’ll try to get some good photos of them this week.
Category: Resin
Things I’ve made in resin – usually coasters or beads. Sometimes incorporating glass, but often also found objects such as sand / shells, hair from beloved pets, etc.
Counter Protector – done!
This is how my “peacock inspired” resin embellished tempered glass counter protector 16″ x 20″ / Cutting Board came out. There were only a few drips on the painter’s tape.
I think it’s prettier on the bottom, where you are looking directly at the resin rather than viewing it through the glass, but it’s still pretty.
Glass counter protector / cutting board
I found this large (approximately 15 7/8″ x 19 7/8″) glass trivet / cutting board stashed away in our laundry room. I haven’t used it since we had our laminate countertops replaced with granite. I decided to try decorating the underside of the piece. Although resin is often used for coating countertops and tables, it’s not suited for the 400℉ casserole dish that just came out of the oven, nor for use as a cutting board, so decorating the underside should be safe and allow the piece to retain its usefulness. I’m not sure how the decoration will look through the texture of the glass, but that is part of the fun of experimenting with new materials. If I don’t like the look, I don’t have to do it again, and the piece can be used for other purposes, or just to look at!
I cleaned the glass and removed the residue from the rubber feet, then used painter’s tape to cover what are the edges of the top side of the piece, as I’m pouring upside down (pouring the resin on the underside). I’m also hesitant about that, as I will have more control over the top of the resin, which will ultimately be the bottom side of the piece if things go as I’m thinking they will.
These are the pigments I selected for this project. They remind me of the colors in a peacock’s plumage. I mixed up 200 ml of resin, then split it in about fifths between the four pigments, holding back some in case I needed to add more of one color or another later.
Then I began pouring the resin. I started with the deepest blue and then made concentric rings around it using alternating colors.
Once I had a good amount poured, I started moving the resin around the glass with my heat gun. I just wanted to spread it out and mix the colors at this point.
After that, I just repeated the process of pouring and spreading with the heat gun until I had the resin very close to covering all of the glass board.
I used a wooden craft stick to move the resin to the very edges of the glass. The resin was starting to thicken at this point, so it did not drip very much.
After this, I just made several passed with the heat gun, adding pigment here and there where I thought more was needed. This was mainly to remove bubbles.
It should be cured tomorrow, so I will get a better photo of it then.
Second Lazy Susan
The resin cured overnight on this 16″ project and I was able to take a few snapshots of the final product. I’m much happier with the way this one turned out than the first one. Not that the first one looks bad – it just doesn’t look quite the way that I meant for it to look (the colors were lighter than I intended on the first one).
Detail of the pigmented resin.
Inspired by nature
About four years ago we had the best family vacation ever at Yellowstone National Park. If you have been there, chances are you have seen Morning Glory Pool.
Yellowstone was amazing to me – I saw so many things that were beautiful and / or that I had just never seen nor imagined! Morning Glory Pool is what was on my mind when I started working on my second lazy susan resin project. I didn’t use any glass in this project; it was just a spur of the moment creation after I decided to embellish two wooden lazy susans we had that have been in storage. This one is 16″ across.
I gathered the colors I wanted to use. I tried to use fewer than on my first lazy susan. I considered adding some alcohol ink, but ended up not using it for this project. I haven’t experimented with that yet.
I mixed the resin and started pouring it in concentric circles from the center of the lazy susan. I tried to use higher contrasting colors between each ring. I forgot to take a photo of this before I started moving the resin with the heat gun, but here it is with the first layer poured and blown with the heat gun.
From there, it’s just a matter of more pouring, then more moving the resin around with the heat gun – repeating the cycle until I was happy with the look.
I tried to be a bit neater with this one, and the sharper edges on this lazy susan made it easier to do so. I used a sponge on a stick to put a layer of resin all around the edges of the piece, but also let some of the resin just flow over the edge.
I used the heat gun to make the textured appearance in the pigments by moving the resin back and forth across itself repeatedly.
After this, I used my gloved fingers to clean up any drips from the underside of the lazy susan. I still had a lot of drips even after doing that on my first one, but I think I had less waste on this project to drip over the edge. Still I will check on it a few more times to see if any appear, as it’s much easier to deal with them before it cures. Now I just wait overnight to see how it turned out.
What do you think – do you see any resemblance?
First Lazy Susan done
The lazy susan I worked on yesterday is pretty much cured. It came out a lighter shade than I had planned on, but is still pretty.
Here are some close ups of the detail in the resin.
Branching out with resin
Ok, this is not a glass project whatsoever, but it’s something I have been wanting to try for a while. I have been doing some minor decluttering around the house and in the process ran across a couple of old wooden lazy susans that have just been sitting around for the last 15 or so years. This one measures 14″ across. I decided to try out decorating them with resin. I was hoping for a “beachy” look, but, well, you can judge for yourself. And remember this was my first try.
I used a lot of powdered pigment colors for this. Probably overkill, but it’s my first try. I mixed some yellow with white and later actually added a tiny touch of brown to it because I was going for a sandy look with this color.
I mixed the clear resin (about 200 ml), then poured it into the individual containers with the powdered pigments and stirred some more.
Now comes the leap of faith, as once I started working with the resin, I was making a mess and didn’t want to touch my phone to take photos. However, the process was basically to add a circle of the yellow/white/brown (sand) mixture to the center of the board, then add concentric rings of different colors, trying to alternate with white frequently (I mixed about twice as much white as any other color). I also held back a small amount of the clear to use as accents. I filled in any bare spots within the rings with the gold colored resin. Once the lazy susan was about 3/4 covered, I used my heat gun to move the resin around and completely cover the lazy susan.
I used my (gloved) fingers, a sponge brush and stir sticks to try to clean up the drips from the underside of the lazy susan. Ultimately my fingers seemed to work best for this. I kept messing around with it a bit until the resin started to firm up, and there was one spot that wanted to bubble even though I sealed the wood beforehand.
This is how it turned out by the time I was done pouring and blowing it with the heat gun. Overall, it wasn’t really the look I was going for (beach), but I still think it is pretty. For a first try, it is OK. I think I should not have used so many similar colors – I need to stick with fewer, more contrasty shades. I’ll see how it looks after it cures tomorrow. I also want to try this with alcohol inks, but one step at a time. I had a small amount of resin left over, so I poured one coaster (half a layer – it will need more resin to finish it).
End of Show!
Today is the last day of the Charleston Holiday Market, and it was a busy day. My Mermaid mosaic, Starfish Trio, and Here Comes the Sun mosaic windows all found loving new homes, along with numerous smaller pieces. I’ve made a *little* bit of room to make some new things, so hopefully I will have time to revisit the sunset mosaic I started a few weeks ago with dichroic glass.
Charleston Holiday Market!
I had a busy first day at the Charleston Holiday Market today (you can get a coupon for a dollar off admission if you visit their website). I will be there from 10am to 6pm tomorrow (Saturday) and 11am to 5pm on Sunday. I don’t think I will have a single coaster left by this time Sunday. My Beach Window went to a loving home, and several ornaments did, as well. Since this is my first time participating in such a large show, it is a great learning experience!
The best part is that I will have a whole year to prepare for next time; I will know what items resonate with people most and be able to work on similar projects. The date for this creeped up on my quickly because I signed up late in the game, but I will have plenty of time to prepare for next year. Since all of my projects (coasters, ornaments) take at a minimum 2 days to make (windows much longer), I can’t quickly make more. That is part of what makes them special, though! I still have some coasters, plenty of ornaments (both glass and resin) and several window mosaics for the rest of the weekend, though. Come on out to the Convention Center and visit – it’s a great time! Another bonus is that my booth is right next to Mountain Mist – I love their products (especially anything in Orange Blossom scent). My family thinks I will spend all of my earnings in their booth, though.
If I sell out of anything you really like, I can make more – just send me a message. My items are all one of a kind, but I can make something pretty close to what I made before (especially in glass – the coasters are more difficult to reproduce).
Yesterday’s ornaments!
I finished these yesterday and they cured overnight – here’s how they turned out!
