resin – Page 4 – Sherry Glaab

Birds and Trees

Today I laid out some designs and glued them in place. These will have a lot more detail once the resin is poured and decorated. I like to use “glass chunk snow” under the trees and glass chips / mica accents for sparkle.

Glued in place and propped up for drying

Flock of Triangles

The resin cured overnight on the ornaments I made yesterday, so I cleaned them and my work area up and started on some…more….ORNAMENTS!

The large snowmen are around 6″ (not including hanger), the medium snowmen are around 3.5″ and the smaller ones are around 3″. The dichro-cicles range from around 4.5″-2″. I have some additional backer glass ready for more ornaments, but I haven’t made many “parts” for the scenes, so I decided to make a stockpile of cardinals to use.

First I cut out the triangles, then grind the edges to smooth & shape them. Then I dry them off and paint the black patch on each bird’s face. Once that dries, I paint the orange beak on top. After that layer dries, I can flip them over and start again with the black and orange layers. I like the simplicity of these little red birds.

Ornaments II

The other morning I glued the metal hooks / receivers that will be used to hang the ornaments with MAC glue. I like to glue them even though the resin coating will hold them in place. The next step will be coating them with resin and decorating the resin with glass chips and mica.

Before I can pour the resin, I have to elevate each ornament on something that the resin won’t adhere to. I usually use silicone cups or molds. They all need to have a bit of space between them so I can scrape drips off with a wooden craft stick while the resin settles. First I pour the resin and spread it around with a sponge on a stick to make sure everything is coated. Then I use a heat gun to remove bubbles in the resin. Once that is done, I can sprinkle glass chips and other decorations in the resin. Unfortunately, once I mix the resin I’m in a big sticky mess that doesn’t lend itself well to taking photos / video. I need to get my husband to help with that one of these days.

Some of the smaller snowmen’s mouths drifted a bit after covered with resin. It’s always a new challenge, sigh. I also dipped the “Dichro-cicles” and hung them on my little laundry line. We’ll see how they come out.

Ornaments

I needed to make some more projects before mixing the next batch of resin (don’t want to waste the resin), so I spent today cutting out parts for snowmen and cardinals and prepping them for the resin.

Cutting / grinding / laying out the glass

After I lay out all the parts, I decorate the snowmen with nail polish for their faces and coal buttons (I did this previously for the cardinals I’m using). Once the glue dries, they can be coated with resin and decorated. Sometimes I use glass for the noses on the snowmen when they are larger, but these are smaller ornaments.

Once the decorations dry, I can glue the glass pieces to the clear backer glass. After they dry overnight, they should be ready for the resin coating.

Corner Sun – Done!

The resin cured overnight and the corner sun is complete. This is a neat piece as it can be hung horizontally or vertically.

Corner Sun

My sister talked me out of adding the glass around the edge of the corner sun mosaic window, so I decided to pour the resin and add the blue shell background today. I prepared about 10ml of resin, which ended up being about 2-4ml too much. I poured the resin a bit too thick at the top of the window, so hopefully it won’t migrate too much while it is curing.

I also decided to experiment with some dichroic glass ornaments. I need to figure out a way to let the resin cure nicely on these, which is a challenge for me because they are small. I might need to find a way to let them cure vertically (hanging) instead of horizontally.

Dichroic glass “icicles” coated with resin

Sun in a Window

I like making sun mosaics. This one is peeking through from the top corner of a recycled window. I am planning to use the blue shell mica chips for the background, but might add some blue stained glass around the top and far left edges for definition.

Recycled window, approximately 13″ x 30″.

Background sky glass added around the top/left edges.

I cut the “sky” glass for the top and left edges around the sun, but am still deciding if I like it. The glass is beautiful, but I feel like the stripes might be too strong. Overall I like it so far, but I haven’t glued the pieces in place just in case.

8 Seasons done!

Wrapped up my “8 Seasons” set project today. I’m pretty happy with how they turned out. Eight panels (each approximately 6″ square). Two for each season (Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter). These will be sold with the display stand as a set for $400.

Resin poured!

Today I was able to pour the resin on the Sunflower, Spring Flowers (Delphinium / Grape Hyacinth inspired), Acorns and Snowman panels. I forgot to use the masking tape on the undersides, so there was a lot of tending to the drips to take care of for these. Looking forward to seeing how the turn out in the next day or two!

Acorns

I needed one more panel to complete the set of eight, so I made a second Autumn themed one with some acorns and leaves. Tomorrow I should be able to pour the resin on the flowers, snowman and acorns all at once.