What’s Resin like to work with??

It can be tricky, frustrating but usually lots of fun. I’ve been working with resin for 26 years (oops showing my age) and my God has it changed over the years!

The original resin were nasty to say the least. You could smell it from a mile away and my Mother used to ban me from using it if she thought she might have visitors. Then you could only get clear resin and it wasn’t very UV stable so would yellow a bit after a while. I used to make clocks and tables with pebbles or coins inlaid… the original river tables.

About 8 or 9 years ago colours started arriving on the scene inspired by the resin artists/surf board makers in Australia. They were pretty basic and not a huge range but over the years they have got better and better and the inks I use now are actually water based, something that wouldn’t have worked with the resins of old.

Working with resin is like using a medium that has the consistency of single pouring cream that has to be mixed exactly (no adding an extra drop here or there!). It doesn’t like the cold ( it won’t cure) or high humidity (it gets go faster streaks) as well as being a dust magnet along with the odd fly that’s stupid enough to fly in it’s vicinity. It has a life of it’s own and it will be quick to let you know if the table isn’t level as it slides off to the lowest point. Don’t get me started on the amount of sanding anything with wood needs afterwards to sand off the underneath!

Why do I do it??? Because it’s great fun, keeps me sane and you never know what you’ll end up with!!