Creating Resin Miniatures – A lockdown activity by Cara Cramp

Lockdown Creativity!

 

Lock down produces all kinds of feelings from the despair to elation. To keep my spirits up I have begun a new hobby of making resin sand symbols and Claire has asked me to write about my experiences. I am totally new to this creative activity and so there has been lots I’ve had to learn and am still learning! I am no expert!

If you would like to try resin making you will need the following.

• Epoxy Resin
• Epoxy Hardener
• Silicon moulds
• Silicon stirrers or lolly pop sticks for stirring
• Protective gloves
• Protective face mask
• Well ventilated working space
• Tinting inks used with resin mixing
• Kitchen roll
• Plastic covering for table

I have sourced many of my items from eBay or Amazon and the company I have used for Resin and inks is Glass Cast. Epoxy resin is preferable to Polyester resin as polyester resin gives off a horrible smell during the making process. The basic process to making resin items in very simple but getting the right amount of resin to hardener can be tricky depending on what brand you use. I have used glass cast which is 2 parts resin to 1-part hardener so the maths is basic, which is what I need!

I pour my resin, once made, into smaller silicon pots so that I can add the colours or glitters that I want. I then pour this into the moulds. A syringe is useful when filling smaller moulds so that you can control the flow more easily. You can add items to the resin if you want to and there are plenty of you tube tutorials available sowing different techniques. Once moulds are filled, I leave them overnight to set (resisting the temptation to poke them or turn them out too early!)

 

I began the process to purely give myself something to do during this time of being at home but as I have made some many items now I have decided to offer some pieces for sale so that others can benefit too.

The best bit for me is turning the items out and seeing the end result. Here are a few things that I’ve made so far