Transcripts
1. Welcome and introduction: Hello and welcome. I'm me. And I'm gonna be your instructor for this resin Geos class. And here in front of me on the desk. We have just a few examples of the amazing artwork that you're soon gonna be able to create on, I'm sure. Even better. In fact, this little blue one on the desk in front of me right here. This is the one that we're gonna make during the class. So I'm gonna show you step by step. Everything I did from start to finish to create this resin. Geode. I know you're gonna be making amazing one soon to. Your friends are gonna go. Wow, you made that. You're gonna be so proud of what you've achieved. So join me in the class soon. Of course. You have 24 hour access on lifetime access. You conjoined me any time. So maybe watch it through first, get through a few ideas, look at the materials you're gonna need, get everything together and then join me in more detail again. Once you can follow everything through, step by step, maybe make your geode at the same time. I'm making mine. Remember? You can ask any comments or questions at any time on. I'm really excited about what you're going to achieve. I look forward to seeing what you make. I hope you'll show your completed resin Gee, oats At the end of the class, let's get started.
2. Safety considerations for working with resin: Before we begin, let's talk a little bit about working safely with resin. Most, if not all, of the craft residents you'll find on the market these days will be certified as safe to use for home use. However, that doesn't mean that there isn't gonna be someone out there who is going to be sensitive to one of the ingredients or, over time, over repeated exposure. People can also build up allergies to products, which they use just fine early on. So there's a few simple precautions that we're going to take to make sure that I will be working safely with all of the materials. Firstly, we don't just need to protect ourselves. We need to protect our work surfaces. So I use this nice, thick plastic on all of my tables on Even I put some sheets down on the floor because the reading could drip on. Once it's dripped and drive on something it won't always come on. Thistle is the plastic that I use the life 50 feet. This'll one is four mil on is really handy for using a nice thick plastic like this with red in, because if you do get any spills their easily wiped up. If you do get any drips or any spillages or a major puddle or anything, you can actually leave it to cure and set on. Then it just peels right off with this plastic. No trouble it off now we should also wear some old clothing because no matter how careful we are at home, how careful I am sometimes I'm always getting just a little bit of a drip somewhere. Or even worse, I may have something on my hand and then touch my clothing. Onda resin will not come out. Always make sure that you're gonna wear old clothes. You should also make sure that you're wearing footwear. Don't use resin with bare feet, just in case you drip a little something onto your foot. Of course, you aren't wearing gloves on your feet, are you? So make sure that you use it that you're wearing socks or some kind of enclosed footwear. Talking about gloves thes air the gloves that I use these air a latex free vinyl. You can also course use latex and a lot of people use night trial. Which glove you use is entirely up to you. I have read that late latex gloves. Maybe a little bit more porous. Onda. Under some circumstances, if you wearing them over an extended period of time, then the resident may seep through night. Trial is also very similar to thieve vinyl. As far as I know, however, maybe it tells a little bit more easily. It all depends, you know. Depends how much you pay for your gloves. The more you pay, the thicker the glove, perhaps on the longer it might last. Then we should talk about the most important thing of all our lungs. Most off the craft resins are gonna be what's called vio si free so they don't have any kind of toxic fumes that you might be breathing in. But please, please do your own research on this. Just check through all of the residents. Look through the safety data sheet for the resin that you're going to use. Read all the precautions on your products because I don't want anything bad to happen to you because I told you it's all gonna be fine on your resin was perhaps one of the exceptions. So this is the master I use when I work with resin a lot of the time masks are recommended , but not essential. You should, of course, always work in a well ventilated area in any event, so have all of your doors and windows open. Make sure there's plenty of air throat airflow so that any fumes are from your resin or quickly, you know, moving away from your working area. If you are sensitive, if you have asthma, anything like that or just if you want to be extra secure that make sure to get one of thes masks. Now, this you can get like little dust mass. That isn't gonna work unless you're sounding a resident. I suggest getting a proper respirator. This fits over the mouth and nose, and it comes with cartridges on the side. Now you can get different ratings of cartridges. Make sure that you use one which is okay for vapors. This one I'm using here as an organic vapour cartridge. I always use three m Andi. I will put links underneath in the resources to where you can get all of the equipment that I'm talking through today on once the package is opened, this is what the little cartridge looks like on it. Clips on rotates here onto the side of my mask. So I have two of these. When I'm using it, it has a dust filter on the outside, and then there's the filter on the inside. This going to cut down on those fumes on when I'm not using it. I put the cartridges back into a container and just close them off because the cartridges do have a limited life. So just make sure to read the instructions on your cartridge to see when you're working with potentially toxic vapors or any fumes that you want to block out from and breathing. Just check and see in the details of your cartridge what the recommended usage hours are. Remember to change them often. Also, I've got some safety glasses. These aren't necessary, really, for resin, unless you're creating a lot of splashing about their or your, um, act maybe to put your glove in the resin and then rub your face with it. That's something obviously that you don't want to do so you can use safety goggles during the course I'm also gonna be working with crushed glass on. I'll show you a link to a video where I've got a tutorial on how to create your own clutch crushed glass. And if you're going to do that or anything like that, you'll definitely want to be using some kind of safety goggles. Lastly, I just got a few cleanup supplies. I've got some alcohol that you can use for cleaning up that works great on your tools on. Also, keep a great big tub on baby wipes on hand at all times. That's good. If you need to wipe something off your surface, just wipe your hands clean in your gloves on. But if you should get any resident on your hands at all, maybe you've taking off your gloves and then pick them up. And then you got a little bit of resident on your hands. You should not try and remove resin on your skin with alcohol because that causes the resin to break down, and it can actually then be absorbed mawr easily into your skin. So you better to use a dish soap, something like a dawn dish soap and maybe something grown. You're like a so poor pop salt or sugar or poppy sees on. Just use it dry and rub like this with the soap and then rinse off rents again. Wash again with soap, and that should get rid of the resin from your skin. So make sure that you've got all of the supplies on hand before moving on to the next steps and working with resin.
3. Basic supplies and materials for resin work: have an assortment of basic supply set out on the table around me. These are the basic things that you'll need for success with your resin Geos on generally, for any resin work that you do, starting with this one. Just a simple roll off masking tape and get this at the dollar store or at your D i Y stores on I will show you when we talk about preparing our surface. How I used the masking tape to make sure that the resident only stays in the areas that we wanted to. But this one is an essential also. I have these. These are tiny levels you can see they have a little bubble in them on. It's also essential to make sure that you're both your workspace on your piece are level. So I make sure that my table is level or more or less level before I begin on. Then also, we will level our artwork because if we carefully set out or resin in the design that we want and it's not level by the time we come back and have take a look two or three hours later, we may find that are carefully centered design is no somewhere off over here, so do make sure that you get yourself a couple of little levels. We'll need to mix our resident. So I thought a couple, all sizes of stir sticks. I like to use theme jumbo ones here when I'm working on a bigger Paul resident on, then these little small just kind of the regular size crab sticks these work for when I'm mixing up smaller amounts of talking about amounts of resin. Let's look at my cups. I've got a teeny teeny cup, a slightly more cup, a medium cup on a very large cup on. All of these are gonna be useful, of course, depending on the size of your resident piece. If you're working on a very large piece, then you'll be needing to mix up very large amounts of resident all in one girl, smaller pieces. Then probably this will be enough to mix up your your clear resident, and then you may transfer it to smaller cups. It's care that the ways he can take a look, this one is a little too ANC's cup. This one has ah rim and slightly flexible, but doesn't come to a point. This one here is one of my favorites. This is like a little medicine measuring cup. It has graduation standard size. Do as do all of these other cups, even including this very, very large one. Eso You could mix up very small amounts in this one. It's a This is a one eggs cup. What I like about this one, it's very flexible, so you can see how I can pinch the sides together to make a spout. So I couldn't pour The resident in quite quite directed lines to make sure it goes exactly where I wanted to get, so the same as in previously. I am going to provide a resource is link so they'll be an external link where you can go and find more information about all of the equipment that I'm showing on. There be links to where you can find those equipments in the event that is no easy to find them where you are. So there's all my mixing supplies now. You may also lead some other supplies for manipulating your resident here. I've just got a couple off scrapers again from the d I Y store on. If you're working on a large piece that you would use a larger scraper, perhaps to move your resin around. What I like to do to direct the resin on smaller pieces is to use my stir sticks so much the time you will see me mixing up the resin and then using the same stick to guide the resident around on the surface where I wanted to go, a little tip for were high. To keep your sticks in order is just to use an old pop bottle. If you hop all of your sticks in this old bottle, then you could just give him a shake. Outcomes a stick and it keeps them only untidy and in order. I used to keep them in cups, and then all the time I would end up not my cup over, and the sticks would go everywhere. So it's just a little tip for how to keep your sticks organized. Now you'll also need some tools for heating or moving your resident. Here we have a heat gun you can both heat on. Move your resin with one of these because it blows air a bit like a hair dryer. But this is more intended for paint stripping on industrial. I used to say, I'll find something like this in the D I Y store. I prefer to use one like this. This is just a cheap on simple chefs butane torch. I have a separate video about the functions on features to look out for when you buy a a chef's tort. So I suggest going over on again. I'll provide a link for Wake and find that on this will be used to heat the resident on remove any bubbles. Also, we'll need some clean up supplies. So make sure that you have some alcohol on hand on also a big tub off wet wipes, which I find really useful. Happy to clean the clean, the reading off my gloves as well as off the surface on any tools on cups and sectoral. While I'm working on last but not least, a little bonus tip that I want to share with you. You might consider getting some of these jewelry molds. I bought these on Amazon. There's a couple of sets off once for making jewellery on other smaller ones, which I use for creating like little gemstones on when I have any resin leftover. If I've over mixed because I find it was better to over mix a little resin mother end up short. So any resident I've got leftover gets poured into these on then I can creates a really beautiful colored or even better glitzy, shimmery or metallic just pendants and things on. It's just an extra little bonus, something for resin that would otherwise go to waste. I can use it and may create a pendant, which I can then sell in my ANSI store. So these are some of the basic supplies that you'll need for working with resin.
4. Which surfaces are best for your resin geode?: Let's talk surfaces on which you can prepare your rest. NGOs. The first thing that might spring to mind is something that you paint on a canvas and sister, a gallery wrapped canvas that I've used for a previous project on, then wiped off. So campuses are OK as long as they are small. But as soon as you start to add a lot off embellishments layers of resin, stones and other things like that to your resin geode, it could get really heavy. And I have seen examples of where resin are done on campus has not stood up the test of time. The resin layer can come away from the campus altogether just because of its way, or it can even cause the canvas to start to pull apart. Tear on these edges and then your artwork is ruined. So for smaller on lightweight rez NGOs, yes, you can do on a canvas. If you can use another surface that would be preferable. I started off doing my first resin, geo on one of thes. This is just a simple canvas Patil panel on these air. Very affordable, and you confined them every wearing art stores, craft stores, and even places like the dollar store on these work just fine there. Tough, hard, flexible. The canvas is glued onto the surface, so these make perfect surfaces. If you want to just try out on practice and resin Geos before you spend a lot of money, this is the first resin geo that I did, and I did it. As you can see on one of these economy campus panels on, It's absolutely fine. The surface off. It's just fine. It's held up perfectly. There's no problems with it whatsoever. Even looks good on the back. There were some marks, but I just put a piece of plane paper and take that down over the back. A little signature and a date there on these air absolutely fine for starting out. So those by the campus panels, you can also get some of these kicks, which is like a canvas CA panel, which comes with its own frame on these work beautifully, also for creating your resin. Gee, oats. This is one I got again from my local craft store, and it wasn't expensive. Let me give you an example of one that I've created using this kind of pack. So this is one I've created this on a campus panel. As you can see, it's thin at the back on, then fitted into this frame on it looks nice on it works absolutely perfectly for creating your resin Geos. So that's another budget example, and it's also kind of lightweight. Doesn't take up a lot of room slim profile, and it's perfect for your smaller pieces. You could also use thes. I've only got a small example here to show you These are the liquid art panels on. They're a bit like a cradled panel and that you have a wooden frame here on the reverse on . Then on the front you have, ah, slightly inset panel. So if you want to add your resin, you have a little lip that you can work up to with your resin on. These work just fine. I don't have an example off one in these, but I know that if you want you to create them, it's nice and firm, so it has, ah, hard surface that won't buckle, bend or warp on. We should be absolutely fine for creating your resin. Jeanette's. Now we come on to my preferred surface thes are cradled birch panels. Again. You get them from art stores on good craft stores on there, nice and firm. So nothing here is gonna bow. One thing that I should have mentioned with the canvases with the regular canvass the weight of your resin and your embellishments can actually cause the campus to sink in the center. So there you're creating your design. It can actually sink down, become distorted. What I like about the hard panels is that that simply doesn't happen. So you have your firm paddle on you, sit down and work on it absolutely fine, knowing that is not going to fall apart where dip in the middle or anything like that. So this is my preferred surface on. This is what I'll be using for our course Now. If you don't want to use any of these, you can just cut a simple piece off MDF on. You can either cut it to a square or rectangle. The good thing is, you can cut that to any size that you like, so it's a really flexible surface. You would need to seal it first before doing your resin gee oats, but a piece of MDF is great. Also, if you want to create a shaped panel, then that's perfect for it, too. So instead of working on something that square round or rectangular, you can actually cut your MDF panel to a resin geo kind of shape, something more organic and curved that also works really well. So those are my summary for panels, campuses, onda surfaces that you might use for your resin Geo. I'm gonna use the cradle board, but you can start off with other cheaper panels, like the campus panels, if that if that's a budget option available to you and you start out.
5. Extra resources for resin newbies: At this point, I just want to direct you to some of the other helpful resource is for this class. If you look down Anethe video, you should find a Tampa there says about If you click on about and scroll down, you can find more details about the class. You can also find our class project at bottom on. You could also find a lot of external resource is what you're gonna be really helpful for you. So at this point, if you know used a lot off resin before and you could use a few helpful tips, scroll down to the extra resource is on. You'll find some articles about possible colorants that you can use for your resin on. Also about how to pick the right sort of resin for working with resin, geo on lots of other things and helpful materials list to forget going to need the video about. I'm looking for those other resource is
6. Embellishment options - the glitz and sparkle: Let's start to talk about the more exciting part of materials. The glitz, the glam, the texture, the things they're going to give a little bit of bling and sparkle toe are pours on the course. We should start with glitter here. I've got just a smaller and blister on. Of course, if you go to your crashed or you are gonna find a dazzling array of things that you can add , they will add sparkle I've got here. This is like a regular, large scale glitter. This one has a very regular shapes of glitter. You could actually make out the shapes from it. This one came from my local dollar store. Beautiful color. It's a slightly smaller glitter, and, of course, things like this coming at battling array. Then I have this one, which is an extra fine that you might also see as ultra fine glitter on. I like to use this in like the holographic or the white or kind of crystal colors that just add that little bit off sparkle. Then you can get mortuary key glitters. This one is an ice resin product. This one is a glitter shard. See that one there slightly larger on. They also come in bottles like this. This one is a crushed glass glitter. Take a look that's very sparkly, too, but it's not the same kind of sparkle as a glitter, these arm or glass on then. This one is one of my favorites, although I haven't yet used it in any of my Geos. This one is an extra chunky glitter on this one has a mix of all sorts of shapes and sizes in it on lots and lots of sparkle. Very rich colors. So that's just a sample of some of the glitters that we can use in, or resins or the centrifuge ears. You might want to use some kind of crushed glass here. Got some a few examples thes are course the cheek phase filler thes last. No guts that you might find in your crap store in florists or even in your dollar stores on . I have a separate about how safely and easily you can turn these into an amazing crushed This'll has so much sparkle to it. It's really easy to make and you get a whole bunch. This whole one, plus a little bit more, came from one of these banks. So I will provide a link where you can find out exactly how to turn these last no guts into this lovely crushed glass for your pores. Also, you might find on larger pieces where weight could be an issue that you might want to consider using these ones thes are acrylic gems come in on assortment of different colors, typically sold, perhaps not so much in your craft stores. Thes might be from wedding supplies. Party supplies. Amazon, of course, has them on Do. They are larger in size typically, although you confined them in various different sizes. Come in an assortment of colors on, Of course, because they're acrylic. They're nice on light, so they don't add a lot of weight to your resin piece. A different sort class scoop up a little bit off. This this'll one is a reflective or mirrored fire glass. This is sold again by specialist suppliers. You can get this in fireplace suppliers, please. Places where they sell barbecues. You can get it on Amazon Aunt has a nice sparkled mirror. Finish to it on again. It comes in the law colors. I have an article on the resin Jeers website, where I will provide a link for that down in the external resources where you can see and some of the examples of the beautiful fire glass. Let me show you a couple of examples of where I've used some of these products on this larger poor in the center here, I've used a mixture off the acrylic Andi crushed glass. Bring that the overhead camera and you can take a look. You see the darker areas, thes air, the crushed glass I made from the glass negatives on these larger writer areas. These are the acrylic. No guts I've used on this one is an example of where I've used the fire glass. This is the fire glass in this section just here, and conceit has lots of nice mirror on reflective qualities to it. And, of course, it's perfectly smooth and safe. You aren't going to cut yourself. It's it's safety glass. It's especially designed for that on it comes in really big bags. Let me get you the bag. There we go. So it's big and it's heavy. I only found it in these large £5 or typically £10 bags, so it's cheap on because of how much you get. But you may have to invest 20 or $30 to get a hold back worth. So if you're gonna dio a large project or maybe a whole series of projects in a single color, that may be worth investing in this fire glass because it is really economical to use. You can also use riel crystals and riel gemstones in your pores. If you like, you can get get these it specialists, crystal shops and suppliers. A lot of people seldom in there, etc. Stores and you can get more Amazon. I got a bag like this, which was around 12 to $15 depending on where you get it. These are really amethysts, and they come in a variety of colors. Some of the colors are better than others. Some of them a little bit dull and gray come in various sizes. I've separated the smaller checks. Thes are some off. The larger chips also came in the same bag on As you can see, there's a variety of color, some of them a kind of gray. Some of them are midterm. Some of them have a really nice purple color to them. So that's Ah, nice idea. If you want to add riel gemstones in, I find that actually, these kind of faux gemstones give a much nicer color. These are from the local beating store, and they come on a string, so they do have a small beating hole through them, although I don't think that would necessarily be do visible in your pores. But, as you can see, because it died has a much more vibrant bright color. Thank the natural am assists. I've also got them in black. I thought I made decorate. Maybe the edge off one of my resins in the in the black color. To so again get the glass. Die chips in an assortment of colors. You can get them drilled or even a Ndri Aled Andi from places like Fire Mountain Gems Panda Hall. They all provide these kind of un drilled glass chips, which are dyed to look like the various real gemstones. Let's look a fume or other types of things that you can add. This is a metal flake. This one, in this case, is a silver metal flake. You can also get them in law for the colors off copper bronze on gold on Did you convey I these as well with alcohol inks. So if you want to get like a really vibrant, rich, rich red, then you can use thes silver flakes or these silver sheet and use a red alcohol in can you can die them, which is a really cool look. I may do that in one of my upcoming pours. Maybe put a silver leaf down and then die the sheet before I add something on the top. That could be an interesting look. Also think outside the box Sometimes I got these in my local beauty supply store. Thes are now nail art caviar, pearls otherwise known as microbeads. Very, very tiny, but I think they could be interesting. Who could provide some interesting texture in your in your Rosen Geo? Then This one is crap sound as you could see, I've got mine in a bright blue is the only color I could get again. You can buy this craft sand in a whole variety of different colors on I actually dined this one in a black color again. Let me bring the example over to show you. So this is the piece where I used the sand along the edges. Here it gives a nice matte finish and texture, which contrast beautifully with the shine of the resident on. As you can see, I've died the bloom into a black color on. I think it gives a nice natural edging to your piece. I do like to glue a lot my embedded in Bushman's onto my piece before I poured the resin. Just to make sure that they're not going to move around on, you can use something like this one. The tacky glue. This one is a Deco art product, a specific bead on glitter glue. Or you could just use a regular white PV a clue. And once your resin pieces finished, you might want to add extra definition and embellishment to it with some pens. Posca markers are perhaps the most commonly known and the most commonly used. I've got them in the medium tip, which is quite thick. In fact, I've got black white gold on silver, which I think are pretty much the main colors that I'm going to want to use. But you can get Posca can pens in a whole rainbow of colors on in other thicknesses. Thes Arthuis medium. You can also get a fine on an extra fine, also in a much wider chisel tip as well. I've also had success in using these pens. I've used them in the white, the silver on the gold. These are the you nibble signal pens on. They write beautifully on top of resin on these air, a much finer line. So when I'm doing a smaller piece, then I can add a smaller line. Or I can add on a larger piece of variety of line widths from, um from the thicker ones. With these ones going to the dinner. One gives just a lot more natural variety to your resin pieces. So I hope you've enjoyed looking at some of these sparkly elements on things that we can add to our resin pieces to give them a lot of texture.
7. Drafting out your geode shape: so at last we're ready to get started. I've got my board here and I've already taped up three sides, but I just wanted to show you how I take up my other side, just in case it's something that you've not done before, So I've got my masking tape here on. Not only do we need to tape up thes sides, but also the bottom, because any resin that runs down off the side kind of turns in underneath and you'll get a little speed of residue on the underside. So to avoid having to sandal that kind of thing off later on, I'm just going to at a strip off masking tape. I was do the ball terms first, let's do it that way. And then as I line up the tape along the underside, just hear any excess. I fold up to the sides of the board so that we have it across the board like this. Just tuck in those corners there, and then I'm gonna put some tape on this edge. Andi, I always do it very, very carefully, a little bit at a time. If you've done taping before, you may have done it so that it creates a little dam, so that is actually stands proud on. If you've worked with resin, you probably have a preference. Is that how you want to deal with it? You could create a damn so that you create a thick layer on the top of your canvas, a work surface, or you could have no taping it all so that as you create, you're also creating onto the sides and you allow the resin to grow the site. I prefer something a little bit in the middle, so I'm going to tape up my sides exactly up to the top of my edge of my board here so that if anything does come over, then I will be able to remove that when I removed the tape later on. So I get my glasses. Dogs. I want to make sure that I do this really precisely. Generally I do just a couple of inches at a time, so I'm going to start up here on the corner. A man a couple of inches of time is going to make sure that my tape is exactly on the edge of my board here, not standing up a little bit Andi. Definitely no running over onto the top of the board. Otherwise, it's going to get stuck under the residue. Don't want that to happen on. Obviously, if I do a little bit too low on any resident color comes over, then I could end up with an unwanted patch on the side of my board. Now it wouldn't be the end of the world, because when you finish at the end, well, that's something. We'll talk about a little bit later. But of course you may want to paint the sides anyway, so if anything does come over the side, you may want to may have to sand on paint, but I'm hoping to keep my work to a minimum. So I'm really going to make an effort and take my time to make sure that I put this tape right on the edge, right on the corner so that anything coming out of the sides could all be taken off later at the tape. Okay, let me go. That's done that time on our go. Very, um the love pressure along these edges, just to make sure the tape is stuck. Really, really well, especially at the top here, and that's it. I'm happy. Okay, so we also need to think about leveling. Are surface to work off. I've got four little plastic cups. Michelle, just bring in on. I ought to know because I've checked in advance that if I stand my campus on these cups, put my little levels in place that those are pretty good. There may be a millimeter across the board that way, but I can see that the bubbles are within the lines and I'm going to be happy with this is a work surface. If no, I could always adjust the table. Or I could adjust the little cups or the board itself to make sure that is going to be level on. Once I have my board in place on leveled, I do not like to move it. So over the course of the production of the peace, my board stays exactly where it is the whole time. Now, I'm not quite ready just yet, because what we need to do is plan out the design of our geode Andi again. There's two ways you can do it. You cannot be completely free and organic on Just pour as your heart takes you onto the board or you could be a little bit more organized and think it through in advance, which is the approach that I like to take. So I'm going to direct you now over to one of the external resource is that I've got for this section, which is my Pinterest account on their have a resin Inspirations board on. I'm gonna introduce a little screenshot video now where you can see me scrolling through some of the resin. G. Oates thesis is, ah, board that I like to refer to often not only because it's beautiful, but because you can see so much variety in the GOP's there. Some of them are very subtle. We just gradually radiations of color. Um, so with no kind of hard edges, it just kind of goes gently from one color act the next. Some of them are mawr kind of round or oval organic shapes, and some of them are really very, very geometric, with quite sharp edges on a very distinct lines. So depending on the kind of geo that you like to do, I'm sure you'll find some inspiration on this board. So come over and follow the board. Follow my account on, hopefully find a resin geo there that inspires you to create. So I'm there. Take my board away and just have a look now at that Pinterest board on. See if there's something that takes my fancy on. My next step is to sketch it out onto my paddle. I've taken inspiration from that geode board on Pinterest. I've drawn out my design in pencil on my board. If you look through they or left, it is very little in the way of any rules. There's no way that you have to have AH wide band and the narrow band that a white band, or that you can't have three narrow bands together than two wide ones. Or that you can't just allow all of your colors to spread into a ban. A wide band without individual color bands basically nature our lives for everything to be correct when it comes to arrest NGOs. So even if you start out one way on, it kind of morphs during the process to something else. It still hasn't gone wrong because nature says that's still okay. So let's take a closer closer look at some of the markings on my board. So I think you can probably pick up in the camera that I've drawn my lines on in pencil on not only by drawn lines, but I've also sketched in what I think will be the colors. So around the outside, I'm gonna have black sand a bit like I did with the blue Geode on. Then I've got various different colors in the center. Of course, here will be my stones that I'm gonna have a silver band followed by white and some blue bleeding blue here bleeding into this white area on. Then they'll be silver, dark blue glitters and blacks and like blue glitter, a metallic blue And then right at here, this final ban I'm not sure about that one yet, so we can always leave it a little bit flexible to we don't need to draw on. Everything on, of course, is just a sketch at this point. So go ahead, sketch out a few ideas on your board on add in a few color suggestions on then, in our next section, we'll have a look at filling out on Aled dishing in that auditioning. There's color selections on our board
8. Auditioning our colors and layout: so the old clothes or are on. It's time for us to start on the adding color to our board on deciding what products we're gonna work with in our resin geode. I've got a selection of products here, some of which are color rinse, some of which are glitter's. Got a metallic pigment. Also some glass getter here now, in order to lay out my geode what I like to do. First of all, his audition my colors. So I've got my design sketched out, but it's really helpful to may toh latte colors so that I can be sure that what I have in mind is going to translate well onto my surface. There would be nothing worse and put everything together and then stand back at the end of thing. And you know, those colors don't really work, or I should have put the black next to the green or something like that. So I am going to use a black and white, then a blue, various different shades off blue and silver in terms of the pain on the glitter. Now, in some cases, it's easy. This one here the Deco are extreme extreme machine. I'm actually going to use this pain to color my resin, so that one is very straightforward. I can just paint straight onto the board with this pain and know that it's gonna look like the finished result. The black and white is similar, but not quite the same, because I'm going to use this die for my white. So therefore, I'm going to use a white acrylic paint on my board. I'm also going to add in a little bit of the sparkly glitter to But course I'll put that in the resin. Not necessarily. And when I do the white pain, same with the black. I'm going to color my resin with this one. This is the Deco art media fluid acrylics in the carbon black on. I like to use this one in my resident color it, but to paint the black on my canvas, I'm going to do a black acrylic paint so you get to see what's happening and what my thought processes are in terms of translating my resin colors down onto my canvas. Now, not all of them were gonna be that straightforward. So here, for example, I've got a range off. There's a silver glitter here on. I've also got a silver metallic pigment powder for both of those where I want to lay them out on my on my surface, I'm going to use a metallic silver acrylic paint. So again, that one is fairly straightforward. These other ones. I've got various colors off glitter here on what I'm trying to do is match the color of glitter with a color of paint from my paint stash. So I've got a slightly darker one, which matches with a darker blue paint. On that, I got a lighter, one electric litter, and it matches with a lighter colored paint that I have as I go through looking all my materials, I matched them to my paints on. Therefore, I can put materials off to one side and just use the paints to set out the intended colors onto my surface. How late that I is very simple. I'm just gonna paint them with a regular brush. I caught my lines drawn out and again. It's a sketch, so I don't need to follow the lines exactly if I go along and I think actually that lines a little narrow there. Then it gives me the opportunity to make it a little bit wider with my brush and put the color or I think it needs to be a So I'm gonna go ahead now on. Just use this one. This is the extreme sheen metallic paint on. I've got a metallic blue lying just here mark tile on my surface So I'm gonna fill this in with my pain So there's no special method needed I'm just gonna give my paint shake because I'm doing quite detailed work. I could just pop some paint out. Check Rebound. Okay, Metallic blue. That's this one on his Pop it on the brush on just straight out onto the canvas, brilliantly following the lines I've placed with my sketch earlier. It really is a simple easy is that if you're doing a wider area, of course, you can just put some paint out, all right, and then spread it around with your brush. You don't need to be as detailed as I am. I never like to waste everything, so I'm just going to pop a little bit on my brush, and then I couldn't put it straight into the area where I want to work so I'll go ahead and complete this blue section on See you back here for the next one. That's my first band completed this first vibrant blue on the on the board. This we're happy with that. Another way you can audition your colors is to make a resident color chart thes for some of the products that I was thinking of using with resident for this poor. I'm really glad I tested some of the map. This one, for example, This one was a coral reef blue pigment. But in fact it comes out really green with Resident much more green than I want it. I also have a couple of other blue pigments just here. I put them in the side over there. There's a couple of blue pigments just here that came out very gray, so then they weren't as expected. But I very much like this extreme sheeting, Sapphire blue. So that's the one that I'm using in the poor here today. So it's always a good idea to create a little mood board if you like or little cheat, cheat with all of the very conclusions that you want to add to your residence. Because Sometimes you get unexpected colors and results, so that's just a extra little tip there. Another reason you might decide to paint out your colors in advance is because sometimes when you color your resin on late down, it can turn out to be rather more transparent than you were expecting. Of course, if you have your board underneath or maybe you painted it, why they may be the color won't be as expected if you cover your you're substrate in advance and then for your resident talk, you know you're always going to get the right colors that always be well saturated, because even if you can see through them, it will be back to back the color that you've got down underneath. So I'm gonna get through and add a few more. That's a white for my next color band On. Gradually, I'm gonna build up all of the bands on the board according to the colors that I set out in my plan. I've just completed this inner dark blue line here next to the black one, using this pen. Now get more, more layers on here. It could get a little bit confusing as to which was intended to be colored layers and which was intended to be glittered layers. So because I know this one represents this glitter, what I've done has left a little bit of a paint. Just don't talk that which is quite wet. I'm going to dip my brush in on just stick a little bit off the glitter there, into the wet paper on. Then I know once everything is driving all my layers on that, but this let this line is intended to represent this glitter I painted on all of my lines on their dry. I'm really happy with how it's looking These last line around the Exide. Why, I wasn't quite sure what that was gonna be. I've decided that's going to be a nice silver, because once I had everything laid out, it looked like it needed an extra line of glitter. So I've got a silver lining blister in there. So I haven't at the moment and anything with my center section. I just want to have my stones in, see what I think before I go any further. It's at the moment any things and still be changed so I can add maybe a few of the larger ones. Theocratic gems, these ones. And then also, I've got my lovely first class I made from the vase filler that sounds a little bit. And then I could just see what it looks like with my color scheme. I don't need to other in exactly to shape right now, as long as I've got an idea of what it's gonna look like. And I think I'm satisfied. That looks good to me. It looks about the right kind off volume in terms of the total board that I've got. The shape is good. The colors match the colors that I've laid out, so I'm happy with that. So we talked to earlier when I talked a little bit about the various M Belgians about still relief on a low, never used it in this way before. I thought it would be an interesting experiment. So let's do it together because our is always a learning and experimenting process. So I'm gonna have a go with having silver, and I think I'll add into this section here so they will be underneath the stones and should really shimmer and shine and give them some really great color. Let me clear the stones away, and we'll bring over the steel relief. Typically get your metallic leafs in a number of ways. I showed you this jar earlier, which is the one with the silver leaf flakes on these air small pieces. You can also get incomplete sheets on Have little selection here where and I pull out the paper layers. We have whole sheets, hair, all the silver. Both are very difficult to work with. You can see it's already stuck to my fingers because it's so very, very light. So very, very delicate. I find it really difficult, coz everywhere, so definitely made chuckle my doors and windows closed. Let's try and brush that little bit offer now, so I'm just going to have a little bit off blue here to my surface. Normally, I might think of adding the flakes, but because I'm doing one large shape, I think I'm gonna use the sheet so I can add my blue into the shape that I want to create and then just simply stick my sheet on top. Hopefully, if all goes well, so good to be quite delicate because I want quite a defined shape which I've already drawn out on here. It's amusing a small brush just to make sure that the still relief is gonna add here in the shape that I want it to. It wouldn't really do any harm. I think if it was underneath some of the layers of resin that haven't taken my time to carefully set out, why won't I'm at least when I start with gonna try and stay within the lines. Okay. So I have my glue down. Let's see now I'm getting of these sheets on here without having silver blow all around. The house will be very, very careful. Just if I can gently polite one of these sheets of silver in to bring the backing paper with it. Hopefully, I'll be able to slide it out. Okay, so I've got my sheet and I'm gonna lay this down over on the top of the blue. Just move it. Never quit rubbing my finger. You okay? I did it. So I'm just going to leave it for a little while for the glue to dry, and then I'll pull off the access and we'll see what we got, OK, It's done. Still, relief is looking great things going. Great backdrop for the stones when they go on that make them really sparkle. So now our layer is complete on I'll see with our next electric around, you're going to start to add things now on to our background.
9. Adding a sand border to our geode (optional): This next step in a process is an optional. While I thought I would share it with you anywhere. In case you're interested on the blue joke Geo that you see behind May, you may recall that had that black sand around the Exide on it gives a really nice, interesting, rough texture which contracts so well with the glitz on the shiny texture of the residence . So I thought you might be interested to see how I did that. Now I started with this. This is obviously a bright blue crafts, and it's the only one I could get. So if you find yourself in a similar situation, let me show you how you can change it. Any color you like here. I've been stirring a little bit of the sound with just a little bit pain. Unless you can see in there, It's now black, which is great on What I like to do is to at the minimum amount of pain necessary, which turns my sand black but without making it wet because it's easier to work with. They want it is dry and not very company, so Oh, some sand into my cup on, then just a little bit of pain, less pain than you think you're going to need for sure, because it's a little slow process understanding a little bit because I don't want the Santo end up wet, and that is just a case of story on. Eventually you'll continue to stir and stir on that paint. Get distributed around, and it changes the color of your sound. So I'm halfway there. My sand is now gone half blue, half black. Consider bit more so if I keep on stirring and I find that it's not getting to color, I need I've been stirring for a little while, then looks like any little extra pain. Better to have a little extra that had too much of the star on. Have your sand all kind of sticky and sticking together in clubs because it won't be so easy. Toe attitude board. So a couple of drops extra pain and I'll give a store again. Okay, I've got to the point where I like it. The sand is a nice even black color, but it's no wet and clumpy, so it's just perfect. Now I need to add it to my board. But the first thing I'm going to do is put down a piece of paper so that any sound that drops off I'll be able to catch that nice need here easily and add it back to my car. I understand onto the board is really easy to do. It's like the same sided with the leaf there in the middle is gonna take some glue on painted on the side, the wrath and do the whole thing at once because it's a slightly larger area. This time, I'm just gonna do small sections. I've got a larger brush on a slightly smaller brush so I can make nice, detailed, crisp edges really gonna look good in my design. And then the larger brushes Phil in the larger areas. - Once I got a little bit of do down, I can just take a little bit of the sand on my stick, Sprinkle it over. I just gently smooth it about so that it covers the area of blue. I don't need to worry if there's too much on their because later on, once the blues driver gonna brush all the extra off Okay, small section at times and I have a little bit more pain, a little bit more blue, a little bit more sound. Sprint along, spread it about to the whole of that blue area is covered unless you could see sums falling off down onto my future paper there. But that's not a problem for papers, especially there. So I could just easily pick the excess up afterwards. So I'm gonna carry on now and the best of my board, small sections of time, just adding the blue. And then I get adding a little bit of the sand on top. Then we'll leave it to dry and I'll show you the next step. Once it's dry, you can take her on old paintbrush or no toothbrush and just brush away on any excess sound will come off. I'm gonna get most of it off onto my sheet here and then hopefully you leave this nice, crisp shape that you've created. So once I've got most of it off onto my sheet of paper, I can put that back in my car because it's perfectly usable for next time on. Then I want to make sure they get every loose piece off, so I'm gonna take outside into my garden really give it a good brushing because I don't want there to be any loose pieces on here for later on. That might somehow end up in my resident, so we'll Fischoff just mostly with the toothbrush on. Then I'll go out into the garden. Give it a good brush. I don't see you back here the next step. What? You're happy that all of the loose sand is taken away? You might want to seal that with some kind of spray I like to use. One of my favorite acrylic spray finishes. Its like a seed or foreign is just on top on. I think it gives it a nice look. It can prevent dust. Sticking a little bit makes a little bit easier to clean on, but it can also help just a little bit to seal in any loose bits of sandy my half. So again I'm going to take the site, sign into a well ventilated area on give it three coats of my favorite acrylic sealer. Now, this is what I like to do the sand first so that I can use the sealer over the top rather than use the sand as kind of a finishing step along the edge again. All of this is optional. You don't have to use this. If you just prefer to go with paints, resins and other materials, so do this now and then that lecture will move on to the next step. I start adding some stones.
10. Adding stones and larger embellishments: blowing the stones onto your geo is easy. I'm gonna do exactly the same way that I did with the sound. Or indeed, with the still relief, I'm just going to use a regular white PVC glue. The reason I like to stick the Stones on is to make sure that as I'm working with the resident, I'm not going to just tap one with my hand and something goes rolling across and sticks in somewhere that I don't want it to be. A. I like to put my stones as thief focal point in the center of my dear, But just remember, you can put them anywhere. You can completely feel the outside. We can put rings of stones where I've got different rings off color. There's no reason why you can't make one of these rings additional students as well as ones in the future. In the center here. I think you use different types, too, so is only limited by your imagination on exactly what you want to do. There are no hard fix, hard fixed rules for what you have to do, so I am just going to use a brush on a little bit of the TV. Onda said type the space in the center here. What I want my stones to stick on to. I've already decided which ones to use again. I'm going to I use the paintbrush to make a nice define shape because haven't decided what my shape is gonna be. I would like to try and stick with it, at least at this point in time. My setting my stones well into the center. It gives a nice base for my design to build out from there. So I'm laying the glue a little bit thicker than when I did sound. Because all see, the stones are much more texture. They don't necessarily have a flat bottom to them. And so, by laying the glue a little thicker, hopefully I can get some good contact between the surface, the glue on stones. And of course, it looks white now, but it will dry clear on it will allow any color that you have on this layer here toe to show through the gaps in the stones. What is there on that? So I think I'm gonna go with an old number of the larger stones. I'm just hop those in place two star and then take some of the crushed glass. I have just pop these, right? No, even going to try and do it too, too carefully and throw it in there and pushed the glass into the blue. On that way, I pick up some smaller parts, Um, bigger pieces in small pieces. I live them to work into the area randomly, every like nature. Would that just cover the area like that? Make sure there are no gaps here in centres. I'll just push them. It's the glue. A little bit. That's it. I'm gonna leave them right there in. Once the glue has dried, I can just tip it over and any loose stones are wanted will fall away. And at that point I can see that I've got any gaps or anywhere along the edge where you know, I like something slightly different. Then I can just a little bit or blue. Simple is that stones are done. Sons done. The painters rolled out. I think it's time to start having some rented some resin next
11. Adding our first layers of resin: at last, it's time for us to start, adding, Are resting. I take a look at my design worked out. There were three lines I can set out in this first set of legs. Now the reason I've done that, I looked through all of my layers. I could see that I want to know do the glitter layers because I always like to have those at the end. So I flipped all of the layers that are paint or other colors, and here have a line around the outside of blue line here. Then it glitter shall ignore, then a black again, which is just covered in a blue, which I can ignore on, then a silver. Those are all colors that don't have glitch with them. There's no kind of embellishment. They're just gonna be playing colored resin on. None of them touch each other. So that's great, because that's mean I can pour all three of them on, let them all dry hard and cure separately without mixing together. Now, of course, anything that I do in this course is always just a suggestion. It's how I do it. It doesn't have to be how you do it. If you like the way that your resins mix when you put two colors together, then by all means put too wet colors together. Let the mix on enjoy. Enjoy the organic. In fact, that nature gives you I prefer to have mine a little bit more separate. So I'm gonna set AC three colors because those specifically aren't touching each other. Now I have a band also here in the middle. This one has a silver white on a blue. I want those three later on toe actually report at the same time because I want those three colors to merge. So for now, I'll do the three bands. It don't the dark blue here, the black and then the shoulder. So I got mixed up a little bit of resident and then I'll meet you back here. We'll start to add them to our to our board. Now, at this point, please do remember all of the safety equipment on little safety briefing that we had before . I'm lucky that the resident I'm using using a respirator is not mandatory. But still, when I'm creating offer myself home, I do still wear it. But if I worked for this part off the class, you wouldn't be able to hear me speak. So I'm gonna leave mine off. But that doesn't mean you should. If yours is a requirement or if there's any reason why you feel you should use a respirator , please do. So. Gloves, of course, are essential. Okay, so now I've got my first set off, Resident. Next on the way I like to work is from the inside out. Because then it makes it easier for me to work on the outer layers without disturbing the earlier one. So I need to work on my silver layer here, first of all, so I've got my resin mixed up again. Make sure raising according to the instructions for your president, because some of them may be different. I'm just gonna add a little bit off the silver powder a little bit in here. Good mix. We'll see how that I have to say I love this silver powder. It creates an amazing effect right on the top of the resin. Almost like a mirror finish. Absolutely brilliant on bond. When I poured on on, then manipulated with my stick, I get one of thes interesting shapes in it. It's no a flat color by any means, So it's really interesting. I love to work with this with this silver, Have you pour your resident again Depends on your preference also depends on the size of your piece. If you're working on a much larger piece, than course, you can just pour straight from your cup straight into the lines that you've set here. Working on a smaller piece just for demonstration purposes is easier together in the camera . So what I can do? I can either decide to pour it all, or I could spoon it on a little bit of time, I think. Shall we do a little combination off those? So make sure this is given a good stir. Then I can pour on a little bit. I use my stick to move it where we need it today more or less following the guideline, I've got laid out for my still work a little bit gone over there. I could just correct that with my finger on. Now I'm gonna use the tip of my stick to just move the edge of the resin right up until where I've got marked with my pain lines. So now I should be able to get an accurate result with my resident. As you can see, it's going a little bit over there, but we can correct that. We want to let me continue toe, move it a little bit into place a bit more over here so you can just see how I'm doing, encouraging that as an edge of the resin with my stick, right up to the point where I have done my painting. Resin always goes where reason has bean. So if we allow a little bit to break through and start to run off over here, then the resin continues to run off there. So the idea is to keep the borders of your resin where you want it to be. And then hopefully providing, you know, poured far, far too much. And the resin will actually stay where you want it to be within these borders. So let me continue to a little bit. Now here, where I've got Teoh in areas where I don't want it to be. I can actually take that back with the Web site. So it's a good I did have a wet wipe on hand. And then in the event that you are over poor like I did here, let's call it just for the sake of the camera. Then you could just take your wet white, just push the resin away and hopefully keep it back within the lines that you intended to. However, you know those lines again, there only a guideline. Nothing here is a rule. So if you decide that the resin goes there anything actually that looks kind good, then just leave it. Nobody will know whether it was right or wrong. It's your decide. So now that I've got a little bit there, can see that here, I haven't got quite enough. So I could have just a little bit more my stick and again encourage the edges of the resident to match the design that had in the paint a little bit more. My state just here they get, that's filling in nicely, so it's looking pretty good. I'm gonna carry on nine with this band of silver and then I'll meet you back here won't your next one. So my resident is now ready for me to do my second band. This will be the black, but I just wanted to take a minute to explain why I didn't pour Ah whole bunch all cured resin on, then used that in each of my layers. I find that I prefer to makes my resident individually for each layer, because maybe if something goes wrong, there's a phone call. You know, I end up with a problem where residents leaking into an area. I don't want to have to baby sitting and wipe away for a little while that all the time resident is heating up. It's getting ready to cure on. It may go off before I got time to finish all of my players. And if I'm part way through a layer and the residents starts to cure up a little bit and go a little bit hard, then I'm not gonna get great effect. So I prefer to mix a little bit of resident for each color. However, like I said, there are no rules. You don't have to do what I do, so if you are quick worker and you feel that you be confident you've worked with president for a while, you could makes a batch and then create several different colors and pour them all. Then go ahead and do that. You don't need to mix and for them individually, like I do. So let me add a little bit of black. I am using the fluid acrylics, media black. I'll just have a couple of spots cause I've only got a small amount of president. I've only got a very narrow bands. I want to do so this time because the band is so narrow, I really want to get an accurate finish. There's no way that I would be able to pour the resin on on control where it goes. Even with this little cup, which is very, very squeezy, I wouldn't be able to accurately control it. So I'm gonna do this very, very slowly, a little bit of time and again. That's another reason why I don't want makes up necessarily too much resin because you find if you're doing detailed work, but by the time you come back to your other residents may not be as good as it can be. I that looks good and was gonna do a little bit of time now, really just almost a few spots at a time, adding it into my black thin found here. And then he's using my stick to tack resin exactly into the design that I set time. Now, when I say exact, of course, it doesn't need to be exact. Thes lines are a guideline, And so, in the event that during the course of your work, you go way off your guy lines and into something that you have a plant that's trying to like. We looked at the original resins and the theory journal Geos and the inspiration nature, our lives for everything to be right. So you set out your resin in a way that you're happy with a little bit of time. Follow your lines or don't follow your lines. It really doesn't matter. It's entirely up to you. What is important at this point is to if you don't want your resin layers to mix is to not let them touch, because as soon as one color of resin touches the next band, then the likelihood that they'll bleed together and they'll actually start to pull each other together on you may lose any definition or shaped that you'd intended. So I'm gonna make sure to keep my black layer well away from that silver layer. If I can on no allow the two of them to join. In some cases, they're really quite close together. So if they do start to get a little bit closer, I may get in there with a Q tip or a wet wipe on. Just create the little shapes and gaps where I want them to pay. Okay, so I'm gonna carry, allow, complete my black rate and then we'll see caramel door Third will do this blue So looking good So far Now I'm ready for the time or ring for this layer which is gonna be this blue. I have the nice deco are extreme sheen in a beautiful sapphire blue which I love, So I'm gonna put a few drops of that into my final set of resident of this painting. Well, that's makes that so while I'm keeping an eye on what's happening with my other layers, just seeing if anything's going where it should. But for the most part, I think everything seems to be going well on course. Remember that you will also need to use your torch, so bring in your little torch on just go over your layers, very likely to pop any bubbles. See, that one looks really nice. I love the metallic sparkle in this one. So this is again is a wider. So I could either poor or I could do it more carefully with my stick. And I probably do a little bit of both some of the narrow areas. I'll use the stick and some wider errors, or maybe poor little bit. So let's start off in this corner up here, and all the while I want to make sure that I'm not going to get any drips of resident because see anything drips onto a color that I've already got. While it's still wet. That could be problematical. I could still tied it up with a little Q tip or something. Most likely, I'm going to do my best to just get the resident where I wanted to pay. Now this design is a little bit different to some of the ones that I've done before, and it's quite pointing. And so what I call over here is just a little Would you call them cocktail? Stick on what I want to draw my resident into a point I could just pulled with the cocktail stick and make a much finer point with the resin. Then I could if I was using the stir stick. That's hopefully gonna help me to get the nice geometric pattern in this. In this geo that I'm looking for, I can help it to be a little bit more pointy rather than the rang shapes which the president prefers toe form on its own. I had a little bit more so I think by now you get the idea off how I'm pouring the individual layers without them touching each other. In order that I get really crisp edges and good color separation for thes sections off my geo, I'm course gonna go on, finish this blue on the same as I did with the silver for any leftover and use those pendant bowls on. Make sure none of this resin goes to waste. So what's the third line? All my geo is completed. I'll just put a cover over it, leave it to cure overnight, and then I'll see you back. The next lesson on we'll do this center section extra go to actually believe the three colors into each other
12. Adding layers of resin that subtly blend: So are three lines strong before are now cured on looking great. There was a few areas here, especially around my silver, where it at the resin eventually kind of spread a little bit when outside the lines, but their guidelines not rules. So in the event that it spreads a little bit I side, that's no, no problem at all. We're gonna fix that. Don't want about it. So that was an example off doing three lines where each line was done separate on didn't touch or bleed into any others. And that's how I could get some nice crisp on well defined lines in your GOP in this section, we are going to pour three that will be together. So I have a silver here white, blue for the white. I'm gonna use this white die on. Also mix it in with some extra fine litter Just because Mr makes everything better right then for the super section that goes around the Exide Stones. I've got a very fine silver craft lifter on for the blue. I'm going to use the same blue as the outer line here off my geo, which is the extreme. She and I'm gonna pour all three of them it once and alive them to blend together. So let me get some resin mixed up on. Then we'll make a start, I said, a couple of little cups aside, which I use for the white for the blue in the silver. But for now, let's work on the white. I'm gonna add in some drops off my white resident. Die here. This one's pretty concentrated, so it doesn't need very much that will probably dio Let's get that a stir Banged that looks pretty good now, but added some nice shimmery glitter because glitter makes everything looks better. Good. So when it comes to adding things into your resin, it's the colorants, really that you need to keep within the 10% limit you can add on amount of solids on. That really isn't going to cause too much of a problem unless, you know you really have an awful lot in there, which is going to stop the resident basically sticking to itself. So it's getting my glasses all, he says. Now my some white and sparkly say yes. The sparkles look good on a poor run into this white area. I stick out of the way. Okay. And the same is before I'm just going to manipulate it around with stick when it gets into the areas that I want on. I'm taking it quite close into my stones this time because when I do my next layer the silver and poor that is gonna push the white aside, it will push it back out into the space that it was originally intended to be in. Oh, you have got some drips. Just hear. Good news is it's drink time to resin, which is already cured. So I can just use my, uh, went white and take that off. No damage done. Same with these other drops ominously in a messy mood today. There we go. And I also got a little bit of my glass there. I congest does that away too. Okay, so that white is in. That's makes ourselves up some silver glitter. Who scrubbed just any time that you mix a glitter into resin. It really makes my day absolutely gorgeous. Looks fantastic. So now where The silver line waas? It's not covered up by the white, but when I just drizzle, the silver rank is gonna push the white back away on those still were start to bleed out into the white color. You'll see the glitter particles which will move. So I'm gonna do it very gently with my stick and just let it dribble right around the edges of where the glasses. And it really doesn't need to be very much because it's going to spread quite a lot. Remember, we can always do more, So start off small. You could always have more. But if you put too much of something down, it's very difficult to take it away. Okay, so I've got my line of glitter on. I'm just leave that and it will gradually spread out. So I've got a little bit more left if I need it. But for the meantime, I'm not gonna add the blue. So I've got some residue left over just out a couple drops of painting. Tow it, and that's a really vibrant blue color. It's gonna look great. So now where I've got the gap between the white and silver in here, I'm gonna drizzle that blue and again it's going to start to bleed into the white color. - Okay , so, off my colors and I laid out. We're just gonna leave them to sit there for a little bit and start to interact with each other. And hopefully we'll see the silver start to spread on the blue. Start to spread into the white. I've left a few minutes, and the colors are all starting to blend and bleed together here now offset. The more resin that you put, the more likely it is that the residents will move together. So also, this is a time to be very much aware of where your board is in terms of being level, because if you have a lot of resident or big patch or several colors there together, if things aren't left when you make it results that hope that you aren't expecting or all wanted. So things were looking good for me here. So far, my silver is bleeding out into the white on. Very interesting. Actually. The last time I did this, the job that you see behind me, the blue bled into the white, this time doing it, even though I'm using the same materials this time the whites bleeding into the blue. So it's giving me a slightly different look But again, it's given with a subtle change in colors rather than the very distinct bands that report before. So let me just go over it quickly with Torch Paul Penny. Last air bubbles on. Now again, I need to cover this one, Let it cure, and then we'll come back on at our final layers.
13. Glitter layers: My colored bands are cured and it's night time to go on to my favorite part, adding the glitter layers. I like to add my sister layers at the end because depending on how much you add, your layers are gonna be more or less transparent because after all, they're just clear resin with destroying them. So I like to add them later so that they will be on top of my other layers on. Then I can allow the layers underneath to actually shows. Drove a little bit. I've got three glitter layers. This inner one is a very, very dark blue. I should be using this. Well, then I have a much wider layer just here, which is gonna be a combination of two have to lose. This one has a little bit off green in as well. So I thought that would be a nice a nice variation. Then I have a thinner band around the outside, which I'm trying to do silver and I've got to silver litters one, which is very fine on one, which is a regular glitter. What I know about this sand edging is that anything I put next week is going to bleed out into the sand, so I've never done a glitter layer there before. So I think that's going to be kind of interesting to see the way that the glitter moves out into the sand and gives like a radiant between the the glittery resident part and then the rougher texture part of the sand. So I'm looking forward very much to see how that works out so that maybe get mill itself a little bit off resin mixed up on them will make a start. With this inner dark blue ring, my residents mixed. So let's add in these blue sparkles. I don't need a whole lot. This is quite a narrow band. I do want to make sure that there's plenty of sparkles in there, so I'm adding a lot. Let's see how we get on this is perhaps more than I've ever added before, so let's see. May go a little bit sick on us. Actually, with my glitter layers, I want them to stay a little bit in place. I don't want to spread all over, especially because it's a very thin there between two others on if it just spreads out all over then it will have lost the definition of the shapes that I laid out. So there's a lot of glittering there. Oh, that looks really good. Okay, let me get my glasses. All we've got detailed work. I'm going to just use my stick, make sure I keeps during this pleasure. So any elements that don't seem going to the bottom and then exactly the same as before, I'm gonna add it around in the shape that I've drawn out with my pants. If you're layers are a little bit thicker, of course you can pour yours because this is a narrow one. I'm making sure that I'm going to do it very carefully. Looks like I'm gonna have lots of this one left over, which is great because it looks so amazing that I'm gonna use it in the little pendant molds afterwards. Makes a fabulous pendants in that way you can make are available to everyone because you can make someone you know, a $5.10 dollars, $20 dollar pendant. And it could be somebody who really wants to own a unique piece off. Your are, but maybe doesn't have the budget for a full peace and then they could go on and by a pendant in the style off your other work we used in the same kind of materials. So this is looking very sparkly so far on volition to get in between the lines on because it's very thick with all of the's sparkles in there, it's not spreading out too much. Of course, resin can catch you by surprise. Onder, if I go away and come back, can often be different to how you left it so far looking so good. Oh, yes, that blue is phenomenal. I love it, however, because resident tends to be it for a smooth shape, and I want it to look a little bit more jacket to reflect the lines. I've got a match. Gonna use my toothpick again on Just draw the resident out into some more pointed shapes on all sides. You've got little drip there, so that's one that will have to take off. Remember, it's easy because we let our layers drawing before I could just go over this with a wet wipe can take that little blob right off. So I'm just getting my stickin underst drawing. Some of these rang did areas more actor point so that it reflects the shape of the black underneath a little bit more. And in that way, I can encourage the resident to be less smooth on more form into the shape that I'm looking for. It's looking great. I'm gonna carry on that on finish and then I'll see you back here for the next layer. This is gonna be the much thicker one that, like, blew I think they start blue Looks really great against that black now on to the second litter layer and I've got to lose but my resin mixed up So that's just pour a little bit of each enter here Some of the gorgeous blue I will give a good a good stir that looks scriptures Oh, yeah, I'm happy with that now that was really good. Okay, so exactly the same as before I can either, depending on the scale I can pour around I can use my spoon or a scoop or us a stick on, Then just move the rest into match the design that I have here. So I got some slightly bigger areas this time it's not quite so narrow, so I can hora little bit of literal. I think that's a good start. Bit more up here again , my process gonna be exactly the same. Why, that's a really good on there. So I'm gonna complete this second ring and then I'll join you will have a look at this last silver one and we'll see what happens when the resin bleeds out into that black sound area . Time for my final glittery layer, this thin one that runs around the print side next to the black. And they're expecting something interesting to happen that maybe the silver will believe that. Well, let's take a take a look and see. It's quite detailed work something like my glasses on. And I got just a little bit of resin mixed up with the two different sizes off silver glitter. So let's see what happens. It may be that we won't get a lot of movement to start with, because I got a lot of glitter in here, so we will have to say in the past, when I've done this with just colored glitter, the color sorry colored resin, the colored resin has bled out into these into the sand. But I'm wondering whether, with the glitter it will hold the resident together a little bit more and make it less likely to bleed out. So that could be an interesting option that you have for the future. You could either mix it with glitter and keep a nice, crisp edge, or you mix it with that glitter just a color and have it bleed. But we will see what happens. So I'm just going to They surrounded my shape. So far, I think the doctor is holding it together. I'm not getting a lot of movement, so that's a good variation to know if you want to get a nice, crisp edge, there may be putting glitter in it. Yep, definitely. That looks like the way to go. Okay, so we are looking good. I'm doing it very delicately so that I put just a little bit of time and spread it out to keep that nice, crisp shape that I've got going on there. So, actually, I like my job in this case to be much more geometric, geometric, much mawr, certainly no natural, very distinct in this bands on. So this is the way that I'm doing mine. But remember we talked about it before. Yours doesn't have to look like this. If you prefer the more natural and organic look where the layers of blending in together, then, of course, go ahead and do that. There is no right and wrong. Okay, so I think he's became the excellent and, yes, because of the amount of glitter in this resident, I don't see any of the bleeding that I would get if I just put a regular color next of the sand. So that's interesting. So I'll go ahead now and complete my silver layer. Cover the GOP on left a cure overnight on, then I'll show you what it looks like tomorrow.
14. Assessing our piece and securing loose items: our board is now covered in resin. We don't have anywhere that hasn't been treated, so it's looking really good so far. Now, at this point, you may have some stones in the center or in some of your other bands that haven't been covered. I've had a careful look at my stones here in the center. On I can see where some of the white and silver that I put around the Exide has bled a little bit in, and it's holding these actual ones in place, but it hasn't reached the way all the way into the center. And therefore I need to just secure these lightly with a little bit of extra resident, which basically is just gonna glue them in place to the substrate Andi, lightly to each other. So I've got just a little bit of resin mixed up with just a smidge of glitter because little wrecks everything better, which I can just pour in here now you can do it either, so that the stones, the reason is just a little bit. It sinks trying to anchor the stones or, if you prefer, this stage is not time to start evaluating our poor on our resin peace and decide what to do. So if you want to add a little bit more of a three D effect, more texture and dimension, you can add slightly more of a pure coat so that it expands outside on gives maybe another co on top of your center, which is outside of the Stones. I'm just going to stick with a small amount, which will go into the center. If a little bit leaks out around the side. It's not gonna matter. It's gonna look fine. I actually really like the textured effect of all the different layers. So we just add this in. That's gonna be super simple, just a little bit. I'm just gonna drizzle it into the center where I know the other residents hasn't hasn't seeped in just to make sure that all of the stones there and I secured in place doesn't eat very much, and that's probably going to do so now. Also time to evaluate our peace. I have a look and everything looks just as I like it. My lines are all nice and crisp. My bang grease are really clear. I've got the shapes that I want it, so I'm actually happy with mine as it is. However, if you have areas that haven't maybe turned out how you liked or there's something that's a little transparent when it shouldn't be or you know you just looking at your layout and thinking you know there's something missing, I could do more. Then there's no reason why you can't go back and add mawr layers now. You can, I think, especially, looks good with glitter or metallics if you want to drizzle extra layers, you can put white bands, of course, through all of your layers underneath. Do bands with your semi transparent, just like a hint of color or just a hint of glitter give it a little bit more of a three D feel or very narrow bands, perhaps of metallics, which mirror and outlined the sections that you've already got. I don't things would look good on if things really just start rocking it for you. Well, then there's no reason why you can't almost start again and just report the whole lot or just all of the bands that really you don't like so much. There's also a few design ideas. If we to talk a little bit more about adding depth to your piece. Then you can add layers of clear breath in which have extra embellishments it. So maybe you feel it could do with another line of stones and go ahead at the man now had a clear line. Throw in some extra embellishments. Maybe some beads or some crystals might look cool. Some extra layers of glass, maybe leaf. If you add a lovely another band or a ring off, clear on, then poke little bits of gold, silver, copper or metallic leaf. It could look a so it's kind of floating above the surface, so that could look where you call to. So this class really just gives you the basics about how to get started, how to blend your colors or have to make definite rings. But the design ideas there's are all up to you from now in our next class. Once all of your designs completed, we'll discuss the pros and cons off finishing your piece with clear layer
15. Adding detail with line work: Our next step is to consider adding the decorative line work I brought over this larger blue piece, the one that I've already completely. But I want to show you some examples of the lions I've already done. I think you can see very, very much this white line just here, which is a really strong contrast against the plane color behind and that really has done a lot to define the shape. Gonna bring over the camera now and just bring in some close up shots of some of these other lines. So let's have a look. So here's the white line we're talking about here. Bring in a little closer. I've got two lines I've got a darker black, a wider black and then a thinner white line here again, two different colors. A wider silver onda thinner, white on. You can see how the lines give great definition to the piece on. Add lots of extra detail and embellishment where otherwise you'd have to really struggle to try and get very, very tiny lines off resin in there. So I got my supplies ready for drawing in the lines. I've got my Posca markers, thes ones. I've got these ones in a medium. I've got black, white and silver. You can also get a goal, but the gold doesn't go with my color scheme. I also like to use thes ones that see these are the stick. No union ball there like a gel pad. I really like those ones. I got that one in a white which I thought I might use. We'll see. I also have a silver, and then this one I've also just discovered works well too. Right on resin. This is thes secure. Mike Roper. I put it in black in a point in a no 0.0.5 on. We will see how this works on resin. So I know that I use all of these in the past, and they're very easy. You just drawing on. If you make a mistake, get your wet wipes and you take them off. I have a little practice with this one, the micro perm, and it doesn't come off with a wet wipe. You will need to use alcohol. So in the end, you make a mistake. Just get a little cough for a little Q tip. I didn't take this one off and In fact, this is the one that I'm gonna use. First of all, because I've got two bands here to glands which are blue and next to each other, a blue color and blue glitter on. There's no a lot of definition, not a lot of contrast between the two colors on just a little tech if you have something like this and you want to make one look separate from the other, if you have a very, very fine black line directly around the edge of the inner one, it reacts up just a little bit. Makes it look like a tiny drop shadow on Just gives it that little bit of contrast. So I'm gonna get my spectacles on on. Get this black pair on. Try very carefully to group right around the edge off the glitter layer. Keep it so it stands out a little bit more from the blue layer that's behind it. I'm going to take my time holding pen, quite likely, because I don't want to force the pad. I want the pen to exactly follow the line off resin on by holding it lightly, just kind of gently guided around. No force it to go over the lines. It's gonna be a slow process. I think it will be worth it to just that little bit off contrast between the two blues so far. Okay, yes, I think that looks really good. Is just adding just that little bit of a shadow basically around the glitter layer that's making it stand out a lot more from the blue. So I'll carry on with this one and go all the way around that blue Mr Ring on RGs. Now there's a spot just here where I went a little bit outside the lines, but I've got a little bit off alcohol on a Q tip. I could just wipe that away on the Penn disappears. I'll leave a couple of minutes to dry, and then I can continue on. So I think you can see that just that fine black line is really made quite a distinct difference. Matthew might do a little bit more in the center because originally I had laid that quite a geometric shaped design in the center. On when I did, the layers, all kind of flooded blended together. Some of that distinction was lost, so let's go with my silver. I could just about see in some places through the white. Where have thesis, Ylva, line underneath. I'm gonna follow those on. I'm going to use this one. This is the silver Posca in a medium. So again, I'm just going to draw around. I'm holding the pen lightly, basically allowing it to follow the surface on drawing that line on their echoing the more distinctive geometric shape that I want It I could just see poking through in some areas, creating a little white shadow under that, a little shadow into that white section of resin. So by defining with pen yet that looks really good because I've got one wide line of silver . I think I might take these other pen, the narrower on drawn out a narrow line getting silver outside that I'm just gonna check my pen on a piece of paper. I haven't used it for a while. Okay? It drive, it writes, OK, that's another little tip Before you apply to your your resident. Although it's easy enough to wipe off, you can just check your pen on a piece of paper. So let me go right now. Where I've got this way to one. Make a narrow band, and it can either mirror exactly. So you can try and can stay with the same shape that you had on. You can try on. Stay the same distance apart or, if you like, leave it more natural again. I'm holding the pen very lightly on allowing it to just move over the surface in a not too controlled way. And that's a hits, a little bit of glitter and so on. It's making a bit more of a jacket line. It's not creating the exact replica of the line that's underneath it. Just that they looks a little bit more natural are not too rigid again. These choices are all design choices, which are entirely up to you, of course. Okay, I think that's really cool. So let's see what else Come here. You know, I really like this narrow black line I've done on. I'm thinking I might put this on the inside of the other blue glitter line where that meets the silver and see what that looks like. Now, here there are some areas where it's a glitter area on some areas are got more glittering, another so some of them are a little bit clear I wasn't going along. It will be interesting to see how it looks next to the clearer parts compared to how it looks. Next put their ago wasn't concentrating completely went off again. I could just take my Q tip, raise that line and carry on on my way. It will be interesting to see what it looks like. All the mawr heavily glittered areas compared to the areas that are liked her. So I appreciate the moment. This is very detailed work and you can't really see it that clearly. Once I've got the lines drawn on, I'll bring the camera in a little bit closer and then you'll be able to see Okay, So again, us added just a little bit of definition, which again gives my my legs a little bit more contrast in shape. So shall we had something a little bit thicker? What we got now, maybe we could add a black line. You know, I'm thinking boy, it's gonna look nicer. I think I'm going to add white on this. I utter blue section just here on a wider one. Now you can either put it directly in the center, but I have found it tense. Look better if you use like, the rule of thirds, so put you either closer to the inner layer of resin or the actual rather than directly in the center. So because I've already got very distinct bound here off silver, which is really bright, I think I'm gonna try and have my wife a little closer to the blue. We just test the pan. It's looking good. Some places I haven't got a lot of space, so I'm gonna be reasonably close to the blue away. Let's see how it turns out. So I don't need to mirror it. Exactly. I could just do the shape closer in some areas narrower in others wide ring in sections. And hopefully it will look good in the end way, holding pens still very lightly so that it's moving in a more kind of random and uncontrolled way over the surface just to make it look a little bit more organic and natural. - Okay , that's my white line completed. So I'm just gonna step away, step away from the painting on, Just leave it for a few minutes to come back. A couple of times. See what I think before I go overboard because you can get a little bit carried away, sometimes an ad for too many lines. I make it a little bit too busy, so just step away. Come back a little bit later and do what you think. I decided to add two more lines. I added the black pan, two lines around this thing's bled area in the centre on again. It's given it more definition, but this time I've done it slightly differently rather than directly writing in the gaps or their groups. Between the president, I've done two lines, which kind of wiggle a little bit on, look a little bit more natural and hopefully have a little bit more variety. So now I think mine is finished. I'm very happy with how it's turned out. So let me bring the camera in a little bit closer and you'll be able to see the details a little bit closer. These are the two lines that I did here with the black. As you can see, they're not right next to each other. In some cases they overlap. I think that adds a little bit of extra Here's the silver lines here, which you probably couldn't see too well when I was doing them that quite like. But that's just the extra my definition and sparkle there in the center that I like. And as we come out the sides, here's the black line that went next to that glitter layer. And as you can see some areas, there's a lot more glitter. Some areas there's a bit more clear on again is defining in the shape just here and then on the outside again. We have that black line which defines the shake around the blue, out of the white only after line. And there we are. I think I am counting that as finished, So I'll see you in the next lesson on. We'll talk about the pros and cons of clear coating your piece.
16. Clear coating pros and cons: Now that our design work is done, we've decided that we're happy with our peace. We now have yet one more decision to make clear coat or not clear coat. Let's look a couple of examples of each. This one here has been clear coated. So I hold up against the window and against the light, you can see that it has a typical resin glossy of super super flat surface. The only thing coming out through the surface are the stones here on. It really shows off the glitter, but it doesn't have much of a three D look. It had quite a lot of texture, but once the taco is added a lot, that texture disappears on. It kind of looks a little bit flat, this one. On the other hand, the one we have just completed also has a glossy surface. But of course, as you can see is it's shining against the light, not quite in the same way that this one does, because it has a lot more texture to it can see a lot more texture. You can see all of the lines in the resin if I bring the same close to the camera will take a closer look at the surface of each on the blue one. Here you can see all of the individual lines and ridges that come that are made up by all of the different layers and rings of resin that we made here. I really like the texture on this. It gives it almost a touchable feel, herbal kind of texture. You also shows a little bit of the process about how it was made. If we look at this one, the pink one, you can see in certain areas like here, for example, where these two layers of resin were poured separately, one on top off the other, you can see has a slight three D angle if you look at it from a certain direction. But when you look down on the peace flat, um, you don't see the same texture that you see here. Obviously, when you touch, the surface is completely smooth, flat on glossy. So in some ways, whether you like the texture or whether you like, the smooth finish is a design decision that's entirely up to you. And it's according to your preference. I don't think you could really say there's any right or wrong with it. There is no other considerations, of course, on this one, where it has the sound texture. If you clear coated, you would lose the texture of that sand. But on the other hand, over time, if some of this wasn't perhaps properly adhered, then you might find that if it was touched a lot or, you know, rubbed or clean very often. But some of that sound might come away. Also, cleaning would be easier with this one than it would be with this one where it has more texture to it. In either case, both of them have the stones come through. So you would still get little bits of dust on this area to be cleaned off, so that really wouldn't make any difference. You would have to do a lot off clear layers and build up quite a damn in order to have enough that you would have covered your stones. Now what we talk about cleaning and maintenance. This one had the lines done before the clear coating was put on top. So even if you cleaned over this one now, those lines are there permanently. This one, the pasta pens on the other markers. The lines are on the top off the painting on. That means over time in the event that it was constantly groped or touched. For some reason, it was an area of high traffic, perhaps, or people just loved it so much they were constantly touching. It is possible that the lines could wear off. Also the same with cleaning. Just a light dust over would be fine. If somebody sprayed it with something like a window cleaner or cleaned it with alcohol. Then they might take off these lines later on. Even once they're dried, they're still not permanent. If you try hard enough to wear them, scrape them or clean them off with some kind of solve it. So that's another. Consideration is not just necessarily the preference about how it looks. This adding a clear coating would make those lines more durable. But at the end of the day, clear coating or not clear coating is yet another design decision which comes down to you. Your preference on if you're working on a on a commission, what your customer asked you for in the event that you do decide to clear coat. There's nothing specific or special that you have to do. You would just do amazing clear coat over the top off your piece in the same way that you would for any cure resin coating foreign artwork. In our next lecture, we'll have a look at taking the tape off on finishing the sides.
17. Options for finishing our geode: Okay, so we are almost finished. It's time to take off the layer of tape around the edge in the Bolton off our peace of mind . It was nice and easy because I didn't have resident come over the side because I had this sound border on somewhere. You have the resin come over, the sides just need, obviously slowly, little bay a time to peel off the resident. I've taken all of those drips away with you, so I'm gonna go round. Just quickly peel off all of my tape. It will take me a couple of minutes. I just check on my edges, see if I've got a nice, crisp finish to them. Hopefully I did, and hopefully we didn't get anything seek going through on make any marks on the site. If we do get nice, clean edge youth and it gives us a lot more options in terms of how we want to finish the address. So let's just see what I get. And then we could talk through those options. Okay. The tapes off on the edges are perfect. Have any problems with any leakage or any of the edges? So that means the edges air clean and therefore every option open to May. You would probably want to seal your edges in some way working on a cradled panel like I am so because my just a nice and clean I may just go around with a little light sanding sound paper. I just take off any little rough bits where the sand is right on the edge, just in order, I can rub my hand along the edge smoothly. We'll just take a little bit of sandpaper. Take care of that. I also just smooth at the sites of my board. If they are already perfect on, then all I need to do is just apply a clear varnish to them because mine already look really good now, you could also, um, finish them. Otherwise, if you prefer, you can paint a solid color. So in this one, it looks like a good choice. If I wanted to paint, the site would be to go with black. Black, I think, is pretty standard. I classic for any of your art pieces. If you want to finish them on the sides, just use a black acrylic paint, or you can pick a color, which of course, fits in with the color scheme of your geo. Whether that gold see over pink, orange or whatever color it is, I think that would look good now. You can also, of course, carry this sand border over to the size if you like. So it's like it the same as we did on the front. You would just put a layer of PV a glue on side, impress your sounded. You probably want to do it one side at a time, so you could kind of leave it up on the side like this. Finish this side once it's dry, turn and do the other side. But whichever you choose, you now have a beautiful piece of art. So I want to thank you very much for taking part in this in this class with May. I've had such a lot of fun recording it for you on talking properly, far too ups through all of these lessons. But I hope you have picked up some of the basic ideas that you need to complete your first message. Geo, I really hope you'll do one soon on very much looking forward to seeing how you get off So please do share your resin Geos with us. I very much look forward to seeing them. I'm once again. Thank you so much for taking the class.
Deby Coles, Artist and teacher
