10 Common Mistakes Beginners Make in Resin Art (and How to Avoid Them)
Have you just started to explore the world of resin art? This exciting, colourful, and fun-filled hobby lets art enthusiasts create endless products.
From wall art, jewellery pieces, and coasters to homewares like tabletops, the creativity that explodes through resin art in the form of DIY tasks is unlimited.
It’s crucial to understand the chemical reaction that happens between the resin and the hardener and the proper ways to mix to attain curing levels.
If you’re getting started, then the world of the best resin art supplies can sound overwhelming at first. Starting from rightly mixing products to preparing a safe workspace, ensure the upcoming list of ten common mistakes is avoided in the first place.
How Do You Fix Epoxy Resin Mistakes
Epoxy resin has two parts, one is the resin, and the other is a hardener. When both these parts get mixed following the instructions, then a chemical reaction occurs letting the liquid mixture form a solid piece.
Mistakes do happen when the chemical reaction gets disrupted or when best practices have not been followed. Let’s dive in and have a closer look at what you need to be aware of when working with resin to attain better results.
- Trying to Make It Big First Time
You may call yourself an expert in terms of handling artwork, yet, when it comes to resin, remember the fact that you are a beginner and be cautious of your first step into it.
Handing a big sized project needs expertise and you can gather it wisely by handling small sized projects. Taking up big projects can only end up in vain and wasting your precious time.
- Inaccurate Measurements of Resin Used
To attain the best results, utilizing measuring cups with clearly marked lines is highly recommended. To create jewelry bezels for resin, taking equal amounts of hardener and resin in a 1:1 ratio makes sense. If all the measurements are said to be off, then the hardener and resin shall never get mixed in the right proportions and might not react properly. For this particular reason, one must avoid adding more hardener thinking it might make the resin cure faster, only ending up with a sticky mess.
- Poor Mixing Quality
If the hardener and resin are not said to be blended well, then the respective chemical reaction cannot happen with no cure attained to the mixture.
Make sure to mix it thoroughly for a minimum of three minutes. Whipping the resin is not recommended, as it can cause bubbles leading to unnecessary mixing qualities. Ensure to blend them in the appropriate quality to attain better resin art results.
- Too Cold to Handle
For a better cure, ensure the resin is set at room temperature. You can identify them as cold when it’s said to be thick, hard to handle, and sport a cloudy appearance, happening due to the interference of microbubbles. If the resin is said to be cold, then give a warm water bath to the bottles, ensuring the bottle caps are tightly closed.
You can even make it a habit of soaking the resin bottles in warm water every time before measuring and mixing to let them remain easy to handle. Warmer temperatures to resin help promote a faster cure and can cut short your working time by ten minutes as well.
- Not Testing It First
Before utilizing the high-quality jewelry making supplies with resin, ensure to perform a test run to understand what you can expect out of it. The resin will showcase colors to look darker once they get mixed and wet.
To get an idea, utilize a little water on the top to see if it adapts to possible color changes. Porous paper, fabric, and matte photographs can easily absorb resin and it’s always advised to test it first through a scrap piece.
- No Proper Prepping Done Before You Resin
Ensure your desired piece is said to be dry and completely free of dust. A large-sized canvas must be reinforced along with cardboard at the back to bring in the strength and to prevent the canvas from sagging under the overall weight of the resin.
Photos or prints must be mounted evenly, using glue to even up the coverage and roll the brayer on the top to make sure a good bond happens with no resemblance of air pockets.
- Not Letting Enough Curing Time
Patience is highly crucial when it comes to working with resin. Not letting enough curing time is one common mistake that can highly ruin your artwork.
Artists need to follow specific curing times as designated for the resin products. Rushing this process will only result in an incomplete curing or a tacky surface. Make sure to allocate ample time to cure fully, most often up to seventy-two hours.
- Not Checking for Potential Air Bubbles and Surface Imperfections
Air bubbles and surface imperfections can be frustrating and a common issue when it comes to handling resin art. Ensure to mix your resin slowly to minimize the formation of air bubbles and to avoid excess air entering into them. Keep the working surface level and clean to avoid facing surface-based imperfections.
Once your resin-based jewelry bezels for resin project has been completed, protect it from potential dust and debris. A heat gun or a torch can be vitally used to pop any size of air bubbles that tend to surface.
- Working In a Poor Ventilated Area
You may face health complications if you have been working in a place that is not said to be well-ventilated in the first place. Poor ventilated working areas and resin does not go well, and it can create skin and respiratory issues out of long hours of exposure in them.
Always make sure to make enough room for air to circulate in the workspace to avoid facing potential health issues.
- Neglecting Post-Curing Care
Posting curing is highly essential to enhance the longevity of your resin art. Failing to store or clean the resin pieces can lead to potential scratches or loss of quality over time.
By incorporating high quality jewelry making supplies, you need to make sure the piece is perfectly cured, and handled using soft cloth, and covered up when not in use to let them remain polished and new for long periods.
The common mistakes in resin art creation as discussed above can ruin your art form if ignored. Remember to follow and oblige the use of resin in executing your artwork to avoid getting caught in any of these mistakes.
Finding the right art supplies will help in executing your resin artwork to complete perfection. Vajra Epoxy has the best resin art supplies, moulds, tools, and jewellery accessories and is the safest choice for artists and beginners.
Visit our online store right now to explore our collection of premium quality art products and Epoxy resin to fulfill your resin artwork needs in one place.