My Adventures with Resin and Mold Making Part 1

I'm a on break from cold porcelain. I wanted to try to make sculptures using bowls and resin. These art pieces seem to be building in popularity but the build up is slower because the process is a bit involved. Hopefully, everyone has seen the amazing artist Riusuke Fukahori. If you haven't you need to watch this video and come back to the blog...



...back now? Okay, wasn't that amazing! He pours resin, layer by layer and layers the paint to create a "3D painting" effect. The outcome is incredible and memorizing.

My fellow contributor Christen has also made some fantastic resin sculptures. (All of which can be purchased in her Etsy Shop.) She layers polymer clay sculptures into the resin to create a dynamic still life sculpture. Fukahori and Christen have been my major inspirations to try it myself. I wanted to start out easy by making sculpted fish instead of trying to paint them on the resin, which is infinitely harder (for me).

First, I bought some neat bowls from Goodwill. I found an amazing wooden bowl. I bought my resin from Michael's (go-go 40% off coupon!). Christen actually drove up for a visit and I waited for expertise before I attempted to try it. It's a fairly simple process (mix one part hardener with one part resign and stir!) but I tend to be leery of using new chemicals.

I poured about 1/8th inch layer in my bowls. You might be able to see it in the picture. The resin is perfectly clear. When you pour resin it captures a lot of air, which create air bubbles. The best way to get rid of them is with carbon dioxide. If you don't have a torch, (get a torch if you plan on doing this a lot!) you have to use your own breathe, which involves a lot of blowing through a straw.

My next step was to make some fish for my bowl. I wanted to try out the Sculpey Mold Maker clay I had lying around. I made simple fish shapes in different sizes in regular Sculpey (the red fish) and baked them. I put the mold making clay around the them making a top and bottom mold (bake again!). I coated the mold inside liberally with cornstarch and pushed more regular clay in the mold.

 It worked pretty well! I added fin details before baking and ended up with a decent handful of mostly unique koi fish. I really wanted to make a mermaid kissing a fish...so I did! :)

I painted everything with acrylic paint...

I painted the top layer of resin and bottom of the glass with paint because I did not want the class to be see through. I wanted to have more contrast between the bottom and the fish.






More to come when I finally mix the resin again...