Vallender Rose is our Instagram Winner!
Congratulations to artist Helen Vallender, our latest Instagram winner! Helen is a part-time artist based in Lancashire, UK. She is self taught and loves to experiment. When she stumbled across Alcohol Ink instantly something clicked.
Helen creates beautiful Alcohol Ink art on Yupo paper and coasters. The unpredictability of the ink makes every piece unique but also excites Helen with each and every creation.
ArtResin is a great medium to seal her coasters which also provides an amazing, professional shine. For Helen, working with resin and ink is a great way to express herself and hopefully inspire others.
You can find more of Helen’s work on Instagram @vallenderrose and on Etsy @VallenderRose. She also has her own website: vallenderrose.com.
Congratulations on your win, Helen!
To celebrate all the amazing artists staying home and creating, every month we will be sending out a 32 oz kit to a couple of artists who have tagged us on Instagram—and we'll share their work with the world!
Don't forget, tag YOUR ArtResin work with @art_resin on Instagram, and YOU could be our next weekly winner!!
How To Make A Custom Resin Tray
Serving trays come in many different shapes and sizes but the best ones are ones that you make by hand! And it's so rewarding to customize them to suit your style and flare. Whether you’re working with metal, wood or another substrate, ArtResin provides endless possibilities when designing your very own serving tray.
Serve up a conversation piece!
Mixed media artist and YouTube influencer Dan Rodo has been working with resin, creating anything from resin apples to vintage cameras. Recently he stopped by the ArtResin HQ to experiment and guide us step-by-step in creating 2 customized metal trays.
Take a look...
How To Create Custom Resin Trays:
Here's what you'll need:
- ArtResin epoxy resin
- metal trays
- ResinTint liquid colorants
- sprinkles
- silicone star tray
- glue gun and glue sticks
- Tuck Tape
- foam core
- a marker
- scissors and/or X-acto knife
- A pair of nitrile gloves, a stir stick and spreader
- plastic mixing bucket
- small plastic cups and craft sticks, enough for each color of tint
- a plastic drop sheet to line your work surface
- an Artist's Torch
- a dust cover large enough to cover your piece
Assemble Your Materials Before You Start:
Gather your tools so that everything is at hand before you start, including your dust cover.
Keep your background in mind when composing your design and choosing your color palette: for example, if your background is white, you can get away with translucent colors whereas a dark or metallic background will get best coverage from opaque colors.
Tray No. 1 - Sprinkle Tray
1. Make a Mold
Grab a piece of foam core and using the marker, trace the circumference of the tray. Knowing the size that you’ll be working within, outline your initials in big block letters.
Using the X-acto knife, cut out the letters from the foam core and trim them nice and smooth with the scissors.
Using those letters, trace and cut them out once again. Try to clean them up as much as possible but don’t worry if they don’t perfectly match—you just need the extra pieces for height.
Grab your glue gun and glue the same letters together in order to provide more height when pouring your resin. Place the best looking letter on top as the resin pour will follow that pattern and we want it to look good!
Next up, take the Tuck Tape and cover the foam core letters as the ArtResin won’t stick to the tape. Try to make it as smooth as possible so that the shape of your mold will be clean and impressive. Be sure to cut out any small holes within each letter such as in the ‘D’ and ‘R’.
Now take your letter that will be in the middle and center it to the tray. Glue it down and place the remaining letters accordingly. Once complete, you have essentially created a mold to help you shape the resin.
2. Measure and Mix Your ArtResin And Tints
Now it’s time to grab your ArtResin and start mixing. First you’ll want to determine how much resin you will need. ArtResin has made it easy for you to calculate with our new Circle Calculator. Simply measure the diameter of your circle art piece, go to artresin.com/circle, punch in that number and select the units.
Once you’ve determined the amount required, measure equal amounts (by volume) of resin and hardener and mix thoroughly for at least 3 minutes. Scrape the bottom and sides of the mixing container as you go.
Next, grab your ResinTint bottle and shake well. Use a few drops to tint the resin, mixing well to achieve the color you wish to use.
Dan used black for his tray and filled the holes with sprinkles after 24 hours.
ResinTint is a highly saturated pigment based colorant, so it's always best to start with less than you need, adding more as necessary. Check the transparency by using the mixing stick to pull some of the tinted resin up the side of your cup: if the tint is too translucent, add a little more until you're happy with what you see.
💡TIP: No matter which colorant you choose to use, don't add more than 6% of the total combined volume of resin and hardener. Adding more than 6% will throw off the delicate balance required for the resin and hardener to cure, and you may end up with resin that doesn't harden.
3. Pour The Resin
Finally it is time to pour the tinted ArtResin into the tray. Be sure to pour all around the letters and into any small holes. The top of the letters should still rise above the resin to help remove them the following day.
4. Torch, Cover And Wait
Lightly run a torch over your design to remove any bubbles. Cover your piece with a dust cover and allow your piece to cure for 24 hours until it's dry to the touch.
5. Remove The Letters
Now that the resin is hard to the touch, you can safely remove the tape covered letters from the tray. Use any tools you have available but once you get under the tape you should find it quite easy to lift and remove.
6. Measure, Mix and Pour
Once again, determine how much resin you will need and measure equal amounts (by volume) of resin and hardener and mix thoroughly for at least 3 minutes.
Now it is time to introduce the sprinkles. Sprinkles tend to sink to the bottom of the mixture so be sure to add more than you think you need and mix them up.
Pour the rainbow colored resin into the open letters.
7. Torch, Cover And Wait
Run the torch over your letters, cover your piece with a dust cover and allow your piece to cure for 24 hours.
8. Top Coat
After 24 hours you should have a near perfect tray. We highly recommend one more small step to ensure a perfectly level, perfectly clean resin tray—a top coat of ArtResin.
You may find that some of your shapes or letters are not perfectly even. The best way to take care of this is to sand down the top of the tray. It will get all scratchy and dusty but that’s ok. Wipe off the dust and pour one more thin coat of ArtResin. The scratches will disappear and the tray will be universally level.
Wait just one more day and you will then have your brand new custom serving tray.
Tray No. 2 - Silicone Star Tray
Silicone is fantastic to work with when using ArtResin. Nothing sticks to silicone so you can use all sorts of shapes and letters to create patterns in your tray.
1. Prep Your Pattern
Grab your silicone mold and cut out your shapes individually. Place them all around the tray in the pattern you find most appealing.
💡TIP: When working with silicone sometimes you have to think outside the box as nothing tends to stick to it. This makes keeping your shapes in one place difficult. Dan tried gluing, taping and other tricks to try and lock the molds into place but nothing was working. In the end, he weighted the silicone cut outs with stones and that seemed to do the job.
2. Measure and Mix Your ArtResin And Tints
Once you’ve determined how much ArtResin you need by using our new Circle Calculator, measure equal amounts, by volume, of resin and hardener and mix thoroughly for at least 3 minutes. Scrape the bottom and sides of the mixing container as you go.
Grab your ResinTint bottle and shake well. Use a few drops to tint the resin, mixing well to achieve the colour you wish to use.
Dan used Metallic White for this tray.
3. Pour The Resin
Pour the tinted ArtResin into the tray. Do not submerge the shapes in resin.
4. Torch, Cover And Wait
Lightly run a torch over your design to remove any bubbles. Cover your piece with a dust cover and allow it to cure for 24 hours.
5. Remove Shapes
Now that the resin is hard to the touch, you can safely remove the silicone shapes. The silicone will pop right out of the resin - very satisfying!
6. More Resin Mixing and Pouring
You should be a resin measuring, mixing and pouring expert by now. Repeat the same process to get your proper mixture and divide into smaller cups if you plan to use multiple colors.
In this case, Dan put a little bit of resin in a cup to mix some red for a single star. He mixed the rest with Metallic Gold and poured that into a squeeze bottle to avoid unnecessary drips.
Pour the tinted resin into your shapes, filling as close to the top as you can.
7. Torch, Cover And Wait
Torch your resin if necessary, cover your piece with a dust cover and allow your piece to cure for 24 hours until it's dry to the touch.
8. Final Top Coat
After everything has cured, you may find that some of your shapes are uneven. The best way to take care of this is to sand down the top of the tray. It will get all scratchy and dusty but that’s ok. Wipe off the dust and pour one more thin coat of ArtResin. The scratches will disappear and the tray will be universally level.
Wait 24 hours to see your brand new custom serving tray.
Have you created your own resin tray?
We'd love to hear - let us know in the comments below!
To see more of Dan's work, visit his YouTube page:
www.youtube.com/user/TheDanocracy
follow him on Instagram:
@danocracy
ArtResin: Made For Artists, By Artists.
Handmade Christmas Gifts
The holidays are upon us and most people are probably scrambling to find something to get their significant other. Couple that with the uncertainty of shopping in store in 2020 and you may find yourself with a little extra stress!
Well fear not dear friends! Rebecca and Dave from ArtResin are no different but they do have a solution to pull you out of that pandemic panic ;)
Check out the video below to see what Dave and Rebecca created for each other this Christmas.
Handmade gifts are perfect when you put in a little thought and work from your heart. Plus you can do it all from the comfort of your home.
So let someone else buy those socks and underwear. Do you really need another blanket? Rest your mind and go with a more personal touch. After all, something that you create with your own hands is a gift that never goes out of style.
Merry Christmas!
Kimberly Leo is our Instagram Winner!
Congratulations to artist Kimberly Leo, our latest Instagram winner! Kimberly is a full-time artist with a studio located in Seattle, WA. She used to be an oil painter but now works primarily in resin.
To quote her website, Kimberly's paintings "are full of vibrant color, sparkle, and shine, that will jump through hoops for you, belt out a show tune, dance the cha cha, hold a yoga pose, do cartwheels, somersaults, and all kinds of other tricks to command your attention for a magical moment and then just be present in that moment with you."
Kimberly gets most of her ideas from photos that she takes in nature. She'll then do a detailed sketch and make a list of materials. She mixes colored pigment powder, acrylic paint, Indian ink, glitter, glass, gold leaf and crystals. Although mapped out, there is still freedom when laying down the layers of ArtResin.
Kimberly had left the art world but was inspired to come back after the passing of a dear friend. She was introduced to ArtResin through various YouTube videos and decided to do a piece in her friend's honor to help her heal. Thankfully she made another piece the next night, and then another, and another...
You can find more of Kimberly’s work on Instagram @kj_leo_designs or by emailing her directly at kimjohnleo@gmail.com. You can also purchase some of her work through foguestudios.com and foguegallery.com.
Congratulations on your win, Kimberly!
To celebrate all the amazing artists staying home and creating, every month we will be sending out a 32 oz kit to a couple of artists who have tagged us on Instagram—and we'll share their work with the world!
Don't forget, tag YOUR ArtResin work with @art_resin on Instagram, and YOU could be our next weekly winner!!
ArtResin Circle Calculator
The Earth is round.
The sun is round.
Many times, art is round. And once you've completed that spherical masterpiece, how can you possibly determine how much ArtResin you'll need to coat it?
Answer: ArtResin's Circle Calculator.
ArtResin has made it easy for you to calculate how much resin you'll need with our new Circle Calculator. Simply measure the diameter of your circle art piece, go to artresin.com/circle, punch in that number and select the units.
Once the calculator has used its wizardry to formulate a response, it will even recommend the bottle size of ArtResin required to properly coat your piece. Bet your phone calculator can't do that!
That's it. That's all. It's a simple thing but 'round here, we like things simple ;)
Sophie Epperlein is our Instagram Winner!
Congratulations to artist Sophie Epperlein, our latest Instagram winner! Sophie is a South London based artist who works in an illustrative style to create bright and bold pieces. Her body of work started as a series of miniature oil paintings often constructed and manipulated through a layering process.
Her work more recently took a graphic and 3 dimensional turn when she started doodling on a collection of vintage recipe cards and making them into colorful resin plates.
Sophie's process often evolves from her intrigue in re-purposing objects and images. She is drawn to patterns and colors within found images, and reinvents them into contemporary collages with various paints, pens, and resin.
Sophie's work ranges from hand painted stools to cups made from toilet rolls. All of them are finished with a high gloss coating from ArtResin that truly make the colors pop!
Sophie sells work through her etsy store https://www.etsy.com/UK/shop/
Congratulations on your win, Sophie!
To celebrate all the amazing artists staying home and creating, every month we will be sending out a 32 oz kit to a couple of artists who have tagged us on Instagram—and we'll share their work with the world!
Don't forget, tag YOUR ArtResin work with @art_resin on Instagram, and YOU could be our next weekly winner!!
Give the Gift of Creativity!
ArtResin HQ just got their first snowfall of the season which reminded us that Christmas is almost here! Which means that there is plenty of shopping to be done!
Right now, there is a lot of hustle and bustle and getting that perfect gift for someone special is often a head scratcher. Well we're here to scratch that itch and offer up a couple of wonderful ArtResin bundles that will satisfy and delight any creative souls on your list.
GIFT #1 Trinket Dish Kit
Art is beautiful... Functional art is even better!
We’re excited to offer our Trinket Dish Kit! This kit contains everything you will need to create your very own, stylized dish to hold anything from rings to plants to paperclips, and more.
Check out our video demo below!!
GIFT #2 Petri Dish Art Kit
The iconic "petri dish art" style is made by encapsulating alcohol ink in ArtResin within a reusable silicone mold. The ink meanders through the resin creating vibrant ribbons and colorful "petrified" squiggles. It looks SO impressive, yet it's easy to do and super fun to make!
With our Petri Dish Art Kit, we've included everything you need to create post-worthy artwork, all in one box!
Check out our video demo below!!
We hope our creative kits will help to make your holiday season a little easier and a whole lot brighter 😊
Wishing YOU, all of our cherished customers, a wonderful holiday season filled with love, joy and above all else, health! ❤️🎄❄️
Marc Cooper is our Instagram Winner!
Congratulations to artist Marc Cooper, our latest Instagram winner! Marc is mostly a self-taught, part-time artist who lives in Toronto, Ontario. He loves creating with ArtResin in the studio and watching the medium flow.
Marc has a popular set of work called the "barcode series." This line of art was born from leftover resin on an old canvas... Sometimes the best results come from the most unexpected places!
Inspiration always starts with music. Marc hits play to liven the mood, mixes paint with ArtResin and pours. Gravity takes care of the rest. After the first session, Marc will have to wait at least a day before repeating the process but watching the transformation never gets old.
Marc's work is currently showing in multiple galleries around Toronto. You can also check out his Instagram account @marccooperart or his website marccooperart.com.
Congratulations on your win, Marc!
To celebrate all the amazing artists staying home and creating, every month we will be sending out a 32 oz kit to a couple of artists who have tagged us on Instagram—and we'll share their work with the world!
Don't forget, tag YOUR ArtResin work with @art_resin on Instagram, and YOU could be our next weekly winner!!
Dueling Paintbrushes - Episode 2
Welcome to Dueling Paintbrushes!
This series pits 2 creative artists against each other with limited time and limited resources.
Dave and Rebecca are both skilled artists who—what, with co-running a business, and a home, and co-parenting—rarely get a chance to dabble with artistic pursuits these days. So we decided to have a little fun.
In Episode 2, we switched things up. This round we provided a bin filled with materials that they had to use to create their artwork. No other art supplies could be used.
They had no paintbrush.
No art direction.
And they had to do it in 30 minutes.
Again it was highly entertaining to watch these two artists race against the clock to try and "out-duel" each other. It was another successful experiment that we hope you, at home, will take part in.
Once you watch the video, please vote or comment on our YouTube channel as to who you think won the competition. Was it Rebecca and her "Floating Cat" or Dave and his "Caticorn." Voting will close on November 20th, 2020.
Also, please let us know if you'd like to see more of these competitions. Once things settle down in the world around us, we hope to open our doors and invite other artists to join in on the competition where everyone's a winner :)
Enjoy!
Lilian the Magnetficent is our Instagram Winner!
Congratulations to artist Lilian, also known as Magnetficent, our latest Instagram winner! Lilian is a self-taught, night time artist who was born in Hong Kong but currently lives in Edmonton, Alberta. She started out in calligraphy but recently discovered resin and then began combining the two styles into one.
Lilian absolutely loves working with Alcohol Ink because of the movement and intriguing patterns that are created once it reacts to ArtResin. She continues to create her dancing ink pieces because it fills her with so much joy each day.
To start, Lilian will warm up her ArtResin, clean the molds and line up her colors one by one. She will then pour the resin and drop the ink, hoping that each piece is better than the last. If the back of the piece is sharp or uneven, she will sand it down and apply a top coat of resin to clean it up.
Each piece of hers is a unique visual experience not only for her viewers but for herself as well. Lilian still gets excited each and every morning as she rushes to demold her pieces. For her, each new day is like Christmas morning :)
You can find more of Lilian’s work on Instagram @magnetficent or on Etsy @magnetficentart and also on Society6 @magnetficent.
Congratulations on your win, Lilian!
To celebrate all the amazing artists staying home and creating, every month we will be sending out a 32 oz kit to a couple of artists who have tagged us on Instagram—and we'll share their work with the world!
Don't forget, tag YOUR ArtResin work with @art_resin on Instagram, and YOU could be our next weekly winner!!
