I keep coming back to this one Chris and learn something new every time. Its still my favorite resin work. I mentioned you in my last video as I did one in this style, thanks again for inviting us into your kitchen to watch you at work.
You are much too kind. You know I often look at these early pieces and fall back in love with the simple elegance of negative space and limited tonal colours. You might even have nudged me to go back and use up some of my resin than is languishing in my cupboard. 😍
I just can’t thank you enough for making this very informative educational video. Absolutely beautiful selections! I thoroughly enjoyed this. Really good video. Well done!
This is stunning, your choice of colours are perfect together. Thanks so much for a very informative video, I thoroughly enjoyed watching it, thank you.
Chris Cross my hubby just went to get me a piece of 4x8 melamine board, they only have white right now but he's ordering me the black as well...can't wait
A very nice video, nice to watch one with no music. I use powders a lot and find they give a more intense image. I have subscribed, so keep up the great work. I have a theory about those who give thumbs down without leaving comments- it’s other artists trying to reduce subscribers of others works. Could be wrong of course. But I have noticed a particular trend in the art sections of TH-cam that doesn’t happen with other topics. Anyway, nice piece of work and clearly put across. A professional session. Well done.
Thank you Graham. I don’t do that many as the place is flooded with pouring videos. I generally do a new one when I have something interesting to share. My video setup is quite basic as I like to concentrate on the actual art.
LOL. hey there. Nowhere near as prolific as some others. More into brush and abstract painting at the moment but I still like to keep my hand in the resin every so often.
I opened my resin 2 days ago, and I am not very good. I have wasted a lot of resin . I was going to give up and go back to acrylic pours. After watching your videos, I am giving resin another try. Thank you 😊
Resin is one of those materials that is hard to discribe and much easier once you start to play with it. It is expensive so you may feel you have wasted some but it is all a learning experience and your mistakes are as valuable as your successes. Start off small with tiles or small boards and get a feel for how organised you need to be, the time you have and how much you can disturb the resin to get the look you want. Good luck and hang in there.
This was very helpful! and I also wanted to say that the sounds are kind of like ASMR it was very relaxing listening to the process as opposed to having music. Subscribed thank you!
When I first started trying resin pours I was completely bamboozled by how to keep the design I wanted where I wanted. So much just ran off the edge. That was what started me on pouring the framing part first and using my hands to smooth it out.
Chris Cross, buen día...admiro y aprecio muchísimo lo que haces con resinas y otros productos los cuales no te entiendo porque no se ingles. Quiero de tu mano aquí en Colombia aprender y emularte porque eres excelente artista y tus trabajos....SUPER HERMOSOS¡¡¡¡¡¡ Cordialmente Víctor Hugo Herrera L.
Victor. My apologies I do no speak spanish so translation is difficult. Can I suggest you join Facebook group LetIfFlow family. there are a lot of spanish speaking artists who can assist.
Hi Chris, I just saw your message pop up. It is 9AM here in Central Canada. What time is it there? This pour picture was beautiful. I've been watching your technique very carefully. I've notice that the slimmer/skinnier the drip of resin/paint from your stick, the more lacey the result is with the hairdryer. I love that look. Thank you again for a wonderful lesson!
The colours are stunning against the black background. I love this. Thank you for a great tutorial. Can I ask, do you have to torch at the end or does the hair dryer seem to get all the bubbles out.?
Beautiful!!!!!! One question:Why you did not cover the whole board with black paint and then put all colors on it...? You left two big spots on both sides and put clear resin first and then added black paint on both sides ?:)
I do that to control how far the mica runs. If I cover the entire board in black the mica gets mixed into the black paint and blurs. By doing this way I can get the mica in the clear to run over the black resin and hold its vibrancy.
I have tried a heat gun and various hairdryers. I found this particular hairdryer had the right settings for me and moved the resin enough to get the results I wanted. I don't like a lot of torching or overheating of the resin. Its just a personal preference and I am certainly a fan of using whatever gives you the results you want.
Chris these are lovely and unusual pieces. How do you handle bubbles? How often do you torch to remove them and when can you stop torching? Thanks for sharing
I genrally do a quick torch of the negative space (in this case black) The addition of a bit of heat with the hairdryer will take care of most of them then a light torch to finish. I recheck at about 15mins later but after that you run the risk of disturbing the surface. It also depends on the viscosity or type/brand of resin. So I suppose the message is to understand your resin and try to be calm and gentle when mixing.
I am in Australia so i bought them on ebay from China. There are hundreds of shades and different types. I made sure I got mica for makeup or soap colouring and included shimmer or lustre types. They give you flat coverage and then some flash that is more glitter and larger flakes to give some different texture.
I looked into buying Just Resin, then read the reviews and most were very negative. It's great to see a tutorial with a reccomendation. What are your thoughts on this brand?
I am not particularly wedded to a particular brand. Resin is expensive so i buy when i have coupons, discounts and on sale. Personally each resin has particular characteristics and its a valuable learning experience to use all the different brands. Just on reviews i tend to take them with a grain of salt. Your combination of materials and environment will be quite unique so your own hands on experience should guide your material selection.
Your videos are soo great, Thank you for taking the time to upload.Can a mixture of resin mixed with acrylic paint be mixed into the same dirty cup as the mica & resin ?
Absolutely. You can even add a bit of mica to the individual pint/resin mixes to give the colours a bit of shimer. The results vary depending on how many different colours of pigments, inks or paint resin mixes that you combine. Have a play and see what you get. 😄
Make sure you have lots of ventilation or extraction for the fumes. the momet to add anything to your resin or heat the resin you change the base chemical makeup. You could still get fumes that you are not expecting.
I have mastercast and there is definitely a smell with mine although it's only coming from the hardener. I use it in my living room which has art studio set up with no problems and I use a hairdryer, torch, acetone, resiblast, etc. No problems or incidents although I'm careful to be deliberate about what I'm mixing and keeping things separate. It gets smelly for a bit but goes away quickly. That said I have a fairly large living room/kitchen area. Happy pouring!
All epoxy resins will give off fumes when heated the way we do. Please make sure you have adequate ventilation or extraction fans and use a respirator if you are at all concerned.
Chris Cross thank you for your quick response. You have quite the artistic carpenter in your home. Sorry to ask,can you please show the bolts and how they are attached. I looked at T bolts online and I’m not getting ... THANK YOU so much
You need t-nuts to go into the piece of board and then threaded bolts that go with them for the legs. We just attached a bit of wood to the bolt with glue to help you turn the bolts to get the levels
I don't use acetone. Sorry. I use epoxy resin and you get a working time of anywhere from 20-45 mins depending on the brand. If you resin is curing fast you might be putting too much paint or colourant in the mix. rule of thumb is keep under 10%
awesome work. i could not get the name,which resin r u using? can I get it online....and do you bake these painting or it is air dried....your work inspired me to do some this type work, plz suggest
+Chris Cross The resin air cures, it is touch dry in about 8hours and fully cured in about week. That is determined by the brand you use and your curing environment. I live in a dry environment.
Hello Chris, thank you for this video. Great job. I ve 2 questions. Do you know if we can do that on cotton canvas? Can we use liquitex basics to mix with resin? Thank a lot. Waiting new video ;-)
I use art canvas and yes it can be done. Prime the canvas or buy preprimed canvases. Because I like smooth surfaces I still add a priming layer of either paint to gesso to my canvases and sand smooth. Yes you can use liquitex basics. I haven't so I am not talking from experience but I know a lot of people do.
I run a torch over the bubble to release them. It is carbon dioxide that pops bubbles rather than the heat of the torch. You can blow them as well. You get lacing and different effect in resin whereas cells are normally associated with acrylic paint pours.
You need a acetone for laceing. You can buy it in a small spray or go to any burnings or that sort of place or a fiberglass shop should supply it. A lacquer burn will give a similar effect 😊
I like working with mica's and pigment powders because the maintain their vibracy. Eye shadows sometime have additves, binders and preservatives. Have a try but do it on a test piece first. I keep my stir sticks from the practice and write on them what the ingredient was. You can see any colour change when it cures
Chris Cross what brand of mica powders do you like? Are they available in the US? I love your choice of colors! I have the Pearl X brand of powdered pigment. I am taking a course in resin next week so have not poured yet.
You've inspired me. Why type of Mica do you use? When do you remove the tape after it's fully dry? I can't thank you enough for sharing your technique. Thank you.
🤗 I bought the original mica's from a local nail salon but most of these came from Ebay (china). I take the tape off the next morning. I do keep it relatively clean during the initial couple of hours so that you don't have huge resin drips to deal with. Have fun with it.
Chris Cross Thank you so much for replying. I love your style, it's clean and chic. I was curious, why do you put the alcohol? I just purchased some Mica and will give it a try. In the meantime, I will try acrylic paint.
Because I am adding mica to the resin... I am effectively thickening the mix. The alcohol is to thin it back down. It also can give you varing degrees of lacing.
Stephanie thank you. This hairdryer is a cheap brand “tiffany” but you need one with multiple settings that is strong enough to move your resin but not blow it across the room. That also means what ever you get will act differently on different viscosity resins. high (thicker takes more air and heat) vs low (thinner). This was the 4th type I bought before I found it worked exactky how I wanted it to.
In the section you weren't happy with (I thought it was great, btw), could you drizzle a bit more clear and more of the mica and move again, at this stage? Have you tried layering in that way? I'm a newbie at resin, and I appreciate you sharing your process and lessons learned. ;o}. The look I'm going for is that depth that I see others get so effortlessly, but I"m sure it took lots of trial and error. LOL
The style I am after is to create visual depth through colour and shading in one pour. You can achieve this by using negative space and have the appearance of something floating and crossing over itself. Layering can do the same thing so keep on playing and experimenting to get the look and style you are after. There is a point with mica that it gets away from you and just blurs into a smear. When you add clear you are effectively spreading the mica wider, rather than keeping it contained.
I just found you on TH-cam and love your style. I heard you mention the board you are using but I'm not sure how to spell that and would like to do a search for that board. I am always looking for materials to use for my resin.
The board is melamine. It has a white laminated side and a plain MDF side. I like it because the resin easily comes of the laminated side once its dry.to touch.
Chris Cross hey Chris, where do you get the melamine board, I googled it and see I can get it from Amazon per piece. Do you know if it can be bought as a sheet and cut into pieces?...Love you and your work.
I was looking for mixing mica and found this wonderful video .I might be crazy but when the picture is first completed @23:39 I see the wolf from Little Red Riding hood when it was dressed as the granny..if you look yu can see the black eye, muzzle and teeth and the hat is in yellow ..and she's' breathing an etheral firey mix.:-)
Polyester resin is a tricky one. Ok there are a quite a few reasons why I wouldn’t. Firstly it is nasty to work with. The fumes are extremely toxic and you must be outside or super protected. Secondly it is extremely reactive to moisture so you need specific environments and pigments made for it. It has an Extremely limited pot or working time. You would struggle to make anything large. And lastly because it is designed to be a completely rigid plastic when cured it will not match the flex of your canvas and in all probability will delaminate from your canvas. It is one of those situations when you would be much better to match your project to the type of resin you can get.
canvas and canvas boards do not stand up well for pours with or without resin.. Surface of choice that does very well is 1/2" MDF board you can get at your local lumber supplier..
As far as I know the mica is inert in the resin so its longevity will be determined by the resin you use. It would be similar to embedding anything in resin.
Shelley I use a lot of different resin depending on what I am trying to do. Have a play with different brands and see what works in yourr particular environent. Different paint, ink, mica plus weather will all change how a particular brand reacts.
I bought the first lot from a local nail salon to test and see if I liked the results and the rest I found on Ebay. Look for soap and candle making supplies.
When you mix the powders the important tip is to mix well. If you powder tends to clump then you can mix in one of the parts until its smooth and then add your other part.
Technically yes and I do small ribbon ones. the issue you will have with a full cup of resin is that the mica will travel, blend and disperse very wide. Thats not a bad thing if its a look you are going for. Mica floats in the resin rather than colours it.
Chris Cross That make sense. I guess the dirty pour would work better with acrylic paint, it doesn't disperse as much or as fast. Thanks for the tips. But, could you do acrylic and mica? Ah, that would be a challenge? I'm going to try. I just ordered Mica, it's coming from China so that will be a while. In the meantime, I can play with acrylic. Thanks so much for being so generous with your time and talents!
Yes you can combine them every which way. I am quite minimalist in my style so I try and keep lots of negative space and limit the number of materials. Thats just me and I hope everyone explores alll the materials available and see how it fits you style.
I simply love your clean clear tutorials. Thank you for talking, doing it in real time, and for not having any irritating music background.
BEAUTIFUL! I like the way you work. Very relaxing, Black really makes the colors POP!! Thanks for teaching us!
I keep coming back to this one Chris and learn something new every time. Its still my favorite resin work. I mentioned you in my last video as I did one in this style, thanks again for inviting us into your kitchen to watch you at work.
Hi there Tony. You are doing some wonderful work. Congrats.
@@crisscross104 And you are a very nice person and a genius.
You are much too kind. You know I often look at these early pieces and fall back in love with the simple elegance of negative space and limited tonal colours. You might even have nudged me to go back and use up some of my resin than is languishing in my cupboard. 😍
Chris Cross I hope so Chris please do
Yes very pleasant to watch and hear you. This is stunning!!! Can’t wait to try it
Lovely. I'm so glad you share and keep up the great videos. 💞
I absolutely love the wispiness in your work.
This was absolutely - beautiful. It seemed that flower peddles just bloomed when you
turned on your "quiet hairdryer". Bravo!
I love all your art!!! I really like that you don’t over do it with colors and shape. Balance!!! 🙏💐
Thanks Sylvia apapreciate the comment.
I just can’t thank you enough for making this very informative educational video. Absolutely beautiful selections! I thoroughly enjoyed this. Really good video. Well done!
Your work is an absolute inspiration to me! I love the not busy look and elegant designs. You rock lady!! Love from South Africa!
Hi Chris. Nice to see an Aussie doing these videos. These are all inspiring works.
Very nice. Really gives it wonderful depth. Love the colors. Thank you for the video. Hugs!
Thank you Chris, you have been very helpful to me. I enjoy watching your videos from across the world from you in Scotland ❤️
Pleasure. Happy creating to you. ❤️🌟
A teacher is the noblest... And you are a great one... May your tribe increase!
I love it can't wait to start playing so thank you for the lesson.
This is stunning, your choice of colours are perfect together. Thanks so much for a very informative video, I thoroughly enjoyed watching it, thank you.
Lynne S q
I'm liking what you are doing. and the use of the hair dryer. Danny. :)
Thankyou. loved this. I'm just learning resin myself so would love to see more resin videos.
Thank you Chris your videos are so interesting I'm learning a lot from you.
Exquisite! Love the depth of colour!!! 😱💖💖💖
BEAUTIFUL!! I love it.
Beautiful Chris, I think I will resin today. Your videos are so informative, thanks so much for sharing your time and knowledge, see you on LIF.
Enjoy it Laura LIF
Chris Cross my hubby just went to get me a piece of 4x8 melamine board, they only have white right now but he's ordering me the black as well...can't wait
A very nice video, nice to watch one with no music. I use powders a lot and find they give a more intense image. I have subscribed, so keep up the great work. I have a theory about those who give thumbs down without leaving comments- it’s other artists trying to reduce subscribers of others works. Could be wrong of course. But I have noticed a particular trend in the art sections of TH-cam that doesn’t happen with other topics. Anyway, nice piece of work and clearly put across. A professional session. Well done.
Thank you Graham. I don’t do that many as the place is flooded with pouring videos. I generally do a new one when I have something interesting to share. My video setup is quite basic as I like to concentrate on the actual art.
Very beautiful!
Nice to find you here as well, i,m into resin as well, many greetings sacred keep
LOL. hey there. Nowhere near as prolific as some others. More into brush and abstract painting at the moment but I still like to keep my hand in the resin every so often.
I opened my resin 2 days ago, and I am not very good. I have wasted a lot of resin . I was going to give up and go back to acrylic pours. After watching your videos, I am giving resin another try. Thank you 😊
Resin is one of those materials that is hard to discribe and much easier once you start to play with it. It is expensive so you may feel you have wasted some but it is all a learning experience and your mistakes are as valuable as your successes. Start off small with tiles or small boards and get a feel for how organised you need to be, the time you have and how much you can disturb the resin to get the look you want. Good luck and hang in there.
This was very helpful! and I also wanted to say that the sounds are kind of like ASMR it was very relaxing listening to the process as opposed to having music. Subscribed thank you!
Thank you. My videos are quite low tech. Just me doing my thing and taping it. Glad you liked the style.
I love yur dreamy black resin blend the reds come alive
I thoroughly enjoyed watching your art it is beautiful
Thanks Kim. 🌺
Thanks for your great tips!
Patricia
I actually LOVE your two mistakes. 😁. This is pretty too.
Beautiful. I love that you don't have a massive waist of resin.
When I first started trying resin pours I was completely bamboozled by how to keep the design I wanted where I wanted. So much just ran off the edge. That was what started me on pouring the framing part first and using my hands to smooth it out.
Making it level is also key!
Beautiful!
Gorgeous
Chris Cross, buen día...admiro y aprecio muchísimo lo que haces con resinas y otros productos los cuales no te entiendo porque no se ingles. Quiero de tu mano aquí en Colombia aprender y emularte porque eres excelente artista y tus trabajos....SUPER HERMOSOS¡¡¡¡¡¡
Cordialmente
Víctor Hugo Herrera L.
Victor. My apologies I do no speak spanish so translation is difficult. Can I suggest you join Facebook group LetIfFlow family. there are a lot of spanish speaking artists who can assist.
beautiful work,
Love your work beautiful
Thank you Karen
TIP....I use an egg carton to hold my paints in small cups to keep from tipping. Your tutorials are very well done
Thats a great tip. Thank you.
Love it beautiful thx👍🏻❤️
Beautiful
Just beautiful
Great Chris
Hi there. This is great fun I am having a ball. 😋❤️❤️
Those are beautiful Chris - don't be so hard on yourself :D
The little ones. LOL They were great to learn what happens and still pretty. I feel the learning curve is huge.
Awesome!
Hi Chris, I just saw your message pop up. It is 9AM here in Central Canada. What time is it there? This pour picture was beautiful. I've been watching your technique very carefully.
I've notice that the slimmer/skinnier the drip of resin/paint from your stick, the more lacey the result is with the hairdryer. I love that look.
Thank you again for a wonderful lesson!
thank you ,perfect..
The colours are stunning against the black background. I love this. Thank you for a great tutorial. Can I ask, do you have to torch at the end or does the hair dryer seem to get all the bubbles out.?
I do torch but you have to be a bit careful. The mica powders can scorch much easier than the resin. So yes torch but with care
I can't stop watching, it ticklish me , i must do it
Beautiful!!!!!!
One question:Why you did not cover the whole board with black paint and then put all colors on it...? You left two big spots on both sides and put clear resin first and then added black paint on both sides ?:)
I do that to control how far the mica runs. If I cover the entire board in black the mica gets mixed into the black paint and blurs. By doing this way I can get the mica in the clear to run over the black resin and hold its vibrancy.
Thanks for your quick and informative reply. Next question, how do you hang the melamine. I do love your wattle paintings. You are very clever.
Thank you. Hubby makes frames for pretty much everything that is not canvas.
Love this. Have you ever tried a heat gun in pace of the hair dryer? Just curious if a heat gun would push the colors around like a hair dryer.
I have tried a heat gun and various hairdryers. I found this particular hairdryer had the right settings for me and moved the resin enough to get the results I wanted. I don't like a lot of torching or overheating of the resin. Its just a personal preference and I am certainly a fan of using whatever gives you the results you want.
Hi Chris. Thanks for the great step by step explanations. I was wondering how do calculat the amaunt of resin for a larger canvas? Thanks
My apologies for missing this question. I use an online calculator to give a basic measure and then add a bit more just in case.
Chris these are lovely and unusual pieces. How do you handle bubbles? How often do you torch to remove them and when can you stop torching? Thanks for sharing
I genrally do a quick torch of the negative space (in this case black) The addition of a bit of heat with the hairdryer will take care of most of them then a light torch to finish. I recheck at about 15mins later but after that you run the risk of disturbing the surface. It also depends on the viscosity or type/brand of resin. So I suppose the message is to understand your resin and try to be calm and gentle when mixing.
Love your video. Can I mix powder pigment with alcohol before mixing with the resin ? Thank you 😊
I have not used normal pigment powders with resin so maybe a quick experiment. You don't need it with mica powders as they mix really well.
Can i do this for the table top ? Does it scratch? Its a great lesson thank you
There is resin specifically designed for tabletops that are more resiliant than the art/craft resin I use.
May I ask what brand of mica you use and where can I purchase it? I love your tutorials, thank you so much 👏🏻👏🏻🌈
I buy them from ebay and they are unbranded. Search for soap and or candle making supplies in you local.
You could also sing while mixing :D
this is just beautiful!
can i ask where you get mica?
I am in Australia so i bought them on ebay from China. There are hundreds of shades and different types. I made sure I got mica for makeup or soap colouring and included shimmer or lustre types. They give you flat coverage and then some flash that is more glitter and larger flakes to give some different texture.
WOW
I looked into buying Just Resin, then read the reviews and most were very negative. It's great to see a tutorial with a reccomendation. What are your thoughts on this brand?
I am not particularly wedded to a particular brand. Resin is expensive so i buy when i have coupons, discounts and on sale. Personally each resin has particular characteristics and its a valuable learning experience to use all the different brands. Just on reviews i tend to take them with a grain of salt. Your combination of materials and environment will be quite unique so your own hands on experience should guide your material selection.
Ps when did u add alcohol and how much and in all colours? I didnt see you do this.
I add just a couple of drops to everyone of the colours except the black
Your videos are soo great, Thank you for taking the time to upload.Can a mixture of resin mixed with acrylic paint be mixed into the same dirty cup as the mica & resin ?
Absolutely. You can even add a bit of mica to the individual pint/resin mixes to give the colours a bit of shimer. The results vary depending on how many different colours of pigments, inks or paint resin mixes that you combine. Have a play and see what you get. 😄
Thank you so very much ! The acrylics im using are metallic, so this should be a ton of suprise
I went on Amazon where master cast is available. It has no smell. But don't know if you can pour it inside the house. With just the windows open.
Make sure you have lots of ventilation or extraction for the fumes. the momet to add anything to your resin or heat the resin you change the base chemical makeup. You could still get fumes that you are not expecting.
I have mastercast and there is definitely a smell with mine although it's only coming from the hardener. I use it in my living room which has art studio set up with no problems and I use a hairdryer, torch, acetone, resiblast, etc. No problems or incidents although I'm careful to be deliberate about what I'm mixing and keeping things separate. It gets smelly for a bit but goes away quickly. That said I have a fairly large living room/kitchen area. Happy pouring!
All epoxy resins will give off fumes when heated the way we do. Please make sure you have adequate ventilation or extraction fans and use a respirator if you are at all concerned.
Hello Chris. Wonderful art pieces. Can you please tell us about the levelling table you made ... it looks like it has screw legs? Thank you
Kristina if you have a look at the start of the wavescape video i show how its made and how to adjust. They work beautifully
Chris Cross thank you for your quick response. You have quite the artistic carpenter in your home. Sorry to ask,can you please show the bolts and how they are attached. I looked at T bolts online and I’m not getting ... THANK YOU so much
You need t-nuts to go into the piece of board and then threaded bolts that go with them for the legs. We just attached a bit of wood to the bolt with glue to help you turn the bolts to get the levels
Do you know how to slow down the dry time of the Resin will Acetone slow it down? I tried it for the first time and it dryad way to fast
I don't use acetone. Sorry. I use epoxy resin and you get a working time of anywhere from 20-45 mins depending on the brand. If you resin is curing fast you might be putting too much paint or colourant in the mix. rule of thumb is keep under 10%
awesome work. i could not get the name,which resin r u using? can I get it online....and do you bake these painting or it is air dried....your work inspired me to do some this type work, plz suggest
This particular resin is by JustResin. (Australian company) it it a 2 part epoxy resin.
+Chris Cross The resin air cures, it is touch dry in about 8hours and fully cured in about week. That is determined by the brand you use and your curing environment. I live in a dry environment.
Chris Cross OK.....thanks a lot...keep inspiring
Hello Chris, thank you for this video. Great job. I ve 2 questions. Do you know if we can do that on cotton canvas? Can we use liquitex basics to mix with resin? Thank a lot. Waiting new video ;-)
I use art canvas and yes it can be done. Prime the canvas or buy preprimed canvases. Because I like smooth surfaces I still add a priming layer of either paint to gesso to my canvases and sand smooth. Yes you can use liquitex basics. I haven't so I am not talking from experience but I know a lot of people do.
Thank you Chris for fast reply. I ll try it.
Perhaps I missed it, but what brand of mica do you use.
The original lot were from a local nail salon and then the rest I bought on ebay from colorperk.
How do you get rid of the bubbles? And can you mix in a way that cells will form or does that have to be done with acrylics and flow mediums?
I run a torch over the bubble to release them. It is carbon dioxide that pops bubbles rather than the heat of the torch. You can blow them as well. You get lacing and different effect in resin whereas cells are normally associated with acrylic paint pours.
You need a acetone for laceing. You can buy it in a small spray or go to any burnings or that sort of place or a fiberglass shop should supply it. A lacquer burn will give a similar effect 😊
Is the mica the best to use for bright colors. I thought of using my eye shadow. And also my oil paints.
I like working with mica's and pigment powders because the maintain their vibracy. Eye shadows sometime have additves, binders and preservatives. Have a try but do it on a test piece first. I keep my stir sticks from the practice and write on them what the ingredient was. You can see any colour change when it cures
Chris Cross what brand of mica powders do you like? Are they available in the US? I love your choice of colors! I have the Pearl X brand of powdered pigment. I am taking a course in resin next week so have not poured yet.
Carol Do a practice with your eyeshadow. They may contain binders or fillers that might effect your resin.
+sandybaham Sandy The mica's I use are from a Ebay co in China.
You've inspired me. Why type of Mica do you use? When do you remove the tape after it's fully dry? I can't thank you enough for sharing your technique. Thank you.
🤗 I bought the original mica's from a local nail salon but most of these came from Ebay (china). I take the tape off the next morning. I do keep it relatively clean during the initial couple of hours so that you don't have huge resin drips to deal with. Have fun with it.
Chris Cross Thank you so much for replying. I love your style, it's clean and chic. I was curious, why do you put the alcohol? I just purchased some Mica and will give it a try. In the meantime, I will try acrylic paint.
Because I am adding mica to the resin... I am effectively thickening the mix. The alcohol is to thin it back down. It also can give you varing degrees of lacing.
Sorry for my stupid question i guess but i need to know what do you mean by negative space? Thx
Negative space is when you have a block of colour with no pattern. Mine is mostly black.
Fabulous! Which hair dryer do you use?
Stephanie thank you. This hairdryer is a cheap brand “tiffany” but you need one with multiple settings that is strong enough to move your resin but not blow it across the room. That also means what ever you get will act differently on different viscosity resins. high (thicker takes more air and heat) vs low (thinner). This was the 4th type I bought before I found it worked exactky how I wanted it to.
thanks so much for your fast reply...my blow dryer is too strong LOL, haha it kind of blows my resin across the room. I appreciate the input.
In the section you weren't happy with (I thought it was great, btw), could you drizzle a bit more clear and more of the mica and move again, at this stage? Have you tried layering in that way? I'm a newbie at resin, and I appreciate you sharing your process and lessons learned. ;o}. The look I'm going for is that depth that I see others get so effortlessly, but I"m sure it took lots of trial and error. LOL
The style I am after is to create visual depth through colour and shading in one pour. You can achieve this by using negative space and have the appearance of something floating and crossing over itself. Layering can do the same thing so keep on playing and experimenting to get the look and style you are after. There is a point with mica that it gets away from you and just blurs into a smear. When you add clear you are effectively spreading the mica wider, rather than keeping it contained.
Chris Cross ThankYou!!
I just found you on TH-cam and love your style. I heard you mention the board you are using but I'm not sure how to spell that and would like to do a search for that board. I am always looking for materials to use for my resin.
The board is melamine. It has a white laminated side and a plain MDF side. I like it because the resin easily comes of the laminated side once its dry.to touch.
Chris Cross hey Chris, where do you get the melamine board, I googled it and see I can get it from Amazon per piece. Do you know if it can be bought as a sheet and cut into pieces?...Love you and your work.
+Laura Usher Hi Laura, we get the large sheets 1200x900mm from the hardware store and hubby cuts into boards for me.
Chris Cross awesome, thanks
I was wondering where you find the melamine boards?
I bought them at the local hardware store and hubby cut to size for me.
Are you using medicine cups and can you buy them in a pharmacy?
They are little shot glasses. The medicine ones with the measure on the sides are quite expensive so I go to my local dollar store for them.
I was looking for mixing mica and found this wonderful video .I might be crazy but when the picture is first completed @23:39 I see the wolf from Little Red Riding hood when it was dressed as the granny..if you look yu can see the black eye, muzzle and teeth and the hat is in yellow ..and she's' breathing an etheral firey mix.:-)
I didn't understand what you poured after the black.
I poured some clear resin. It softens the edges of the black, gives the mica something to float in and creates a visual depth
i want to ask what kind resin are you using polyester resin or any kind resin?
I am using an epoxy resin and I have not used Polyester resin. Because I work inside, I tend to work with the lowest fume resin.
nice... :)
Se puede utilizar cualquier tipo de resina o alguna en especial
I use epoxy casting resin. It is very low odour and gives me good 1/2 hour working time.
MDF board will have to be sealed both sides and edges, Paint will do it.
Can I use Polyester resin instead of Epoxy on a canvas.
Polyester resin is a tricky one. Ok there are a quite a few reasons why I wouldn’t. Firstly it is nasty to work with. The fumes are extremely toxic and you must be outside or super protected. Secondly it is extremely reactive to moisture so you need specific environments and pigments made for it. It has an Extremely limited pot or working time. You would struggle to make anything large. And lastly because it is designed to be a completely rigid plastic when cured it will not match the flex of your canvas and in all probability will delaminate from your canvas. It is one of those situations when you would be much better to match your project to the type of resin you can get.
Did I just see you mix half of hardener instead of equal parts of resun and hardener?
Some epoxy resins have different mixing ratios. This one was 2 parts A to 1 part B
canvas and canvas boards do not stand up well for pours with or without resin.. Surface of choice that does very well is 1/2" MDF board you can get at your local lumber supplier..
Is there any way to know the longevity of the mica when using it this way ?
As far as I know the mica is inert in the resin so its longevity will be determined by the resin you use. It would be similar to embedding anything in resin.
Thank you Chris !
what kind of board did you use?
The board in this video is Melamine. It has MDF on one side and a laminate coating on the other. I use the MDF side.
Hi, your work is gorgeous, i see your husband cuts down your boards, do you know the thickness of them?
These were done on melamine bt when I use MDF its 9mm. If you are going to do larger oieces you will need to support them to limit the warping
Chris Cross do you seal the mdf with acrylic paint or......?
Chris can you share the name of the Aussie company who make the resin you use and where you get it from please?
Its ok. I found them :-)
do you use the fast or slow resin?
Shelley I use a lot of different resin depending on what I am trying to do. Have a play with different brands and see what works in yourr particular environent. Different paint, ink, mica plus weather will all change how a particular brand reacts.
What brand of mica powder do you use
the original set I bought at a local nail salon but most of them are unbranded and bought on ebay.
How did you do the gesso to be black?
I added black paint or ink to my gesso mix
Where do you purchase your pigments from
I originally bought them from a local nail salon but now buy most from ebay china.
Chris Cross I love this piece I love your work but this one is my fav reminds me of a Phoenix
I have this one hanging in my studio. Is a fav of mine as well.
What Brand of mica do you use?
They are unbranded from Ebay China but you can get from art stores or nail salons.
Where do you buy your Mica Powders?
I bought the first lot from a local nail salon to test and see if I liked the results and the rest I found on Ebay. Look for soap and candle making supplies.
When mixing powders do you use both parts of the resin? NO ONE is teaching that just the pours
Thank you for showing the mixing!!!
You must be a teacher.
LOL. I have done some in a previous life.
Chris Cross I've learned more in this one video than the hundreds I've watched.
When you mix the powders the important tip is to mix well. If you powder tends to clump then you can mix in one of the parts until its smooth and then add your other part.
Sorry it's @20:12
Are you saying your house is falling off a cliff? :O
Lol i live on a sloping block with the footings in solid rock so I blame the builders or my cabinetmaker.
Could you do a dirty pour with Mica?
Technically yes and I do small ribbon ones. the issue you will have with a full cup of resin is that the mica will travel, blend and disperse very wide. Thats not a bad thing if its a look you are going for. Mica floats in the resin rather than colours it.
Chris Cross That make sense. I guess the dirty pour would work better with acrylic paint, it doesn't disperse as much or as fast. Thanks for the tips. But, could you do acrylic and mica? Ah, that would be a challenge? I'm going to try. I just ordered Mica, it's coming from China so that will be a while. In the meantime, I can play with acrylic. Thanks so much for being so generous with your time and talents!
Yes you can combine them every which way. I am quite minimalist in my style so I try and keep lots of negative space and limit the number of materials. Thats just me and I hope everyone explores alll the materials available and see how it fits you style.
so beautiful! why did u add alcohol? what happens without it? thanks so much