Experimenting With Resin

Resin creates a clear, high dome on baked polymer.  It enhances depth and adds high gloss to the piece.    I haven't done much with resin, so I decided to experiment with Magic Gloss from Lisa Pavelka.  This is a one-part resin, so there is no mixing or concern about having the correct amounts which is the case with the 2-part resins. I made some mokume gane stacks in different color combinations, and used resin on some of the pieces I made from each stack.

The process took quite a while. The resin tends to pool in round or oval shapes, drawing away from the edges. This meant I had to put several layers of Magic Gloss on each piece, baking the layers under a UV light, to ensure the resin covered the whole surface.  I also learned that flat pieces are much easier to cover than those with slanted or rounded edges.

As you look through the images in this post, you'll notice some of the pieces are covered with resin while others were left matte.  The resined pieces shine and glow.  The resin does seem to intensify colors, and also to darken them.   It seemed that light colors, such as white and yellow in particular, were affected the most.  This information can make a difference in the colors you might choose.