Around the same time I started designing Blades Away I was looking for something cool I could make as gifts for Christmas. Who knew this would be the beginning of my obsession with creating epoxy resin art.
While not religious my family still celebrates the holiday as time to get together and eat, laugh, be merry and exchange gifts. Who doesn't like presents? After scouring Youtube and Instagram I came across a piece of art that just blew me away. It was a clock that looked like it had realistic waves crashing onto a beach. The color of the water and the foam in the waves was a spitting image of a pristine beach. After digging a bit deeper I found out it was just epoxy resin with some pigments added for color. Just mix add color and pour. How hard could it be?
Well, It turned out to be much harder than I anticipated and way, way more sticky. If you haven't worked with resin I can not stress how messy and sticky this medium can be. I saw videos of people just mixing it up and pouring it out but you can't get a good understanding of how it moves and what it does without a lot of practice and trial and error. I probably threw out over half of the early pieces I did because they were a disaster.
However, there is something about the medium that when it goes to plan the results are just mesmerizing. The way the pigments mix and swirl around each other. The way metallic pigments mix with opaque ones to create what are called cells and lacing. The act of creating the work is just just as or more important than the finished product. Epoxy dries in about 30-45 minutes so you have to act fast and trust your instincts.
The obsession started with ocean art. Recreating ocean scenes which quickly evolved into more abstract pieces. While I love creating art to view and be hung I also have an affinity for building and creating more practical items. I quickly started combining several of my hobbies to create functional art. I make wood trays then fill them with different resin designs. I cut wood into circles, pour resin over them and add mechanisms to turn them into clocks. I 3d print coasters and fill them with resin for one of a kind resin coasters. There truly is no limit to what you can do with the medium.
Every time I make a new piece I learn something new. Which colors work well together. Which type of pigments react with each other in interesting ways. I love how gold and copper pigments react on top of opaque colors to create unimaginable patterns with intense color contrasts. Each piece is unique and each person sees something unique in each. Sometimes the pieces remind me of alien planets so I created a series of celestial bodies reminiscent of our own planets and ones yet to be discovered.
After creating many gifts the pieces just kept adding up with not enough wall space to display them. Thats when I decided to open up an Etsy store. The landscape is insanely competitive and it was a bit discouraging to sell my work in a sea of others like it. But I was really proud of the work I had done and surely after awhile I started making sales. While I don't plan to really make a whole lot from it it really helps pay for the supplies and allows me to continue to experiment more and do what I love the most. Create