To Resin or Not to Resin?

Recently I have found myself using a hi-shine acrylic spray on several pieces of my art work.  Most of my artwork is happy and colorful and I love the brilliance the acrylic spray gave the colors.

I have seen resin used on art, but I have been a little hesitant to dive in myself.

Until this week...

I bought some self-leveling resin and mixed it up and poured it on a couple "itty bitty" (4x4" and smaller) pieces of art I used as my guinea pigs.

You can use torches, industrial heat guns to dry and get the bubbles out.  Since mine were small and I was "testing" the waters, I just used a stick to move the resin around and eliminate bubbles.

Here are my thoughts on resin after this experiment.

7 Take Aways on Resin

(1) Easy to Mix.  I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to use.  I literally poured a 1:1 ratio, mixed it up and poured.  I actually mixed up too much and had quite a bit leftover.

(2) Dries quicker than I thought. ~ easy to waste.  I finished up another "itty bitty" and decided to pour resin on it about an hour after I poured the others. I went to pick up my container of unused resin with NO LUCK.  The resin was hard as a rock inside the cup.

(3) Must pour exact amount ~ excess resin can cause messes. The instructions say to let the resin cure for 48 hours, but as I went to bed, it was dry enough to pick up and was not tacky.  I had poured with wax paper underneath my art.  The resin had created a clear pool around each art piece I then had to cut off with an exacto knife.  In the process I cut the sides of two canvases. :( UGH

(4) Fumes = Yuck.  The smell was not so overpowering at first, it was like a slow burn.  By the time I had poured resin on my last piece, my lungs felt like they were burning.  I was working in a ventilated space and had doors and windows open.  I moved the pieces to another part of the basement so I didn't have to breathe it any more. But I didn't like that I felt that way after using it.  Can't be good, right?

(5) Great Protection.  When the resin dries it is hard. I mean, like teflon hard.  It really truly protects the painting underneath.

(6) Loss of texture.  I paint with lots of texture, often using molding paste in my work.  After coating the resin on these pieces, I definitely lost some texture. These flowers were completely popping off the canvas prior to the resin.  After the resin, you can see little peaks, but not the eye-popping texture before the resin.


 

(7) I {heart} the look of resin on my art.  It just really makes all my layers of goodness and texture look beautiful.  I really like the look of my art under resin.

Overall, I felt there were enough cons for me that it won't be something I use on a regular basis.  But being a visual person, I really do love the different look I get when I use it and I won't kick it out of my studio for good!

Hope this was helpful ~ what are your thoughts?