If you, like me, are fascinated by the many things you can create with resin, you’ll like this. I have been working with resin for a few years now, starting out with some jewellery molds and coasters. When I started creating boxes and other woodwork I started using resin for inlays. Honestly, I had so much fun with it I think I overdid it and created a little bit to much inventory. But with every resin I tried I had one problem, when exposed to the heat of summer it would get tacky and easily bend. It was fine with the boxes because the polyurethane was keeping of becoming tacky and the wood would keep it in shape.
However, it prevented me from creating something I always wanted to try, a tabletop. A few months ago I participated in a draw at Windsor Playwood and won a six litre kit of Flowcast SPR resin from EcoPoxy. I tried it on a few small things and quickly realized how much better than any I tried before it was.
After getting a hang on the new product I tried bigger things working my way up to what I always wanted to try, a tabletop.
This was my first try and the most important thing I learned was, I need more patience. For someone who want’s to see results fast, flowcast SPR with take your patience to the test. Every layer takes almost a day to cure. Heat can speed up the process, but you need to find the right kind of heat. With this one I shoved a heating mat under it, put it on high and walked away. Which was a big mistake. The heat was too much and created the thin layer to warp and bubble. I still continued, thinking that, since the bubbles weren’t overly high, it would even itself out.
Four days later it looked good from the top, but when I took it out of the mold, the bottom was anything but nice. Uneven and with hollow spaces I tried to sand it down, but because of the stones I used in the design didn’t get very far. When I tried to attach legs I just couldn’t make it work. So, instead i made it a centrepiece by attaching a small plate where a block of wood could be attached. Because of that I decided to sell it for cost at $250.00 Feel free to message me if you’re interested.
But just because the first try didn’t work out, doesn’t mean I could learn from my mistake. So I tried again, this time forcing myself to be more patient. Also to not use stones again, they are very hard to drill into. For the second one I used a piece of oak that had still lot’s of bark on it and planed it down to size. By planing the side with the bark, a wonderful pattern was created. Then I added sand, some shells as well as fish and turtles I made previously. Creating the waves was the hard part, which surprised me since it looked so easy in YouTube videos.
It took five days before I could take it out of it’s mold, but the result was great. However it wasn’t perfect, there where a few smudges and imperfections. I had to sand the top and then work hard to make it shine again and get rid of the cloudiness caused by the sanding process. All together it took me a week to have the finished bistro style table done. With legs and all. The table is 30″ high and the table top 20″ in diameter. Price tag is $600.00 pick up or local delivery only. As much as I would like to offer shipping, the size and weight would make it very expensive to do so. These pictures are from different angles and lighting. If you’re interested feel free to message me and arrange a viewing so you can decide for yourself if it is worth it.
