More resin attempts

My most recent exploration has been explosive...to say the least! I have been enamoured of the work of Brazilian artist R.Sobral since I stumbled upon his work (I think he's a he?) on Ebay. Apparently the darling of Parisian fashion, the multilayered pieces utilise resin that is a byproduct of some industrial process in Brazil? (Yup, I'm woefully ignorant). The resin is then built up in layers of beautiful colour and then turned into gorgeous jewellery as you can see in the photo of the bangle above.

So, whilst I didn't really think I'd be getting to Sobral's level of proficiency right off the bat, I thought I could do something with layers of resin as well and see how it went.

So, I'm always a little cavalier about how much catalyst I put in my resin. Which is probably a bit scary as I live in the tropics and it is HOT right now. You are supposed to use less catalyst in hotter weather but hey... all in the spirit of Australian bodginess right?

So I set myself up a whole lot of little pots of resin with the different colours and dyes I have around the house and then got started. Mix the catalyst into the first colour, pour into ice cream container, wait until it gels, then add next layer. All good in theory.

I got a little gungho with the catalyst, added the next layer a little early (only part of it had gelled) and then added probably too thick a layer. In moulds, as the pieces are so small, it doesn't seem to matter so much. Heat might be absorbed by the silicone, or not generated as much in such small pieces....

This time, the resin started SMOKING! Belatedly I remembered a mate from art school telling me about a boyfriend who set his resin on fire by over using catalyst when repairing a surfboard... The resin popped and smoked and I got out of the way (burning styrene fumes...mmmmm) and then waited for it to cool. tried another layer which also bubbled furiously and then CRACKED before giving up on this particular batch!

The next lot I used a lot less catalyst, much thinner layers and a smaller container so less heat was generated all round. It worked! I have a nice pancake of red brown, deep blue, light blue, light pink, green and khaki resin now on my work bench. I chopped a piece off using a tiny cutting disk and the dremel and then shaped the ring above. Beloved boyfriend drilled the pilot hole for me for the centre, I ground the rest out using a garnet bit for the dremel and a sanding wheel and then sat down and polished it up with two more grades of finer sandpaper. And voila! It doesn't even come close to the wonder of Sobral I know, but not bad for a first attempt (minus smoke...) methinks!