Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Dust...

Lots and lots of toxic particles of dust have been filling my creative space of late.
Sounds delightful hey! Nah really, it's not so bad. It's the sanded residue created from my latest hobby.
Resin
So colorful, mysterious and sweet.


I say mysterious as for years, resin is a medium I have longed to work in. But the chemistry and technical aspects of it all has...well..it has scared the hell out of me.

Many times I circled the resin course in my C.A.E guide only to chicken out last minute or to struggle to find the cash to pay for the course.

But finally... a decade later, I have done the resin course and it was amazing.
I have come out with my head spinning. My mind racing a million miles an hour contemplating all the possibilities of what I could make.
Somewhere in there, in the middle of the class, the penny dropped and it all made sense.
I had read so much, touched and examined so much, but to have the experience of learning the craft in a practical sense is just so empowering. Like a springboard for creativity to flourish.

Hence I seem to have misplaced the last few weeks of my life in a flurry of resin making.

Now, it would seem I was not a duck to water with my longed after medium.
I have made molds with bubbles, (not ideal) I have had my pretty papers float away from where I wanted them to be, I have overfilled my bezel and sanded my bloody finger....

But persistence is my new best friend and I was determined to get a range out of it. No matter how small.
I just had to finish what I started.

So after too many hours of sanding to admit , I have put together a little range of resin delights.

Now once I calculate the hours spent sanding, they work out to be ...... $3000 dollars a piece.

O.k maybe a slight exaggeration. But I now have an amazing amount of respect for resin artists and I formally apologize for ever thinking that a resin bangle at a hand made stall was not worth the money.

I get it now. I soooo get it.

They do not come out looking like that guys, one side is pretty the other is ruff as guts and it takes hours to make it look as pretty as the other side!

If you've ever wanted to learn resin yourself, I highly recommend the course run by Dominic at the C.A.E
You don't just pour into pre made molds, you make the molds, you play with different types of resin, different pigments and you learn quite a few techniques to create really individual pieces.

Never to old to learn some new tricks.
Jay xx

4 comments:

  1. Wow, they even beat my velveteen and leather handbags at $2,000 each!

    I want to learn woodwork. I want to make lovely little boxes, and gorgeous wall-mounted spool holders. But I'd have to start from scratch with tools and courses and it'd be so expensive... I'll wait until we've bought our house and see what kind of shed/workshop space we've got, then maybe I can set up a woodwork space.

    (Just remembered I also want to learn to restore and upholster furniture. Why can't I win Tatts and spend the rest of my days doing CAE courses?)

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  2. Well worth the effort Jay - they look good enough to eat! very purdeeeeeeeeeeee!

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  3. They are gorgeous. Congratulations on following through on a long sought passion.

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  4. ha ha ha that is funny! Thanks for this post - I too have had ( past tense now) that longing for resin...your stuff looks great though

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