I used a 1oz Syringe pack of Ice Resin for all the pieces you will see here. There's a nice little video on the Artist Trading Post by Susan Lenart Kazmer, where she demonstrates how to open the syringes containing the resin and the hardener and how to dispense and mix the two parts together. If you are tempted to have a go with this fabulous medium, I would strongly suggest that you get well prepared before you start. That means covering your work surface with something like a sheet of polythene,big enough to spread out your resin-ed items. Gather together all the items you want to apply the resin to, such as sheets of vintage paper, book pages, jewellery bezels or small moulds for casting.
Here are some of the papers I gathered together....
Here you can see some vintage dictionary pages, which have been stamped
and heat embossed. There's also a book page which has been stencilled
with gesso and sprayed with Dylusions Ink
and in the left hand corner, there's a piece of brown wrapping paper
which I'd used as a background cover when spraying inks onto different
projects. I also had a few jewellery bezels a little silicone mould and a
metal heart. I created small collages in the bezels by cutting out images from the Spellbinders Media Mixage Ephemera Papers One, and glueing them into the bezels with Glossy Accents.
To prevent the Ice Resin from soaking into the pictures, I sealed them
with a couple of coats of Paper Sealant before applying the Ice Resin.
Here you can see the metal heart, which has been covered with a piece
of ledger paper from the Ephemera Papers One and stamped with black StazOn Ink. When sealing the paper, it's important to make sure that it is
completely covered in sealant, including the edges, You'll be able to
see what happens if the edges aren't sealed ! Once I'd got everything
ready, I opened the Ice Resin syringes by cutting off the ends and
dispensed the two parts into a small disposable plastic container. It's
extremely important to have equal measures of hardener and resin. Too
much of one or the other will prevent it from setting, it also needs to
be mixed together thoroughly. I used a wooden lolly stick and stirred
for the recommended 1 minute. I then used the lolly stick to drizzle the
Ice Resin into the bezels. It's 'self doming' and creates a very
professional look to the bezels with very little effort.
I also drizzled it on to the heart and let it spread out towards the edges.
Here's a piece of sprayed, stamped and heat embossed book paper. I
applied the Ice Resin to the paper with a piece of sponge. You MUST wear
rubber gloves when doing this, Ice Resin must be the stickiest stuff
known to mankind ! I'm hopeless at wearing gloves and I ended up with
resin on my hands, it's hard to get off.... believe me! I covered
several sheets of paper, spreading the resin on both sides. it takes on a
wonderful transparency almost instantly. The older fibrous vintage
papers worked extremely well. Once I'd covered as many as I wanted, I
hung them up to air dry....
I used the last bit of Ice Resin to cast a cabochon in a silicone mould
I'd dug out of my stash. Before I put the resin into the mould, I poured
in a few very tiny beads in shades of blue and silver.
I then had to walk away and leave the resin to harden. It takes several
hours to set, I left my pieces over night and they were slightly sticky
the next day. I'd say you need 24 hrs before touching the items,
particularly the bezels. You really don't want fingerprints on the
lovely glossy surfaces !
Here's my collection of items once the Ice Resin had set. I made the bezels into pendants...
and attached some of the stamped papers to tiny canvasses..... on this
one I added a resin paper die cut deer to the background paper, which
was stamped and heat embossed, before the Ice Resin was added....
on this one, again, the paper was stamped and heat embossed, before the resin was added.
This canvas has a die cut butterfly. The die has three parts; the background, has been cut from resin paper, the filigree top was cut from card and heat embossed. The body is also heat embossed. the three parts were then glued together before attaching to the canvas.
This canvas features a snowflake which was stamped on vintage paper. A
sprinkle of Holographic glitter was added to the resin after it was
applied to the paper.
Here's the cabochon from the silicone mould, I glued this into a brooch
blank which just happened to be the right size...there are various ways
of 'polishing' the surface of cast items, I gave this a coat of clear
gloss varnish.
and finally.... here is the metal heart.......
The dark shadow on the right side has been caused by the resin seeping
into the paper. This was because I trimmed the paper slightly as there
was a slight over hang. This broke the sealed edge and allowed the Ice
Resin to soak into the paper and it transparent. It's actually quite a
nice effect, So next time I shall create one of these hearts in the same
way, without sealing the paper. You live and learn ! Ice Resin is a
whole lot of fun with great creative possibilities. I can't wait to have
another go and maybe I'll get to share the results with you. Apologies
for the length of this post, If you've managed to take time out of a
very busy schedule to get this far, I applaud you ! I'd also be
interested to know how many glasses of wine or cups of tea you got
through !
Ice Resin, a selection of bezels and many other lovely things, can all be purchased from Artist Trading Post
just follow the links to be transported there.
Now, all that remains is
to wish you all a very Happy Christmas and a peaceful and creative New
Year ! x
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