What a disappointment I must be to people who end up here because they thought this was a crafting blog. What is this blog? Who the hell does this lying bitch think she is?
1. I love crafts. I sew, I make jewelry, I make buttons, I play with polymer clay, I play with resin, I decoupage, I paint, I need help.
2. This started out as a personal blog to keep in contact with friends and family. I chose the name CraftZombie because I have a bad habit of staying awake until the sun comes up. I lose track of time while crafting. This happens almost every single night. I could have named this blog CraftyNightOwlBitchWontGoToSleep. (By the way, I’ll sleep when I’m dead.)
3. I intended on making it more crafty, but still personal.
4. I intended to do crafty video tutorials on all kinds of topics.
5. I’m just too damn busy and I hate it. I never reached my blog goals.
So, in a pathetic effort to be crafty and helpful, I am going to give some resin advice.
I use http://www.statcounter.com to see what search terms people use to get to this blog. One recent Google.au search was for “how to avoid bubbles in easycast resin”. Here we go….
You can’t avoid bubbles in Easy Cast resin, or any other resin for that matter. It is a natural occurrence that happens during the mixing phase. You cannot get around it. But you CAN get rid of most of the bubbles, sometimes even all of them if it is your lucky day. How? Warm air. If you are broke, you will use method #1. If you have a few bucks, you will use method #2. Do not attempt method #3, it sucks.
1. blow air through a straw
2. use a heat gun (embossing gun)
3. use a blowdryer
Don’t attempt to use a blowdryer. I learned this lesson long ago when I first began my resin journey. Blowdryers BLOW air. You will splatter resin everywhere. I only mentioned it because I thought you might try to be sneaky after you read this, thinking “I already have a blowdryer. I don’t wanna buy a heat gun. I’ll just use my blowdryer.” If you use your blowdryer, I will knock on your door and slap you in the face. I will. And if you are a seasoned resin artist and you leave me a comment about how you use your blowdryer, I will also slap you in the face.
Blowing air with a straw is not as effective as the heat gun. The heat gun zaps them in a snap. It’s almost magical to watch. Most of the time you can get all of the bubbles. Sometimes there will be one stray bubble that shows up out of nowhere during your curing process and you just have no choice but to embrace it or throw the finished piece in the trash. You end up convincing yourself that it gives your piece “character”. But deep down, you really hate that fucking bubble.
How close do you hold the heat gun to the resin? You can actually get it pretty close. Just start off a little far away and slowly get closer. You start seeing bubbles popping. The closer you get, the more bubbles pop. But you don’t want to leave the heat gun on the resin for a long time because too much heat can cause problems. So can cold resin.
How much is this freakin’ heat gun thing? The cheapest ones I’ve seen retail for $19.99. I got mine for 40% off with a coupon. That was cheap enough for me, but maybe not for some. Steal a straw and start blowin’.
Oh, and don’t be afraid of resin. I remember how afraid I was the first time I unscrewed the caps, like I was a mad scientist and my kitchen was going to explode. Resin is your friend. Just follow its rules and it will treat you kindly. You can blow up your kitchen with something else.
Any questions?
P.S. Yes, blowdryer is not one word, its two.
Update 6/10/2010: Found a great tutorial for resin crafts here
