@Tracey Lippett How do crafters live so long 🤣🤣

When ever it is more convenient

Finally found my resin rescue. This is a Steve McDonald recreation, except his was erm, how can I put this, more functional 😁His illustration was actually for a bowl. I had been and still am, looking for a way to create a tall slim elegant vase without doubling the national debt on silicon. I have not as yet found a mould that fits the image in my head............. No, you really don't want to go inside my head to see what is there. Basically, the principle revolved around paper mashie, which I am sure most of us did at least once as a kid. Instead of news paper, paper towels or kitchen paper depending on which side of the pond you are on, and of course Epoxy Resin, you wouldn't want to do this with UV unless you have a bucket load going out of date. I found a plastic beaker to practice this and you do have to work relatively quickly, so it is all in the preparation and, I did actually make up small batches so that I didn't risk a flash cure. Cut or tear the paper towel into appropriate sizes, they don't have to be neat, although, being a professional, mine were 🤣🤣🤣 The first layer, I dipped in the resin and placed on my beaker, so neatly and so precisely. Subsequent layers I simply placed the kitchen towel on the wet layer and then got my gloved hands in there and applied the resin. How many layers? can't remember but quite a few. I had high hopes for this and while I was smoothing my prototype, which was very cathartic, I was envisaging future creations, the colours, the designs the final results, my imagination was dancing and then off to bed I went, to let the resin do what the resin does. As you can see, my imagination has no correlation with reality. It doesn't stand flat, Steve's bowl did, it has an uneven texture, Steve's bowl didn't and as I have just discovered it now houses candle wicks I no longer use because they are too thin, so therefore, it is functional

I have just realised, I have a more recent resin rescue and one which I have now deliberately repeated, because I liked it and, I fully intend to repeat again. I was using Eco Resin to make lidded pots, into which I then pour fragranced candle wax and a wick of course. No Megan Markle candles here, if you don't mind 😁 I just wanted something simple and everything went to plan, until I de-moulded the lid. I have no idea what I did or why this happened, perhaps it was just a quirk or I hadn't mixed the colour correctly, but, the colour on the lid was, different is one way of describing it, but definitely not what I was looking for. I did ponder for a while to see if I could accept it, but I couldn't, it wasn't the image in my head, so I pondered some more and then had a light bulb moment, since I had recently been doing some decoupage with serviettes. Having checked my stash of serviettes, there was nothing in there that floated my boat. Then, another light bulb moment, craft papers, surely they would work the same way as the serviettes and yes they do. Found one I liked and matched the project; good old PVA glue [mod podge] Made my template cut the paper. Applied PVA to the top of the lid and allowed it to more or less dry, but not quite [by the way, the project had been water sealed at this point with the stuff used for damp proofing brick work on your house or who evers house]. then applied PVA to the rear side of the craft paper, stuck it on my lid and then applied more PVA on the patterned side of the paper, allowed to dry. Finally, I applied a coat of epoxy resin [you could use UV for this, but I am tight and Epoxy is cheaper]. To my surprise, I have ended up with a domed finish, which I was very pleased with, and here is the final result