ResinArt: Fun With Photos!

I’m so exited to share my latest project with you!

Inspired by this fun and phenomenal DIY project…

And by a shadow-box framed art project I saw on an episode of this…

…I took two of my photographs, one of new plantings in my front yard and the other of flowers at Granville Island Market…

 

…and a couple Ribba frames from IKEA…

 

 

 

 

And created…

Well… you’ll have to wait and see!

First I had my super-hero Brian cut me a couple of 8”x8” pieces of 3/4” MDF on his table saw. After sanding the edges of the pieces, I painted all 4 sides in Benny Moore’s “Natural Linen” (CC-90)

 

I also painted the backing board from the Ribba frames in the same colour. I used a cross-hatching technique to create a bit of a linen-look.

So what’s next?

Mounting my photos onto the MDF pieces that Brian cut for me!

Now, about my photos… I had them developed in 8”x10” but as I mentioned, the MDF pieces were 8”x8”. So after deciding on the best part of each photo, and using an MDF piece as a guide, I trimmed each photo to fit.

 

After my photos were the perfect size I set about gluing them to the MDF. I squeezed the glue around the MDF and the used a sponge brush to spread it evenly around. Next, I positioned the photos on the boards.

Looking good!!

But let’s make them look even better!!!!

Now to the REALLY FUN stuff!!

I applied a high-gloss resin finish to my photos… and here’s how I did it:

First, I measured equal parts of the resin & hardener into individual plastic containers. I used about half of the product from each 8oz bottle… so while I didn’t measure (I used the scientific method called “eye-balling”!), I believe that I used 4oz of each product.

Next I poured both fluids into another container where, using a paint stir-stick, I stirred the mixture together using a whipping type motion. I stirred for a few minutes until the mixture was opaque and kinda frothy (filled with bubbles).

Then… I poured the mixture on to the mounted photos.

Gravity did a lot of the work for me, but I helped it along by evenly spreading the resin around the photo with a sponge brush. As the resin flows down the sides, it’s important to continually brush the drips away… keep wiping until the dripping slows down and stops.

A cool part of working the resin magic is getting rid of the air bubbles. See the tilted photo above? Bubbles. And they go completely away with carbon dioxide… so what you do is breathe on the resin! Yep… I got light headed!! But it was so cool to see the bubbles de-materialize!!

The next morning, this is what I saw…

They’re so flipping gorgeous!!!!!!

So what did I do with these lovelies?

I mounted them to the centre of my Ribba IKEA frames’s backing boards, then using the shadow box feature of the frames, I framed them up – ready to be hung!!

 

 

I think they’re fantastic!!!

My new photo-art is so darned glossy that I couldn’t take a decent photograph of them… every time I tried I got a reflection!!

Here they are sitting on top of my mantle…

  

And here they are, hung with pride and pleasure in my dining room!!

 

If you’re visiting from Susan’s blog Between Naps on the Porch… I hope you like my contribution to Metamorphosis Monday!

Whether you’re a regular DesignTies reader, or if you’ve visiting from BNotP… tell me… will you try this project yourself?