Green & Gold Epoxy Coasters
The Best Laid Plans
The plan for the past week was to create to create my first epoxy coasters. Unfortunately, I developed a cold the day after I came home from work and had to isolate in my room for awhile. I dropped D. off at the airport today and came home to an empty house. It’s only a week long trip but it feels one step closer to him moving out. I am not ready. I will likely never be ready. The only positive is that I got to come out of my room and work on my epoxy.
I had some trouble finding a resin calculator for coasters. Most of the calculators included objects embedded in the coasters to decrease the volume of epoxy needed. The most likely estimate I found was 3 ounces, or 89 mls, per coaster. I calculated this out for 4 coasters and then estimated the holder as requiring the volume of 2 more coasters and mixed 18 ounces of epoxy. I was over by more than 6 ounces; 12 ounces would have been more than enough. Phoebe suggested that next time I fill all the containers with water and measure that amount before I prep them.
The epoxy is ecopoxy flowcast. It is Canadian made, non-toxic and does not give off a strong odor. I ordered casting epoxy because of the thickness of the molds and the belief there would be lots left for future projects. The bottles seemed larger when I was ordering than they really are. Once I get the hang of some coasters I will be upgrading to charcuterie boards and tables which will require a deeper pour. I mixed it with some Let’s Resin grass green, bronze gold and white mica powders and used some clear for the gold leaf. My plan was to use more neutral/clear colours to show off the sparkly gold leaf.
Mix and Pour
One large learning point for me was that even with a light ring stand I should not be my own videographer. I cannot work and maneuver a camera. The Ecopoxy Casting is a 2:1 pour with 4-5 minutes of mixing prior to adding pigment. The Let’s Resin mica comes with tiny spoons. I used 2 heaping spoonfuls of each pigment into roughly 3 ounces of epoxy.
I had intended to pour rings of colour but the cups were stiff and I was not that coordinated. After a few rings I gave up and just poured into the centre. The new plan was to let the new colour push back the previous colours in waves. The gold leaf is light enough to float to the top of the epoxy no matter where you put it but it may have been easier to mix into the clear at the beginning, rather than struggling with moving it around with my epoxy-sticky gloves.
The Unmolding
