As many of you have already realized, I have started to create things with epoxy resin. It did start out as only key chain and necklace pendants, but I am slowly experimenting with different items to create. My new adventure starts with ashtrays, but I hope to expand my knowledge to even more resin creations.
My key chains and necklaces did very well in sales, almost better than I expected. I suppose the reason for this is because people seem to have an easier time throwing down a few dollars compared to what my original art is worth. With me knowing that, I decided to expand into more resin art, and create more resin items. For some reason, I decided that my next step would be ashtrays. I get that not a lot of people use indoor ashtrays anymore, for cigarettes at least. But, with marijuana slowly becoming legalized across the United States, I saw the demand with the for aesthetically pleasing ashtrays was rising.
The first idea I had for an ashtray was a steampunk or an antique clock feel. My personal favorite colors are black and gold, and most of my work has those colors. So for it being the first ashtray I have ever made, of course I was going to utilize those colors. I then went to the Antique store to find little gears I could use, with no luck. Where I did end up having luck, I found myself at Hobby Lobby in the jewelry section, where they have little charms and things for jewelry making. They had exactly what I was looking for. I found a pack of about 6 gears for around $3.
This was my first time molding an ashtray using resin, I had to proceed with caution to make sure everything went smoothly. I didn’t want the piece to obtain any bubbles, as I needed it to be as clear as possible in order to see the gears. I also have a terrible habit of getting too excited to see the finished product, and more times than none something has fingerprints on it.
After I had all the pieces collected that were needed to complete my creation, I got to work. I decided to use my square ashtray mold, which is approximately 4 inches by 4 inches square. For those of you who have never used molds before, this specific mold I was using was upside down. To make it a little easier for you to imagine, the first color I would pour would be the top of the ashtray, and as I add layers, the closer to the bottom of the ashtray it gets. I wanted the top of the ashtray to be as clear as possible, but with little gold glitter speckles. Then, I wanted the middle layer to be clear. This clear layer would be thin, mostly because it is just meant to keep the gears in place. Lastly, I wanted the bottom of the ashtray to be black.
To Begin,I started pouring the first layer of the slightly gold glitter-ed transparent resin. The way I went about this was first taking the mold and make sure it is clean. I cleaned it with a cloth and rubbing alcohol, making sure there were no fibers or animal hair ( I have a black cat and a black dog). I then used a q-tip as a brush to paint on the glitter, as q-tips hold glitter way better than any paintbrush I have used. I focused the glitter to the top of the ashtray where the “whatever you are smoking” holders are. I made the glitter thicker at the top and faded it out as I got to the bottom of the ashtray. After the glitter was all put in place, I added clear resin to the mold. I only filled the mold up to where you put “whatever you are smoking” out on. I only put a VERY thin layer of resin on this part, as I wanted to make sure there would be room for the gears and the black resin.
Before I got to overly confident at my gear laying, I decided I was going to pre-plan the layout for the gears. I let that first layer of resin dry for half the recommended drying time to add some of the gears, as I wanted to give them as much depth as possible. If you are familiar with working with resin, you know that at about half of the hardening time the resin is at a thicker more sticky consistency. I first put half of the gears down on this semi hardened layer. I then poured the transparent resin over the top of the gears, just enough to cover them completely. After the second layer of clear resin was halfway hardened, I proceeded to place the remainder of the gears on. Then, I sealed those gears with yet another thin coat of resin, leaving about a quarter of an inch to go in the mold.
The last layer related step was the black dyed resin. The mica powder I usually use to dye, named “Black Pearl”, usually comes out more of a silver color. I wanted to avoid the silver color and get as close to matte black as possible. So, I decided to use a very little amount of that “Black Pearl” color. Then to make it more matte black, I used powdered charcoal to dye the resin. When mixing it did look a little chunky, as in the powder sticking to each other. As I mixed it longer it didn’t look too bad so I poured it hoping the final product would look just fine.
After everything was poured, I let the mold and resin sit for about an hour. That gave the resin time sit and move all the bubbles it did have to the top of the mold. I could tell that all the bubbles were at the top when the surface of the resin appeared frothy. To get the bubbles away, I took a hand torch turned on low, and lightly ran it over the surface of the resin. I knew when it is working, because the heat from the torch visually popped all the surface bubbles. Once the bubbles were popped, I continued to let the resin set for twenty four additional hours.
I can’t begin to explain how excited I was to finally de-mold this piece. I felt like I had waited for months to begin the process of making my ashtrays. I am pretty sure I basically took off running once time was up and I allowed myself to take it out of the mold. As I was taking it out of the mold, my mouth dropped. It turned out way better than I ever imagined it would. Very little bubbles, not clouded, and no imperfections to the mold. It was beautiful, and I couldn’t wait to show it to my following.
My first ashtray turned out very visually appealing. The only thing that went somewhat wrong, is when I posted a video of the ashtray to an Artist Facebook Group, someone made a comment that got me thinking. The commenter on the facebook post asked “Epoxy Resin isn’t 100% flame proof, will it work for a burning cherry?”. Atlas, something I never thought of before beginning this work. I went on to ask a couple fellow artists what their recommendations would be, and after asking dozens of these questions, I was left with no answers. So, I took it upon myself to test to see if it truly needed something to seal it. I took one of my previous resin projects that was a flop, but would work for testing to see if it burns. I brought this piece outside with my boyfriend and I for a cigarette. After we completed our smokes, we both put our cigarettes out in the same place on the resin. At first, all I noticed was ash marks. I then took it back inside and ran water over the resin. It looked brand new, no burns, no discoloration, no nothing. I was then comfortable with selling these without the customers ruining them within a few uses.
Although this was a longer process than most of my other creations usually take, I am thrilled with the outcome. Patients did work in my favor as my first complete ashtray was damn near flawless. I couldn't be more excited to make many more of these with different themes, and I hope my audience enjoys them as much as I do.
-More Information about My Artwork-
You can find this Ashtray for sale here:
https://www.etsy.com/listing/719502738/steampunk-black-and-gold-glitter-ashtray?ref=shop_home_active_3&frs=1
You can find more of my Artwork for Sale here:
https://www.etsy.com/shop/ArtworkbyJoslynne
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