Picture this: I take a beautiful piece of wood, something with a cool grain or a gnarly live edge, and then marry it with colourful, mesmerising liquid epoxy resin, and then when it hardens, it turns that rustic, earthy wood into a high-end, stunning looking, unique artifact.
It’s a little bit like alchemy, but instead of turning lead into gold, I’m turning a simple slab of wood into a stunning work of art.
Why is resin woodworking such a big deal?
For a while, woodworking was all about that rustic, natural beauty of the wood and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that! But when you add resin, it gives wood a whole new personality. It can make a piece look sleek, modern, and even a little bit magical, especially when you mix in pigments to make the resin glow or mimic glass or lava.
Basically, resin can be a woodworker’s secret weapon for turning a nice piece into a stunning piece. It lets you get super creative, you can embed cool little trinkets, use crazy colours, or just let the natural wood shine through with a glassy, clear finish.
A reality check
Before you go all-in and start pouring gallons of liquid plastic everywhere, you need to know a few things. First off, resin can be a bit of a diva. It needs to be mixed perfectly or it’s not going to set right, and it can take forever to cure – we’re talking weeks not days.
Reality check …. you’re going to make mistakes ….. a lot of them. The first time you try to mix a colour, it’ll probably come out all wrong. You’ll get bubbles, shrinkage, warping and you might even end up with a big sticky mess, but that’s part of the fun! It’s all about trial and error until you find your groove.
You also can’t just slap this stuff on a piece of wood anywhere. You need a level surface – and I mean really, truly level. A lot of folks build a little temporary box or dam to keep the resin from flowing all over the place. Think of it like building a tiny swimming pool for your wood.
Some examples of this marriage made in heaven can be found on our Gallery page.
Next up … Get your resin on!