RESIN DEMONSTRATION
Recently I attended a demonstration on the artistic use of resins demonstrated by Aram Friedrich and Rob Jenkins of Eli-Chem Resins U.K.
Aram explained that 95 percent of their business was industrial and 5 percent was for artistic purposes. They have excellent demonstrations on their website listed below which one should review for the detail on how the artistic process works.
The use of resin as a painting medium results in a contemporary abstract design. It can also be used to coat paintings and textiles by pouring the clear resin on these surfaces. The colour in the painting is much enhanced leaving the surface glass like and hard. Those who do watercolour were pleased that they would not have to use heavy glass over their paintings if they elected to use a resin top coat.
During the demonstration, the class was allowed to make a contemporary design by adding coloured resin, (polymer pigment ink and resin) to a surface. The photos below show how it first looks before some mixing and hardening. The design painted was by 15 enthusiastic attendees so is not the best. It does show the richness of the colours, and glass like finish.
I had pieces of my encaustic art covered by the clear resin which enriched the colours. It did take away the texture which occurs with encaustic.
I also had a small piece of stitched textile covered in clear resin. I loved the increased richness of the colours. As this piece did not have much stitching, it tended to look like lines drawn instead of stitched but more research needs to be done with more heavily stitched pieces.
Finally I had oil and acrylic pieces coated with clear resin which enhanced the colours. With the acrylic piece, I had them add a blue resi blast mixture with resin. This resulted in a pieces that glowed blue in the dark which was fascinating.
I am going to try my hand at some painting with the resin for a more contemporary design piece of art. It won’t take the place of my love of oil, encaustic and textile but could be fun to explore.
Aram Friedrich
Eli-Chem Resins U.K Ltd
Astra House, The Common, Cranleigh
Surrey, GU6 8RZ, United Kingdom
aram@elichem.co.uk
www.elichem.co.uk
Tel : +44 ( 0 ) 1483 26 66 36 or 37
Fax: +44 ( 0 ) 1483 26 66 50
Mobile : +44 ( 0 ) 77 11 66 9607
This was the class attempt at painting with resin. The colour is great but design a bit muddled.
this is my textile piece with resin
This was my acrylic piece which had the rest blast painted on. It look clear during the day but glows blue in the lighter areas in the dark.
Faye Lippitt
This is so interesting Judy. I think I’d like to try it myself on my acrylic pieces – it sets, rather than smudges the piece? By the way, loved your two pieces!