JPayne Woodworking Creative Craftsmanship
One epoxy project I have been wanting to attempt for a long time now is wall art. Now this might sound easy to some people and in some ways I is less intensive and easier that larger projects like tables or pool cues. With that being said it is extremely satisfying to do and to see the colors come out in a pattern sometimes intended sometimes you do not know what to expect until the pours are down.
I started with a black base to work from as I wanted the piece to have what would seem like a night time background. So starting with some Total Boat Epoxy and then added colors from Kp Pigments. This black came out beautiful it was a dark deep black color witch was very important to me.
Pouring the black also taught me that making sure to have enough epoxy to cover the entire project board is very important. The last thing you would want is to have to little epoxy and have thin spots or places were the wood shows through.
After poring the black down I used a shop rag to dab the epoxy around this would evenly distribute the epoxy with it leveling its self back out afterwards. I wanted to use some bright colors in contrasting with the black so the next color i decided to use was a brilliant silver this color looked amazing on top of the black.
To spread the colors out I used a heat gun that would serve two purposed. One was to spread the epoxy out causing the colors to spread in a somewhat random pattern and the second is to pop any air bubbles that might arise as you pour the epoxy.
This process with the heat gun would be repeated on every color. The technique of applying the color would change though with every color. This was in hopes of adding a type of texture to the colors. Applying them in the same way every time over and over would just cause it to look like stripes of colors.
Adding this interesting reddish color-shift color was next and this looked amazing on the black as well after spreading the color with the heat gun it came out looking like wispy colors for the galaxy or a nebula.
Part of the fun of this spur of the moment project was getting to let loose and not worrying about if the epoxy was not laying out just perfect. In this context the imperfections were just added to the texture of all the colors stacked on top of each other. I really wanted to add what I though would look like waves splashing on space (if that makes sense). I use a stir stick to apply some beautiful sea blue color and then used the heat gun to push the color around giving it the depth and appearance of a wave.
I am honestly really proud of how this piece came out. The best part is that no matter how many of these you were to make you would never be able to create the exact same one over twice. If you want to give this a try go for it and have fun. Don’t worry about structure or a plan. Some of the best things in life are done spontaneously. To use the same supplies I used for this piece check out these links and give it a try.