Easy Art - DIY Painting With Resin and Acrylics

Marybeth Santos
by Marybeth Santos
6 Materials
$20
45 Minutes
Easy
I declared this year the year of the Resin Craft. I kicked off the year by making resin necklaces. What I haven’t told you is that all of these small resin posts are leading up to one big one. You see, I have learned an important crafting lesson. Practice a little before you try the big project. So this week I made some super cool Resin Pour Paintings that I’m going to share with you.


Prepare your work surface. You're going to want to do this on a surface that you are not in love with (I have an old table) and also cover that surface with layers of newspaper or a tarp.  This can definitely get messy. You are going to have a strong potential for wrecking stuff.  Don't wreck your good stuff.
Put your gloves on.  Mix your resin.  For the small boards that I made, I mixed up to the 1 slot on two of the little cups.  You might need more or less depending on the size of your canvas boards.  My number one tip for mixing resin is read the instructions that come with your resin. 
Now you're going to add your paint to the resin.  I used three colors, blue, green and white, so I tried two things.  I added all three colors to one cup of resin.  That got me a pretty uniformly green painting with some white veining.  This is called a "dirty pour" and I'm pretty sure I messed it up because the results are usually colorful and stunning.  The second method I tried was to mix up some more resin and then split the resin between three cups (see how many cups we're using here? never ending cups) and add each paint color to the individual cups.  I like the way this came out better, but I definitely plan to try the dirty pour again.
Get your canvas ready.  All this entails is propping it on top of something because the resin is going to drip off the sides. I used the top of a yankee candle to prop mine. This was not a smart idea because it was not particularly stable, but it did the job. Something like a can of tuna would work well.
Mix your paint into your resin, just a droplet, and stir well.  Pour one color onto your canvas. I poured in sort of a haphazard way.  Start in the middle-ish of the canvas.  You're going to use the little mixing paddle to spread the paint/resin mixture out to the edges.  Repeat this with the second color. I saved the white mixture for just adding a little bit of veining, but this is art and you can do whatever you want.
Be art-y.  This was my favorite part.  I moved around the colors with the little mixing paddles.  I added more colors.  I added white in different spots.  This is the fun part.  Cover the entire canvas and try to get the edges, too.  I didn't do this very well, but you should.
 
Ok, this is where the torch would have come in.  There will be some bubbles that you are going to want to get rid of and the straw will work for that.  Just lightly breathe through it and you'll see them pop (it's the carbon dioxide that pops them).  BUT!  The straw is also super fun for moving stuff around a little on the canvas.  You can sort of make ripples and other cool things just by blowing through the straw.
Now, my one word of caution, only use the straw for a small canvas and for short periods of time. I got 100% light headed from blowing through the straw too much!  The torch is a much better option here!


Watch for drips. The resin is going to drip over the edges. You can keep an eye on this and scrape them off as the drip. Or you can sand them down after they have dried.
 
Once you're happy with the look of your painting, it's time to let it dry.  You definitely want to grab a box or something to cover your precious painting. You don't want a stray hair or dust to get in the resin. If you do catch a stray hair or dust before the resin has dried, you can use a toothpick to pull it out of the resin.  You'll make a dent, but the resin is like magic and closes in on itself as if nothing ever happened.  Still, cover the painting to protect it.
 
And now you have a shiny beautiful piece of art! And YOU made it!
Suggested materials:
  • Envirotex Lite Pour On Resin   (Michaels)
  • Acrylic Paints   (Michaels)
  • Plastic Measuring cups and stirrers   (Michaels)
See all materials
Marybeth Santos
Want more details about this and other DIY projects? Check out my blog post!
Go
Frequently asked questions
Have a question about this project?
  1 question
Comments
Join the conversation
 2 comments
Next