Epoxy resin for woodworking projects creates magnificent pieces. The resin improves your project with brilliant colours and provides a durable, glossy finish.
For those who create wood projects, one of the most common touches is to use coloured or clear epoxy resin. The timber resin finish adds that one-of-a-kind touch that makes every project unique. These products are available in our timber warehouse shop for purchase.
However, colouring epoxy resin is a little more complicated than just pouring in the ingredients and mixing.
What follows are the steps needed to create a unique finish from Barnes resin that brings out the best in your work.
What is Epoxy Resin?
Put simply, epoxy resin is a liquid adhesive plastic that becomes solid when you mix in a hardening agent. The result is a durable cover for the surface that resists scratches and dings on your timber slabs.
While the clear epoxy resin is often a suitable finish on its own. To make it unique, you can mix it with dyes, mica powders, and pigments.
Therefore, you can finish your project with vibrant colours, glitter, embed flowers, or swirl patterns that let you express yourself. However, while the concept of mixing a timber resin with colouring agents isn’t new, choosing the right one is important.
What Colourants Work Best?
The most common are dyes and pigments as they are both easy to obtain and inexpensive. Each of them has their advantages.
Dyes dissolve in the epoxy to create a singular colour that is transparent, allowing the work underneath to be fully shown. The result is a stained appearance that retains the clarity of the epoxy.
Pigments are tiny particles inside a liquid format. They produce an opaque colour effect that is not translucent. Pigments are mostly used to create swirl patterns. Plus, they are quite stable and resistant to fading.
You can use other colourants that start with natural sources such as paprika and turmeric. Both are environmentally friendly and easy to obtain. However, they have poor stability which means that both turmeric and paprika will fade rather quickly.
Mica powders when mixed in resin offer a metallic effect that is often used in faux geode art works. The advantages of mica powders include their heat resistance and ability to retain that sparkling effect. However, they are rather inconsistent in terms of colouring because of the epoxy resin.
You can always add glitter, which does not change the colour of the epoxy itself but does add that twinkling effect. Be sure to use the glitter that comes in small particles as the larger ones tend to sink to the bottom of the resin.
Epoxy Resin for Woodworking in Australia
Of course, not all colourants suspend well in the clear epoxy resin for woodworking in Australia. Be sure to use products specifically designed for the task.
Aniline dyes and universal tinting pigments are a good place to start. Do not use oil paints or watercolours as they become lumpy or become weak and unsuitable.
Unconventional choices include toner powder, chalk, and spices. These, like watercolours, can produce varying results that may not be predictable. You should experiment first before choosing the one that works best for your needs.
In our next article we will talk about how to choose a colour and how to pour.
Timber Slabs Warehouse can help you with this epoxy resin. Contact our team for advice on the products to use on woodworking projects.
