Sunday, December 5, 2010

Envirotex Lite Resin

I am currently working on some pendants and was looking for more info, but ended up writing some observations on EnvirTex Lite tabletop resin... Here it is, and I will add more soon...

pearliemae
pearliemae says:
I have used Envirotex for years and have had a lot of successes and a lot of mistakes to show for it. Since I am about to head out to the chiropractor, I will leave some observations in no particular order.

You do have a few minutes working time, but try not to mix too much more than you think you'll need to avoid wasting it. Have a scrap or test project on hand to play with excess.

If you are sealing paper, be sure to seal it first, both sides, with something else like Mod Podge or other acrylic sealer, otherwise, the resin will seep into the paper and make is translucent, and it doesn't always seep evenly. Since I work with books, this seepage will cause the back to show through, an effect I don't particularly want.

It's carbon dioxide, not heat that will pop the bubbles. I blow through a coffee stirrer straw to get the bubbles to rise and pop, but when it starts to stiffen up, you can wave a lighter (like a long fireplace lighter) near the surface and the bubbles rise quickly and pop, also passing a small butane torch QUICKLY will do the same. Don't heat it with flame too much or too closely.

You can trim over-drips in a day or two before the resin sets up completely hard. I find that the resin can take up to a week to harden completely, but once it does, the glass-like surface is unmatchable. If you stack pieces, they might stick to each other a little. I powder them with a little cornstarch after a week if I have to store them. Don't cover items with this stuff if you plan to sell/use them within a couple of weeks, seriously.

Freezer paper works THE best to use under your projects. I am going to try storing freshly set (couple of days) resin pieces between layers of freezer paper, folded so both sides are faced with the plastic side of the paper.

Have to jump now, but will return as I remember stuff.

PS: Here is the original discussion I was replying to: http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=5140221