maintaining glossy look inside piece

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    • October 19, 2017 at 1:27 am #10443
      Alex Weidenbenner
      Guest

      So i am making a table with rocks in the middle of it. i have poured a thin layer over the rocks thusfar. this seals them so they won’t leak pesky air bubbles and pins them to the table. i love the way they currently look. only problem is that it is super bumpy and not a great table…the fix for this is to pour a flood coat of epoxy over it and make it level but i am worried i’ll lose the glossy-wet look i have in favor of it looking like a bunch of embedded rocks in a table. i know that epoxy doesn’t bond well to cured epoxy and i was hoping that that would give me the look i want but i’m kinda scared that the break between layers won’t be obvious enough. any tips?

    • October 19, 2017 at 1:45 pm #10448
      Katherine Swift
      Keymaster

      Hi Alex,

      Epoxy does bond well to itself. If you pour another layer on top of what you have, the rocks will look like they are embedded in the resin and will likely lose the ‘wet’ look you are trying to keep.

      Have you considered finding a way to suspend a piece of glass, acrylic or something similar over the rocks? That will allow people to have a place to set items, but when you look through, it looks as though there is a resin ‘river’ with rocks in it.

    • October 20, 2017 at 3:34 am #10466
      Alex weidenbenner
      Guest

      Yeah a friend of mine recommended that as well. It is an option I suppose.

      I am worried that it will be difficult to clean if anything gets spilled and glass can break. A poured resin finish on the other hand doesn’t suffer those problems

      I am wondering if hairspray, lacquer or wax would prevent the layers from bonding and save the aesthetic. (Just wondering if u have experience with any of these not working…I will be testing these options on small samples)

    • October 20, 2017 at 2:17 pm #10467
      Katherine Swift
      Keymaster

      Wax would prevent the layer from sticking, but you would then be able to lift the top piece of resin off of bottom piece of resin. Are you going to have this in a box frame of some sort?

    • October 20, 2017 at 4:52 pm #10470
      Alex
      Guest

      There is a wood frame around it and I don’t plan on treating the entire surface….just most of it 🙂 does wax discolor the resin when u pour on top of it?

    • October 21, 2017 at 11:19 am #10476
      Katherine Swift
      Keymaster

      If you use a clear wax, I would expect you would be okay. The product I like to use is ‘Renaissance Wax’. It’s a woodworking wax, but leaves a very fine finish.

    • October 21, 2017 at 11:41 am #10478
      Alex
      Guest

      Thanks! I will definitely try that first 🙂

    • October 27, 2017 at 10:31 pm #10651
      alex
      Guest

      alright. i tried out a thin coat of trewax clear and it didn’t give me the barrier i’m looking for…next attempt is to try out golden gel medium. i just pooured the first test piece for that one and it’s looking like the gel medium is going to disappear inside the resin (ie, not visible after pour)…this is a weird puzzle…

    • October 27, 2017 at 11:54 pm #10653
      Katherine Swift
      Keymaster

      Thanks for the update. Looking forward to hearing more.

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