Circles and Shines

Back in my three weeks at the Best Western while my floors were being replaced, I did lots of fun things, including decorating round wooden trays with round paper circles.  Circles inside circles, applied with Mod-Podge.  Then I coated them with Mod-Podge.  They may not have been particularly useful as serving trays, but Carlene uses hers to store cards on her coffee table.

After making a few of them, I moved on to other projects.  But circles keep reappearing now on different surfaces.

Still, I wanted to make a tray that had a finish hard enough to be food-friendly, at least crackers and cheese friendly, but maybe even for two cups containing liquid.

This is where resin pouring came into play.

And so I spent much of the weekend making one.  Instead of circles inside, I cut a large piece of
collage-on-deli-paper (random shapes instead of circles) and used matte medium to coat it.  Then I got out a box of resin pour I'd had on my shelf for a while, mixed the two bottles 50/50, stirred for 6 minutes, then poured inside.

I loved the glassy finish over paper, but mine never cured.  When I tried it yesterday, it was still soft enough to pick up finger prints.

I tried scraping it out--but it wouldn't  budge.

So I made a whole new layer of collage last night in an effort to salvage it--after gluing trial papers on top of the resin to see if it was going to work.

After graduating from physical therapy this morning and going to yoga afterwards, I went to Jerry's Art 'O Rama to inquire about Art Resin.  This is the brand that's non-toxic (not the brand I had on hand), and another customer was buying resin by the gallon.  To get rid of the bubbles and facilitate curing, she told me, you had to use a propane torch--which Jerry's had.

Michaels and Jo Ann's are often my go-to places for art supplies, but the people who work at Jerry's make the extra expense worth it.  They know their materials and provide the kind of guidance you can't get at the crafts stores.

So now I'm home, about to glue the collage into the tray and try another pour tonight.

What's true of trays is true of life: what you see on the surface contains all its layers of growing and learning underneath.