I did it!!! My first resin inlay experiement worked!!!

[etcher]

With the advice of my fellow scroll sawyers in hand, I pushed through my frustration and finished my train wreck of a first project on the scroll saw.

The exciting part, at least for me, was that I was able to do a cold cast resin inlay that resembled stained glass!!!  HAPPY DANCE!!!

The "take away" from my first project is that I really, really need to practice more if I'm going to be able to accomplish my grand vision of what I can do with this new found ability.

But mostly, I wanted to thank everyone for the kind words of encouragement and advice that got me to today...I was ready to give up on scroll sawing but many of you helped me to get back into the saddle, so to speak.

I did a blog entry, if anyone is interesting in looking at it, and if anyone would like to offer any advice, I'd welcome it.

http://etchstitchandburn.com/

Thanks again everyone!!

Dixie

[thumbs]

Dixie-that looks great--I love it  I just might have to try something like that--thanks for sharing--Richard

[dgman]

Well, it looks like your on your way Dixie! Practice makes perfect!

[king310]

That is great idea. That is an amazing piece. But with practice comes perfection. I should know. I practice all the time.

[Russ C]

Looks fantastic, a real nice job. Thanks for sharing the information. I am curious as to how it holds up after a few weeks/months. 

[Becky]

That's a pretty tough pattern for a first project so I would say you did a very good job.  I can see why you did it - to get to your experiment, and congrats on your success there. 

Like you said yourself, it's all in the practice.  At some level, I still consider everything I cut today as practice for tomorrow's masterpiece. 

You'll get there.

[troy_curtis]

Wow, that looks pretty nice. Good job and thanks for all the details on how you made it. I love snowflakes, so that really caught my eye. Good job.

[Keefie]

That looks fantastic, a great idea that turned out very good.

[etcher]

Thank you all!  I'm kind of curious how it holds up after a little bit of time also.  The hanging ornament is nice but I'd really like to do it for the lid of a box so durability is rather important.  I'm starting another project today so we'll see what I come up with.

Dixie

[julief]

What do you mean, you were almost ready to give it up???  You just started!  Your projects look great.  If you are using an inlay that you can't see through, you might consider cutting a top layer and doing a glue up with a solid bottom layer, then there is no chance of fall out.

[mickey357]

You should be very happy with the out come. Looks very nice,if this is your 1st-can wait to see # 101.Thanks for sharing,GREAT WORK !!!!

[EIEIO]

Wow - this is why I watch the Olympics. I remember the Fosberry Flip (the first guy I saw that high-jumped backwards) and the Berkoff Blast (the backstroker whose 1st length looked like upside down butterfly). A unique technique is a great thing to see.
Did you angle the cut at all? I wonder if a slight angle would help to keep the resin in the frame when you pull the tape off the back. Nice job.

[king310]

Dixie where did you get the items for the inlay or what was it called? I might try this to see if I like it. I thoight about using some of my wife's OESD patterns and convert them to vectors for scroll work.

[etcher]

*UPDATE*

Hi everybody, me again...

I thought that I'd give an update as to how my experiment worked out.  It's been a couple of days and it's holding up great; none of the inlays have fallen out and I haven't experienced any shrinkage that would cause the inlay to loosen up.  I think what also helped is that I took the tape backing off before the inlay cured completely so the tape didn't imbed in the resin (it was cured enough to hold it's shape but still a bit sticky).  I also finished the curing process under a lamp that gave off a bit of heat; the resin wasn't sticky at all after 24 hours under the lamp.

King: I used "castin'craft clear liquid plastic casting resin" (that I purchased in the jewelry making section at Michaels) and colored it with a tiny, tiny bit of oil artist paint.  I cut the sections at a 90 degree angle, no tilt.

Another benefit from doing the inlay, that I really didn't give any thought to before, is that the cured resin gives the piece a nice bit of weight...sort of like a nice, dense hardwood piece would have.  I'm really liking it.  So even if I use a less dense wood as the base, the finished piece will have a nice heft to it!

Now I'm planning my next project: a small box, with miter joints, with an resin inlaid top and possibly even the sides.  Lofty goal but I don't think I would push my skill level any other way.  I'll keep the forum posted.

Thanks again for the support everyone!

Dixie

[king310]

WOW. I looked at that stuff saturday. It is cashie..$30 for a few ounces. I may be looking at the wrong stuff.