 Hey everyone, Joanne from Art Resin here, and today I'm joined by artist Yolanda Fernandez, who's based here in Toronto. So Yolanda, why don't you tell us a little bit about yourself and about your artwork. Thank you for having me. So I am a mix beater artist, and I've been working with Resin for quite a few years now, full time for the last two years. And I create floor art pieces on trays, with panels, things like that, and also home decor. Awesome. So today we're so lucky. Yolanda is going to be walking us through how to create a piece of floor art. So Yolanda, what are we going to be doing today? So we're going to try to replicate something like this on this tray, and we're also going to be pouring on this panel here. Awesome. Let's get started. So we're going to be using Art Resin with the resin tins to create this piece here. I'm going to show you guys how I mix up the resin, how I use these gorgeous pigments to create the piece. So let's get started. So as usual we're going to do equal parts resin and hardener. And I'm using these little cups here. And we're going to mix these two together. It doesn't matter which one goes into each, but make sure that you do scrape the sides and get all of the equal parts together. And now we're going to start mixing. You want to keep mixing until it's completely clear. It's super important. Mixing is always that part that I always make sure to get right. So you want to keep stirring at least three minutes minimum for a smaller batch like this. But for a piece that's larger, like the one behind me, you want to keep stirring until it's completely clear. It's not going to be translucent or foggy, etc. And when you're stirring you want to make sure that you are scraping the sides of the cup as often and the stick to make sure that it is well mixed together. Okay, so we're done mixing our resin. We're going to pour it into these little cups here so that we can start adding the resin tints. I like to start with just pouring a little bit of resin into the cups and working out my colors and then adding a little bit more resin to the cups as we go along. So you want to shake the bottle very well because the colors do separate if they've been sitting there for a while. And then you want to use a few drops. Less is more because they're very, very saturated and very pigmented. Two drops, maybe three just to start off with. Mix it. And I'm going to add a drop of white. And I'm going to just do one drop to start off with. And I'll see if I need more. But I add the white to soften the turquoise and it also changes the opacity if you see. It's less translucent now. And you can check the transparency off the color, off your resin by just looking at the stick or pushing it up against the side. This is pretty translucent so I want to make it more opaque. So I'm going to add a little bit more. But again, that's why you want to go slowly. So you're going to just keep mixing the colors together. And that's the great part about using Resin Tint is that you get to customize the colors however you want. And you get to play. You get to play with the colors. I find it very therapeutic to just stand here and mix different concoctions of Resin Tint and Resin. And see what I come up with because that's the joy of creating. And it's the best part of it for me. And the next color after that is going to be the Resin Tint white so that we can get some negative space going. So when you are mixing your colors and getting them ready for your piece, you want to keep in mind the background that you're working with. So if you had a piece like that one at the back and it was a wood panel that was already white, you can get away with your colors being a little bit more translucent for some depth. If you're working with a tray in this case, that's a goldish brass color. You want to make them more opaque just so that you don't see the background. So that's something to keep in mind when you're working. Alright so we're going to move on to the next color because I think I've mixed this very well. And we're going to start off with the blue and the black to get a navy color going. It's a gorgeous deep blue. But I'm going to deepen it by adding a little bit of the Art Resin black. And again we're going to make sure that we really work the color into the resin. With the Resin Tints you want to make sure that they are very well mixed into the resin because they are oil-based. They need to get emulsified into the resin. Because it's oil-based, you can take a torch to it and make sure that your work doesn't light up. And you know, catch on fire and you keep your eyebrows. If you love your eyebrows, use Resin Tint because it's oil-based. Okay, sorry. So we have our colors mixed up so we're good to pour now. So I needed to mix up a little bit more of the navy and the white so that's what I've gone ahead and done. And while I'm mixing up the colors, I often get asked when I am doing the flow art pieces, how do you know when a piece is done? It's a tricky question and I think you sort of do and you sort of don't. There's always pieces that you want to keep working on constantly. Like the piece of the back of me when I first finished it, I wasn't 100% happy with it. I felt like I could make a few more changes to it but I learned to let it go. And once I took it to the art show, my audience loved it. They absolutely loved it and did not see the flaws that I was obsessing about. So I don't think you 100% know if a piece is done or not but walk away from it. All of the flaws that we see is because we're over-analyzing it and we're staring at the piece. And when somebody sees it with fresh eyes and has never seen your work before, they're going to love it and you just have to have confidence in your work and in yourself. So I have all of my colors mixed up and here comes the fun part. We get to now pour it all on this tray and make some art. So I'm going to start off with the navy blue color that we poured and mixed. And we're going to pour it on this side of the tray just because I like to try to compose the piece before pouring it. I think it's a great idea to sort of have some sort of idea. Just the same way we plan out the colors, plan out the way you're going to lay them down. And in this case, I am going to be doing the blue on this side and I'm going to place the white on the opposite side. And then we're going to start moving the color around and then I'm going to note that I don't have enough resin and need to mix more. So I poured some of the white and some of the navy blue in and in the balance of the cup I've added a little bit more pigment to it so that when I pour it on top I can get a marbled effect. I'm just going to move it around with a stick and let it sort of do its magic. We're going to go back and add more of the navy blue. And again you can see the difference in opacity between the two of them. It just helps add some depth with layering both the colors. So that looks perfect. Okay, so we're going to do the turquoise color. So I poured a bit of it on the tray and a bit of it onto the dark blue just so that it mixes up a little bit but not too much because we're going to control how much they get mixed up by using our little tool. So that looks good. Let's move on to the next color. We're going to lay that color right down the middle and just move it around. You don't need too much. If you over pour the resin into the tray you're going to have all the colors really mix into each other and get muddy. So you want to make sure that you don't have too much resin in there. All right, so we're done pouring all the colors and now we're going to torch the resin to get all the bubbles out. So once we have all the bubbles out of your piece, I'm just going to make sure that there aren't any more. We're going to use a little spatula or any little stick, something with a narrow width, and we're going to create a movement and sort of a design with it. The important part of this step is that you want to make sure that your resin is a little bit cured. That's my tip. If your resin is freshly mixed and very fluid, it tends to get very muddy and you're not going to be able to keep the shape or design in your piece. So I would recommend if you are trying to get really nice cells or movement in your piece, let your resin cure just a little bit so it's a little bit on the harder or thicker side and then start moving it with any device that you have that's similar to this. You can try out different things. I've tried out tons of different utensils from the kitchen or home or whatever worked and this one worked for me. So you find what works for you and we'll go ahead and start mixing it up. My sick! So when I'm composing it and as I mentioned we were composing the colors and laying them out, the other option is that when you have finished pouring it and if you don't like the absolute shape of it, you can move the piece around to sort of get the angle that you want to work with before you start using your tool. So in this case, I love the way it's laid out. I don't think there's anything that I need to change of it. If it was then I'd move it but I think I'm ready to start with it. So we are going to start using the little tool and sort of make a shape in it. It's very organic. It's where you have fun and play with the resin. I like to sort of create a shape and then whatever is left in there with the white I'm not too worried about it because I like to carry on the color into the other parts so I'm going to just drag it. You don't have to be too delicate by just skimming the top of it. I like mixing the colors in and going a little bit deeper because that's how you get the colors to mix and get some really cool cells. I do take my time with it so you'll notice that I'm not going too fast and I do like to have the leftover color that's on it to sort of just move it around. I like creating some wavy patterns and again because the resin has cured for a little bit you'll notice that it's not getting too muddy. It's just keeping the shape that I'm pushing into. There we go. I'm going to do one more pass with the torch and again because it's an oil based pigment nothing to worry about. We're good. So we're all done with this piece. I'm going to move it over and let it set to cure somewhere safely and we're going to work on the next piece on the wood panel and I'm going to get Joanne to help me out with that. So I found Joanne. You did. And we are going to be working on these two panels. So we have a panel that's 12 by 12 and it's a little bit of a wall that can hold your resin and works very well for doing flow art. And then I have the regular panel which you can also use a little made up wall by using tape. So I've done the three sides over here and I'm going to do the fourth one here. That's such a clever idea. You've made your own kind of lid around that. So it's different options on what's available in your art store. So you can go with either or. I'm going to take these gloves off because they don't work very well when you're taping. That was an excellent tip for you guys. Alright, so we're going to just tape up a little bit of a wall. And you're using painter's tape. Yes. But can you use like sheathing tape, like tech tape as well? Tech tape works great. Whatever you have available, just something that's going to stay nice and tight onto the wall. So I'm using this little tool again to sort of press the tape against the walls to make sure that it's nice and tight and that the resin is not going to seep through. And you want to make sure that way you don't have any drips. And it'll be nice and perfect. Perfect. So Joanne has gone ahead and mixed some gorgeous colors using resin tint. Do you want to tell us about the colors you chose? Yeah, I love the rose gold. You may know. So I've got my pinks and gold and white here. And yeah, I really love this palette. Awesome. I'm excited. Alright, I'm going to get my gloves on. Well, I'm not going to lie, I'm a little bit nervous. You know, Landa, you're like the master of doing this. So it's one of those things that looks really easy, but actually to do it, it takes a bit of strategy, doesn't it? It does take a lot of strategy, but it's a lot of fun. And it's just playing with it. I mean, I learned a lot of what I'm doing by just playing and not being worried about the outcome. And that's what it's about. So we're going to... It's the best way to learn. Yeah, let's get started. Okay, good. Alright, so what color are you planning on going with first? Do you have any intention? You know what? I'm going to follow your lead and go with white if you're going for the white first. Okay, perfect. I'm just going to mirror you. Okay. So I'm going to be pouring the white in this corner off my piece. There we go. And again, because we have the little walls, we don't have to be too worried about it pouring over. I guess just by tilting it, you almost don't even need to use a spreader. You don't need to use a spreader if you're tilting it in because it's freshly mixed resin. It's so fluid and so easy to move around. So this is the best time to move your piece if you want to get a good shape going. So I'm going to be pouring the purple color into this corner. I'm just going to move it around so I can help it to the edges here. I love this pearl paint too. It's beautiful. It's so satisfying. I'm doing this. Okay, so the next color that I'm using is this turquoisey teal. Okay, I'm going to use my... I don't know what this is. It's kind of my rosy gold color here. It's beautiful. I'm going to go with... Let's do it right up against the purple because I think that would look beautiful. It's great. Your rose gold really goes with the pink too. Really well. So now when you put the two colors side by side, are you intentionally blending them or are you just letting them kind of do their thing? You want to let them just do their thing and sort of sit beside each other and then we're going to get them to mingle afterwards when we have our little tools that we're going to use. So right now we're just laying it down in a ribbon fashion and then we'll help them mingle after. Okay. Okay, perfect. Alrighty. Last one. Yes. So you're doing your gold beautiful and I'm doing silver. So we're going to swish around the little metallic colors here and... Are you filling up all the space? I am going to fill up all of the space. All of the space. I'm doing whatever you do. Yes. I'm not going to worry too much about the white spaces that I have in there because they will all work out once we start moving the colors around. Okay. So I'm just going to tap it a little bit. The reason I tap it is just to help the self-leveling part about it. Oh, I see. Yeah, so tap it on the... Yeah, you can tap it this way and if you notice the little white spaces that I had are already closing up. First, just trying to move it because if I try to move it right now we're going to lose the shape that we've tried to create with it and it might fall over the edges too. So I just try to tap it and there we go. Space is closed like magic. So I've got some really cool cell action in here but I seem to have lost my rose gold a little bit. Does that matter? It doesn't matter too much because I can sort of see that it's underneath so when we start moving things around you'll have a nice integration of it. So it sometimes happens when the colors are moving around but nothing to worry about. We're going to fix that soon. Okay, perfect. Good. And now we're going to torch the resin. So we're going to give this a light torch. So we've let our pieces sit for about 15 minutes or so and we've just come back and I have the most amazing cell action happening here. I absolutely love it. I don't want to touch it. I know. And most people want to stop at that point but the reason we let it sit for the last 15 minutes is to let the resin cure a little bit so it gets kind of thick and that way when we do use our tool we're able to get some really great designs. So don't worry about it. I know you want to stop but we're going to move forward and do some amazing things. Awesome. I trust you. Okay, what do we do next? So we're going to be using this and we're going to be moving the resin around and creating some motion and also blending the colors that we previously did not blend when we were pouring it. Now if you had started to blend this right after you poured it the resin would continue to level right and you'd probably lose all of this detail here that you're getting. Is that right? Correct. So that's why you want to let it cure for a little bit because it will hold the design that you're trying to put through. When it's very fluid it tends to blend in and get very muddy and messy and you can't keep the colors exactly to the spots that you want it to be in. All right, so I guess it's my turn now and now I am actually nervous because I really love the cells that are happening here but I still want to pull out that rose gold that's hidden underneath the pink so do you have any tips for me? I do and that's a great point that you bring up because sometimes you'll get a really beautiful organic piece right off the bat and you don't want to move it around so that's why this is so great because now that it's halfway cured and it's solid or like getting solid you can start controlling your movement with this and you can work around it so if you want to just move the top part and specifically the bottom part and try to maintain that you can have more control. So give it a try it's going to be great. I love this tool and I like using plastic takeout knives as well but this is better because it's a bit broader so you can do more with it. Absolutely, the opportunities are endless with using whatever you have in your home to try to create something more unique and the patterns and etc. will always change based on what you're using. There's so many different effects you can get with just your everyday tool. Absolutely. So I think the biggest takeaway is that you can use whatever tool you want as long as the resin is set or started to cure because the thicker it is the easier it is to manipulate. Definitely, right? Yeah, for sure. Alright, I think I'm going to call this done. It's beautiful. It's absolutely beautiful. Okay, so what's next then? So we're going to gun it one more time with the torch and that's it and we're going to let it sit and cure. Wonderful. It's all yours. Great, so we're all done. Awesome. So what are you going to do with the tape? So I'm going to give it a few hours so that it can soft cure and then I'm going to take the tape off while it's still tacky being very careful not to touch the top of the piece but the reason I like to take the tape off early on is that you'll get a nice doming effect naturally as the resin is still soft. And it's also easier to take the tape off at that point so you just have to be very cautious and careful while doing it but you get a great doming effect. Awesome. So that's sort of the four hour mark or four to six? Four to six, usually. And you can just test it and sort of see the sides if you have any drip offs to see whether how tacky it is. You can go based on that but otherwise they're all set. We just have to put these guys away, let them cure and we'll come back tomorrow and have a look at what we have. Perfect. See you tomorrow. So we're back and the pieces have cured so we're going to have a look at them. The first one is the tray and as you can see it turned out beautiful. I'm so happy with the piece. The colors are still vibrant. They've stayed exactly where they need to be. All of the designs that I created with the fine lines are there. The control is there. The tints that I use for the bronze match so perfectly with the tray. It's just, it's gorgeous. I absolutely love how this piece turned out and with this piece it's vibrant. The colors are beautiful. You guys already know that I love this color. The purples with the turquoise and the silver great combination and again you can see all of the colors stayed exactly where they were from last night. So here we have Joanne's piece. Not as good as my piece but she did follow instructions and it is beautiful. But I would like to thank Joanne and the art resident team for having me here to create these gorgeous pieces for you guys and hopefully this helps you create your own resident flower pieces using residents. Thank you so much for watching and I'll see you guys soon.