 The biggest issue when working with epoxy resin is bubbles. Today I'm going to talk about some of the more common reasons why they occur and, more importantly, how to prevent them. There are four main reasons why bubbles occur. Your art pace might be releasing trapped air, you're pouring too thick, the temperature might be too cold, or you're not following best practices when working with resin. Let's start with best practices. Hands down, the best defense against bubbles is a torch. Nothing is as effective as a flame for really getting rid of bubbles. Now, although a heat gun can be useful in some resin applications, it just doesn't get as hot as a flame and it can even blow your resin around. On the other hand, a quick passer to the torch zaps bubbles like magic without disturbing your resin. A torch really is the best tool for the job. Before you even get to torching, there are a few things you can do to help prevent bubbles from forming in the first place. The first is to stir slowly. There's no need to whip the resin. Doing so only creates more bubbles which could lead to other problems such as over-torching. Stir slowly and stir gently. Obviously, you'll still get some bubbles, but nothing a torch can't take care of. Just as you want to stir gently, you also want to pour gently. Dumping the resin out from up high only creates more bubbles. Instead, keep your mixing container close to your artwork and pour slowly. So remember, stir slowly, pour gently and use a torch. When working with epoxy resin, temperature is super important. You never want to work with cold resin. You'll know your resin is too cold when it's thick, hard to work with and it looks cloudy due to thousands of micro bubbles that you'll never be able to torch out. If your resin is cold, you want to make sure you bring it up to room temperature first. You can do this by either letting it sit somewhere warm or by giving it a warm water bath. Here are a few key things to remember when warming your resin in a water bath. Use warm, not hot water. About what you'd use for a baby's bath. Since heat accelerates curing, warm the resin before you measure and mix so that it doesn't cure prematurely. Water can make resin cloudy, so keep the caps on, don't submerge the bottles and dry them off thoroughly before you open them. That's it. That's all I got. So don't use cold resin. Art resin was designed as a surface coating and meant to be poured in thin applications. Pouring thin coats allows bubbles time to escape to the surface in order to get torched out. If you want a thicker coat, for example, you're pouring into a mold, don't pour too thick. Bubbles won't have a chance to rise to the surface and you could end up with bubbles in your cured resin. If you want a thicker coat, you can do it. You just need to pour in multiple layers. Now, we always recommend pouring in layers of an eighth of an inch, but here's a tip for you. If you give your resin a warm water bath, it thins the resin out, which greatly reduces the bubbles and allows you to pour a little thicker up to a quarter of an inch. Here's another tip for you. We always recommend using a torch to get rid of bubbles, the only exception being when working with silicone molds. In this case, a heat gun might be a better option. It's less intense than a flame and may even help prolong the life of the molds. So remember, to avoid bubbles, don't pour too thick. At times, natural materials such as paper and wood can release trapped air in the form of bubbles. To avoid this, sealing your piece before you resin creates a barrier that prevents off-gassing from occurring. Always choose a sealant that dries clear and is appropriate for your artwork. Poorly mounted photos and prints can also create bubbles. Best practice when mounting a print is to use an even amount of adhesive to ensure there are no air pockets. A clamp can help keep your photo in place while you mount one side at a time. Using a brayer ensures a good tight bond to the panel. Don't forget to use clean paper to protect the surface of your print. So remember, sealing and proper mounting helps prevent trapped air from forming bubbles. One last tip, it never hurts to babysit your work. Keep an eye on it for the first half hour or so after you pour so you can pop any surprise bubbles with a toothpick. So say you find some bubbles in your cured resin. What do you do? Well first of all, don't worry, this is an easy fix. Grab some coarse sandpaper like 80 grit, sand down the entire surface including the bubbles and be careful not to damage your artwork. Wipe away all the sanding dust with damp paper towel. It'll look like a mess at this point, but that's okay. Once your surface is totally clean of any sanding residue, pour a fresh coat of art resin. The scratches will disappear before your eyes and once your piece cures, you'll never know there were ever any bubbles. So remember, use a torch, stir and pour gently, use room temperature art resin, mount carefully, pre-seal if necessary, and if you do find a pesky bubble in your cured resin, follow our simple steps to get rid of them. I hope this helps, leave any questions or comments below, and thanks for popping by. Sorry, that was so dumb at the end. Thanks for popping by. So remember, bubs your uncle. I don't mean to burst your bubble, but the video's over. No. That's all I got. Nothing else pops to me.