 Hey everyone, Joanne from Art Resin here, and today I am joined by artist Daniel Anstett. Daniel, thank you so much for coming to work with us today. Thanks for having me. So Daniel is a collage artist. In fact, you can see some of his beautiful pieces behind us here. So Daniel, what will we be working on today? We're going to recreate this design here on a 12x12 using more of a beachy theme. Oh, that sounds fantastic. So I know that there are certain steps you need to take when you're resonating over paper, so I'm really looking forward to learning all of your techniques. Let's get started. Okay, Daniel, do you want to walk us through the materials that you brought with you today? Yeah, so we got your regular school glue stick. I got a pair of scissors. I've got a ruler and a pencil so that we can find the center of our board. An exacto knife for when we have to trim the edges. And then we got our paper, which I usually get from a coffee table book, so we won't have a problem when we're pouring resin over top of it. That's amazing, and it's really important to use good quality paper, right, when you're resonating. And my mind immediately would go to like a high-end kind of magazine, but coffee table books, that's a fantastic idea. Yeah, you can use Vogue or National Geographic have good quality paper or a magazine dedicated to photography, they're also good as well. Yeah, and I imagine they would be great for images as well and colors and stuff too. Yeah, that's a great tip. And if you do use a lower quality paper, what are some of the problems that you've come across? You're definitely going to get some bleed through, you're going to see what's on the other side of the paper, and that's no good. Yeah, and the paper can also absorb the resin too sometimes, right? Yeah. Okay, awesome. And then we are also going to be working on a 12 by 12 panel that we painted white. So what is our first step? Our first step is going to find the middle of the board. So I'm just going to draw some diagonal lines corner to corner. And these also are going to give us nice guiding lines while we're making the design. So once we reach these lines, we kind of know that that's the direction the paper is going to have to go in because it can get kind of wonky in between. So now what's your next step to create your circular piece? So we're going to do the middle first and normally I do a black or something really dark. I don't think that's going to work with our theme today. So instead I'm just going to look for the darkest color we have and I think it's going to be one of these. Yeah, that looks best. So that's going to be the center? Yeah, that'll be our center and so we'll just start cutting these out. Okay. So does it matter like what size you cut your strips? Do they all need to be the same size as well? They don't have to be the same size. You don't want to get them too thin though. They'll be harder to maneuver. So when they're nice and thick, it's easier to get it in a circular pattern. Okay. So we can just get a glue. You can either put the glue into the paper or onto the board for the first one here. It's just as easy to get it right on board. You have a lot more control, don't you, with a glue stick rather than using liquid school glue? It can be a little messy. And the great thing with using the resin is that you can use these basically school glues because the resin is going to seal it nicely. But if you were just doing a collage without the resin, school glues will break down so your paper will start to fall off. Oh, I see right. So in that case you'd have to use like a clear medium or something. So you find that this glue stick holds better. When you're doing the resin. So, Daniel, I'm watching you create this circle and you're making it look so effortless but I know you're following a technique. Yeah, I'm just making sure that I'm going corner to corner here. It'll give us a nice uniform circle. So you put your first piece down on your guideline and then you're going, meeting the corner on this first. Yeah, meeting the corner here and here. And then down at the bottom as well. So you get a perfect diagonal. The great thing is that your last piece is going to cover up any mistakes that you've made. And you're saying the glue stick is really great too because it will allow you to kind of slide it. Yeah, you can slide it around and there's not going to be too much residue on there. Yeah, look at that. Amazing. So then we can move on to our next color. Okay, so the first circle is complete? Yes, first circle is complete. So you just pick whatever one you want next and cut it again. And do you follow like a pattern in terms of like color? Do you like for your next circle? Well, I will try to keep an order of what image I'm using, but as you go you might find that things look better beside each other. So I don't stick to it if I don't have to. Do you ever use photographs? I have used photographs before and those work really well because it's also there nice and thick. So the resin's not going to do anything to them. I'm just going to start on our guiding line and you're going to overlap from the first circle a little bit. Okay, and then you're going corner to corner. Well, you're kind of going center on the bottom and then the corner of the top. Okay, oh yes. So you met the center down here on the first piece and then the corner up at the top. And so you're going with a darker and then a lighter color. Yeah, I like the contrast in doing that. And when I'm gluing these down, I kind of like to mix up the orientation of them so that it's not... I want it to be a little bit abstract. I don't like it to just look like one image going around. I usually don't do the same image all the way around. So I'll probably do like a third and then switch the image. So where do you source your coffee table books from? Secondhand stores? Secondhand stores, the bargain section of big book stores. And there's also some great discount stores online. So today we're working with a beach theme. Do you find that you often have a theme for your work or do you gravitate more towards like colors? I definitely try to stick with a theme. It's usually something a little more abstract than doing like a beach theme. I usually start with a word like passion or spirit and then try to find images and colors that associate with that word. Oh, that's great. And so we've done about a third. So I'm going to switch to a new image. I kind of just look to see what will look good. We've been doing beach, so let's go back to some water. So what would your word be for this? Good question. Maybe coastline. So I'm going to switch the color up because we've done another third. I'm going to just look for something that's a little different. So it's not all the same. Kind of like these waves coming in, some white. Do you normally kind of break it up into thirds? For the first circle around here, I usually do thirds. So you just want to make sure that you're covering all your spaces and that everything's closed up and it's perfectly fine if you need to overlap anything. It looks fantastic. I love it. So now we're ready for the next row. Yeah. So I think we're going to bring back in the color from the center. So if you did three on the first row, do you think you might do like four different colors maybe on this next one? We'll probably do four colors. It's not a formula that I kind of stick to. It's kind of just whatever image you're using. These images are pretty long, so we should be good with four. I was going to ask you so that sometimes can be an issue with collage art, that you've got lots of opportunity for air to get trapped, which can off gas or release as bubbles in your resin. So do you have any kind of safeguards that you use to prevent that? Well, after I'm done, I seal it with a clear acrylic medium, but also I will check in on it maybe a three-half hour just to make sure nothing mysteriously popped up. But you're doing a really great job gluing as well, which is also really important because your strip is really well bonded to the panel and to the paper. Make sure there's no air bubbles trapped underneath. So on the piece that we're working on now and the piece that you have on the table there, you're working in like with two-inch strips. Do you ever work with longer strips or with strips that maybe are cut into triangles? I've never done triangles before. I have done longer strips. I think they were three inches for a bigger piece, but I generally stick with the 12x12s or the 8x8s and I find that two inches is a good size for that. Wow, Daniel, this is amazing. First of all, I am so impressed with how perfect your circle is. You're working with your guidelines. I can see how helpful that is. And then like the colors are so amazing to stand back and look and they harmonize so beautifully. But then if you look up close, like these are all beach chairs and towels and there's some people swimming here. It's so amazing. Yeah, that's one of my favorite things about creating these pieces that from afar, they just look like a geometric abstract but then people can get up close and see the little details that are hidden in there. Yeah, so much interest. So what's next? What's our next step? Next step is we're going to just keep doing the same thing for another layer. We're going to go into our next color palette. So I'm going to use this blue again, I'm going to make sure that I place it on another side. I don't want to keep going on the blue on the same spot. So I might start over here. Daniel, it looks amazing. Again, I'm so incredibly impressed at how perfect your circle is and I love how you've balanced out your colors. It looks amazing. So I guess all that's left to do now is just these corners, right? Yeah, so for the corners we're really going to pay attention to what colors we use. So down here we have lots of the browner sand. So we're going to put that in this back corner here. And on this side there's lots of the waves. So we're going to put that one opposite. And again, beach goers opposite of where they've been. And then last we have the blue. Yeah, perfectly balanced out. It looks great. So are you going to cut the same sort of strips again? Yeah, same strips and I'm going to glue them down in the same way. Great. So the one thing that is a little different about doing corners is that I'm not going to go clockwise. I'm going to start in the middle and move out either side. Okay. And you're overlapping like ever so slightly? Yeah. Great. So the panel is completely covered. It looks fantastic. But I'm assuming we're going to trim the edges, right? Yes. This guy needs a little bit of a haircut. So we're going to use our X-Acto knife and just run along the edge and trim everything off. Okay. Perfect. So you're doing it that way. I assume that you would flip it? No. I like going this way and you just kind of downward motions so that you're not lifting too much off. Oh, that works amazing. And you're going really slowly too? Yeah. Oh, so I can see you've got your thumb against the blade and you're guiding it on the side of the panel. Just keeping it flush on the side. So after you're done cutting the edges, you notice that any pieces are lifting away because maybe they didn't get enough glue the first time. Just put a little bit of a glob on a loose piece of paper and slide it underneath and just glue the underside of that and push it down. All right. That's done and we're ready for the next step. Great. So what are we going to do next? We're going to put on a clear gloss medium. It's going to help the paper stay down and not float when we put on the resin. And it'll also seal it so that it doesn't become waterlogged. Okay. So it's going to help prevent any edges from curling up or anything like that. Exactly. Yeah. Okay. Good. I like using a roller because it gives me a nice thin layer. Have you ever used a spray sealant? I have used a spray sealant before, one time when I did it with photographs, like actual photographs. And I found that the spray sealant kind of melted the colors off the photographs. I've never tried it on a coffee table book paper. So that might actually be a great idea. Kind of, I think it would be better coverage as well. But I love that this kind of acts almost like a brayer as well too, right? The roller. Yeah. So it's really helping to like make sure everything is bonded. Oh yeah. And another really good reason for sealing, especially when you're working with paper and resin, is because you have layered paper, there's lots of opportunity for trapped air to get caught in there, which is going to release bubbles in your resin, right? Absolutely. So sealing it is going to help mitigate that as well. So you've coated the whole piece, and how long is it going to take to dry now before we can resin? It should just take a couple of minutes. Oh, perfect. In the meantime, we can measure and mix. Exactly. All right. So we have taped off the sides of our piece, right? Because Daniel's going to apply the resin just to the top. So we've taped off the sides, and we've mounted it up on these plastic cups. So it doesn't stick to the work surface. We're going to check to make sure it is horizontal. It's perfect. Good job. And now it's time to measure and mix. All right. So I went to the Art Resin calculator. It's at artresin.com slash calculator. It's punched in 12 by 12, and it let me know that we need five ounces total of resin and hardener combined. And it's a little bit cold here today, so we gave our bottles a warm water bath just to help minimize any bubbles. It doesn't matter if you measure your resin or your hardener first, as long as it's a one-to-one ratio. And then we're going to mix for three minutes, scraping the sides and scraping the bottom. All right. And the sealant is nice and dry now. So here comes the fun part. That really makes the color pop, doesn't it? It's amazing to see. Yeah. All those teals or turquoises are just like coming to life now. What do you find it does for your collage work, the resin coating? Well, it makes the colors pop. And it just gives it like a cool look that I don't think you can get with anything else. And that's it. Amazing. So we've done our dust check, picked out any little bits of dust, and it looks absolutely perfect. You did a flawless pour. Thank you. Good job. Now we'll cover it to make sure no more dust gets in there. And at my house to make sure no animal hair gets in. Yep. And we're going to let this cure for 24 hours, and we'll be back tomorrow. So we're back, and now this is my favorite part, revealing the piece. Want to do the honors? Yeah. Oh, it looks so good, Daniel. I love it. What do you think? Yeah, it turned out really well. As you can see, sometimes the resin will get along the edges, but I love the effect it creates. Yeah, it kind of makes like sort of a ray effect. It really adds to the whole geometric feel of the piece. Absolutely. And I love how my favorite part of my creating these is that on the wall, standing back, it looks different. And then I think the lines invite people to come up and see what the individual pieces are. There's so much to see in here. And again, like I absolutely love your color palette. I love it. Amazing job and a flawless pour. Like I said yesterday, it's absolutely perfect. Should we take the tape off? Yes, yeah. This actually is a perfect time. It's been about 18 hours since we poured. So the resin is dry to the touch. And you can hang it on the wall right now if you wanted to. Absolutely. And it's a perfect time to take the tape off because the resin hasn't fully cured. That would be at the 72 hour mark. So Daniel, if you wanted to like ship that out to a client, then you'd want to wait the full 72 hours. Oh yeah. And it'll be rock hard. And you can see it really helps to have a good quality masking tape. Oh yeah. When you use lesser quality tape and you're peeling it, it just rips like crazy. So this is, there's a couple of spots where it's sticking, but it's actually really, really good. You can just use a blade and an exacter knife to get off any little bits that might still be stuck on. And there it is. It is amazing. I absolutely love how it turned out your colors and the pattern. It looks fantastic. We loved having you here and teaching us. So thanks so much for coming in. My pleasure. So if you have any questions for Daniel, please leave them in the comments below. Don't forget to hit subscribe and we will see you next time. Bye. Bye.