Useful tips, tricks and advice from experienced resin artist Valerie Sadiki 🥰
Hey guys ☺️ so we thought it would be nice to have a monthly blog from one of our experienced artists @valeriesadiki on Instagram 🥰 This blog will include valuable tips, tricks and advice to help you throughout your resin journey 😘 We hope this will be useful, love Nicola & Laura xx For this first one, an introduction to Valerie, over to you Val ⬇️♥️
Hello fellow resin artists!
I thought it would be an idea to start of a bit of a resin blog and write about my resin journey, my experience with it and to share some tips and tricks as I progress through this blog. I hope it helps and that you enjoy the read and of course you can reach out and tell me your thoughts on it and what you would like me to include 😀
My resin journey started 3 and a bit years ago when I came across a shiny acrylic pour painting online! Wow, was my very first thought. That shine! That water like effect!! Amazing! Didn’t have a clue at the time what it was, just that it looked stunning. I had to find out what it was and how to achieve this look.
So, the very next day, I purchased everything I needed to create an acrylic pour and of course resin to cover it! (First mistake, bought cheap resin on Amazon, but didn’t know it at the time!) A few days later, I had all my supplies and I was eager and ready to start!
I was so excited, finally being able to get back to creating with my hands after years of not being able to (living permanently on a sail boat for 4 years, doesn’t lend itself to creative arts!!😂).
To say that my first try and 2nd, 3rd and 4th !!!! experiments were abject failures is to put it mildly! Everything was wrong! I had used silicone oil for cell creating but didn’t know it would interact so badly with resin! 🙄 craters everywhere!!! Worse than the face of the moon 😂 and paint everywhere! I looked as if I had bathed in it and my table (although protected) was just covered in all this wasted paint, thick layers everywhere! Who also knew I needed a perfectly levelled table??? 😂😂 Of course I did 🙄. You can imagine the scene, I am sure. Also dog hairs everywhere! Stuck to all of my work, who knew so much dog hair was in the air in my dining room?
So after those repeated disasters, I stopped. I decided that acrylic pouring was not for me, I didn’t enjoy the mess, the waste of paint and the total lack of control I seem to be having with this art form.
However, I didn’t want to give up on resin!
Firstly, I needed to find out about resin and the relative products. To make life more complicated, I was/am living in France where there is very little resin products available. I finally found a few Uk companies who specialised in resin products and picked one that particularly inspired me: www.just4youonlineuk.com was the one I chose and I have stayed with them ever since.
You would have thought that I would purchase a minimal amount of products to try them first? But oh no!! I went all out and spent a fortune! I was determined to make this work 😀
I then got organised, first I had to turn the dining room into a make shift studio, protecting my environment properly, with layers of plastic, levelling my table so I would no longer have resin sliding of my pieces!
Next, I binge watched resin process videos on You tube. At the time I was not aware or on Instagram, but oh god, how I wish I had known about all the amazing artists on there then!
My products had arrived, my tools and equipment were all ready and waiting, all lined up like obedient little soldiers waiting for the order to March!
One last issue to deal with: my dogs! Other than giving them away, or shaving them !! I had to protect my art work from all the loose dog hair flying around my house and stuck to my clothes. I went to my local supermarket and bought myself an apron and several plastic boxes and lids in various sizes from small to extra large! And god! Have they been a godsend! I also dedicated old clothes just for resin work, that I would put on to work and take off immediately after, this limiting the hair contact as much as possible.
I wrote lists, ideas, wrote down techniques I had seen, took pictures of other artists work I liked and finally I felt ready to start!
I created my first resin tray made on a wooden tray and I chose some autumn colours because they went with my house decor at the time. What can I say? Success!
Everything went perfectly, colours, I love the effects and the resin had no imperfections. Not a master piece as I look back on it now, but I can’t tell you how ecstatic I was!!!! I was hooked. Thank god, as I had a serious stock of products and the dining room was no longer a dining room 😂
It was the deciding moment of my love affair with all things resin, that shine, those effects with pigment pastes and mica powders, the glistening and pearlescent colours of glitters and most of all that smooth, perfectly clear layer of top resin. My mind was reeling with the endless possibilities with this new found medium and I had plenty of time to dedicate myself to this new found art as I had just come back from 4 years of gruelling work chartering on our sail boat!
So, I will see you guys soon for an other edition of my resin thoughts.
Love and hugs!
Valerie Sadiki
Jan 28, 2022
