Resin Flower Preservation for Beginners - Mold Making, Flowering Drying, and Resin Art 101 Tutorial

We're making something from scratch today, literally from scratch. We will be using a clear acrylic block to make a mold. Using our mold, we will preserve flowers that we dried to create our block. Finally, we will add hardware to our block to make it a functional jewelry organizer. In this video, I will go over how to make a mold, how to dry flowers in silica gel, and to preserve the flowers in epoxy resin, how to make it a functional piece. There's a lot of information in this video and I hope you enjoy! If you have any questions or feedback, let me know in the comments!
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Products:
Total Boat High Performance Resin (Slow Hardener) - www.totalboat.com/products/cl...
Total Boat ThickSet Clear Casting Epoxy - www.totalboat.com/products/th...
Pink Acrylic Paint - www.michaels.com/product/past...
Castin' Crafts White Pigment - amzn.to/3PFj8nr
White Mica Powder - amzn.to/3XC4r6L
Elmer's glue - amzn.to/3CUbPkn
Screw hooks - amzn.to/3NSDok9
Drill - amzn.to/3CXsXWi
Sander - amzn.to/3XBlfdN
MOLD MAKING:
Mold Making Kit - amzn.to/3PBqFUp
FLOWER DRYING:
Silica Gel - amzn.to/44qmkY5
Scrapbook storage bin - www.michaels.com/product/85-x...
Music by / iksonmusic

[@anjanowackadeklopp761]

Very beautiful.

[@EllafulDeco]

Thank you!

[@shovanabajracharya]

It's very beautiful. But I thought you'd also attach a chain on it so it can hang on a wall so that it can easily hang jewellery.

[@EllafulDeco]

Thank you! I wasn’t sure how I wanted to hang it at first because it is very heavy. I ended up going with sawtooth hangers and here’s a different video that shows how I attached them: kzbin.info/www/bejne/qoScpKJ6bK6afrcsi=u8p5EGd88pcQl1O-. For this block, I did screw the hardware on as well for extra support.

[@sandrafranklin5904]

I love it!

[@EllafulDeco]

Thank you! I have so many ideas for these organizers😄

[@tammytoth5874]

Absolutely BEAUTIFUL!!!

[@EllafulDeco]

Thank you, Tammy! I had a lot of fun making this 😊

[@TotalBoat]

So so gorgeous!

[@EllafulDeco]

Thank you!💖

[@pamcolechadwell1302]

I love it, Thank you

[@EllafulDeco]

Thank you for watching my videos!💖

[@almamater7860]

Nice

[@EllafulDeco]

Thank you for watching!

[@michelle_resinrebel]

Hi Ella this is so beautiful 😍 love h9w it all came together, great work thanks for sharing ❤ xxx

[@EllafulDeco]

Thank you, Michelle! It’s a lot to make from scratch, but it was totally worth it💖

[@maydatorres2869]

So beautiful ❤❤❤

[@EllafulDeco]

Thank you so much!

[@jenniferd.820]

Thank you for this video! Very educational and informative for both drying flowers and making a mold of something. The piece you made came out amazing! Would you mind sharing where you found the mold housing? And also if possible could you maybe do a video on how you take product photos? Still learning how to take pictures of my pieces, so any help would be greatly appreciated!

[@EllafulDeco]

Thank you for watching and I really appreciate your feedback! I made the mold housing myself with my 3d printer. There are 3d printing services on Etsy if you need custom housings. I am actually planning a photography video for my first Patreon video next month! I will also be posting more small business related things there 😊

[@lascarteria]

Hi from Italy! Congrats for your amazing works and explications I really love your videos! When you pour entire bouquets in big molds how long time must wait between each layer of transparent resin to not see the stratification? I think once you told this but I can’t find it at the moment ..

[@EllafulDeco]

Thank you for watching my videos! Wait time depends on your resin so you will have to experiment a bit. The times I state in my videos are what I find best for the resin I use as well as my work environment. I never had much luck with reducing the layer lines actually. Pouring the next layer when the previous is tacky, but not fully hardened may help with it. Although if I were to look for the layer lines, I will find it.

[@bstanevich]

What do you do about the resin that dripped down the sides? Beautiful piece!

[@EllafulDeco]

Thank you! I try my best to minimize the drips falling down the sides, but if it does happen and doesn't affect the piece's functionality (and not like terrible looking, drips all around and such), I will usually just leave it. In this case, the piece will be hung up, not sitting on the side, and the drip is not very noticeable either. You can always add tape or do the glueing on all the sides and back, but that gets time consuming. Tape has to be very secure or else if resin seeps through, you'll have to sand and clean it up.

[@heidicao9629]

How do you clean the measure cup? Thanks

[@EllafulDeco]

For silicone, I peel the silicone out of the cup once it has cured. For resin, there are certain cups that resin will not bond to. I use the ones with the plastic recycling symbol #5 and it work fine. I just let it cure and remove it from the cup once it has cured as well.

[@ana-ms1uo]

Why do you preserve for 4 weeks? Is it the same preservation time no matter the mold? I’ve heard various drying times and I’m a newbie so want to do it right 😊

[@EllafulDeco]

Flower drying time depends on the flowers, not related to the mold at all. Smaller and thinner flowers like daisies will take less time to dry compared to full roses. I leave flowers in the silica for 4-6 weeks just to make sure the flowers are completely dried since any amount of moisture will cause the flowers to rot in resin.

[@carmenencarnacion2510]

Hi!!! For flower preservation bouquet, which resin of total boat do you recomend?? I have 1:1 ratio total boat,,,, but i dont know if is the right ONE for flower preservarion.

[@EllafulDeco]

Hello! If it's the table top resin, that one is not ideal for flower preservation. I use their Thickset Casting resin (linked in the description) and Thickset Fathom casting resin. Which one specifically depends on how deep I am pouring. The Thickset Casting resin can only be poured up to 1 inch deep while the Fathom can be poured up to 3 inches deep. The table top is best for coating, poured up to 1/8" deep. Any deeper can result in flash curing and/or lots of bubbles being trapped in the layer.

[@carmenencarnacion2510]

@@EllafulDeco thank u!!! im buying the thickset :)🥰

[@carmenencarnacion2510]

@@EllafulDeco ohhh waoo thank u !!!

[@lizdennett9002]

So after sanding you can add more resin and it disappears?

[@EllafulDeco]

Yes, the resin will fill in the scratches from the sanding.

[@lizdennett9002]

@@EllafulDeco thank you

[@thawtar-me9jx]

Can it use hair drier?

[@EllafulDeco]

I don’t think a hair dryer gets as hot as a heat gun. If you decide to use a hair dryer for resin, I don’t suggest using it as a hair dryer again. I got my heat gun for $30 like 2-3 years ago and it’s still working great so I think it’s a good investment.