The Zenith project is the cumulative project of our time at Freestyle, where we get to pick a project related to our elective class and spend two months working on it. I thought this was a great opportunity to try something new, and the thing that caught my interest was resin art. I had seen people doing it on Pinterest and thought it was really cool.
Process
I began my process by sketching everything that I wanted to try out with this new medium, taking inspiration from different methods that I researched. Then I began to design each resin project’s layout using the materials I gathered from my yard, craft cabinet, and what figurines I was able to 3D print and paint. The 3D printed miniatures were really fun to do and really expanded what I was able to do with resin, but they did tend to float in the resin, so I had to be creative in how I would weigh them down or hold them in place.
The whole process required a lot of planning, so that I would be prepared once I mixed the resin. Epoxy resin comes in two parts—the resin and the hardener—which you mix together in a 1:1 ratio. Once mixed, you have about 45 minutes of time to work with the resin before it starts to harden. It then takes 24-72 hours to fully cure. It’s not a project you can pause in the middle. I would figure out what my project would look like before I started, and collect all the materials I would need so that once I put on my gloves and mixed the resin, I had everything on hand. Sometimes I would still have to have my mom bring me something that I forgot.
Reflection
During this project, I feel like I really got to explore my creativity and take risks. I usually like to be able to erase or redo my art while I’m working on it, but for this medium, once it’s mixed or hardened, you can’t do anything about it. I had to learn to enjoy the process and let myself explore and try new things, even if I wasn’t sure it was going to work. It definitely helped when I would plan ahead of time instead of just winging it, which was another learned skill. I also gained a lot of experience with this type of 3D, tactile art project, which I found very fun.
It was really fun to be able to create my own project for Zenith, and I got to explore something new and learn a lot of new skills along the way. This was a really fun and rewarding project, and I would definitely love to do more resin art in the future. I honestly wouldn’t want to have done it any differently, because I think the mistakes that I made really helped me to learn the techniques that ended up being the most successful. I definitely learned a lot about trying new approaches when one doesn’t work, which has helped me learn resilience and resourcefulness. I have learned a lot about planning and committing to a project, which has helped me because I’m often indecisive when it comes to my art projects. Overall, it was a very freeing experience to create my own Zenith project, and also a great learning experience for me.
Final Zenith Products!
