Sigh. Frustrating morning. I did two resin pours yesterday (about $40 worth of resin), and they didn’t cure.
I think what happened is that the new mixer I bought didn’t mix it effectively — I’ve only used handheld ones before, and I think with this style, you need to pause and scrape the sides periodically (just the way you would if you were mixing a cake batter). I should have known better; I think I’m still a little under the weather and not thinking clearly. Gah.
I got the new mixer because I’m pretty sure the handheld one I was using previously required holding down a button with your thumb. I think that’s my fault too — that’s not typical for handheld resin mixers, but I think this one was meant more for frothing milk, so you’d just hold the button down for a few seconds. For resin, you mix it for 3-4 minutes typically.
I did three pours the day before I woke up with wrist pain, and I wouldn’t have thought that 12 minutes of thumb use would cause tendonitis, but I’m pretty sure that’s what happened. (It’s called de Quervain’s tenosynovitis (or de Quervain’s tendonitis, syndrome, or disease)). It may resolve on its own, but if it doesn’t, it may require shots or even surgery. GAH.
Consequences of the poor mixing yesterday:
• out $40 of resin, sigh
• messy, annoying, time-consuming job cleaning out all the uncured resin — you need to get it out completely to repair the piece; thankfully, Kevin said he’d help me, because he is a prince
• losing most of the botanicals — I’ve got four pieces affected, and will likely lose most of my remaining red roses, the last of Ann’s wedding flowers (she has her piece, so it’s not a big deal, but I liked working with the remainder, sigh). I’m probably going to just clean out the rose table, the wine stoppers, and the little house.
I’d really like to salvage the peony table — the peonies were covered in the previous pours, so they should be fine. But the leaves are the last I had dried; I’m going to go out and see if I have any more to salvage, but I know at least one bush in my garden the leaves are already mildewing (as peony leaves tend to do). It’s not a huge deal if it I can’t salvage more; I’ll back the peonies with gold leaf instead, but I do like the effect with the leaves. Well, we’ll see.
And my wrist is starting to hurt, so time to rest it — apparently I can only type this much at a time. GAH GAH GAH.
This is mostly a complaining post, but hopefully my mistakes will save somebody else.
(NOTE: The finished peony table is sold, the rose table is available, but I have one friend who may want it; it would require shipping, so I’m going to have to research shipping cost.)
Pics:
1 and 2: Underside of new peony table that hasn’t set.
3: Previously finished rose and peony tables.
4: New mixer.
5: Underside of new rose table.
6: Wine stoppers
7: House
