Camille Young

These little, orange, beady-eyed critters are only 1″ tall. They are each signed and numbered and available for a limited time through Fangamer.net. 

I wanted the Boranges to have a shiny, candy-like finish. After I painted the eyes and signed them, they were coated in clear resin. I haven’t tried this before, but I’m happy with how smooth and glass-like they are and how protected the paint is. Glazing them seems simple enough, but I had my share of scraping and re-applying.

To apply the clear resin, I wore a fresh pair of vinyl gloves, dipped my fingers into a cup of resin, and smeared a thin layer onto the surface. Dipping the Boranges would have used too much and caused puddles around the feet. Parchment paper (used for baking) was the perfect non-stick surface to set the newly coated Boranges. The resin lifted right off after it was fully cured. I did this outside and there were a couple windy days, but fortunately, I could slice off the dust particles with an x-acto and re-glaze them. 

The resin I use has a 7 minute pot life, so I had to work fast. I found that pouring it out onto a paper plate where it could spread out lengthened the pot life a little.  I knew it was time to stop when the resin got hot. I only needed to mix up a very small amount for glazing, and unfortunately, my measuring methods aren’t as accurate as they could be. Some of my attempts came out cloudy, bubbly, or soft, so I chipped away at them and re-glazed until they were right. I also needed to touch up the glaze if I applied it too early or late in the resin’s curing process. Too thin and some bare spots formed when the resin ran down too quickly. Too thick and the surface didn’t come out smooth. Frustrating as this was, I found it to be very forgiving. Drips could be sanded away and a fresh glazing covered it right up.

I’ll definitely use what I’ve learned here in my future projects. No amount of varnish or clear spray could protect the paint or smooth out the surface as well as a shiny coat of resin.