How To Get Started with Epoxy Resin | For Beginners

Picking up a new hobby for the new year? In today’s tutorial, we're going to go over the unique characteristics of all of our benchmark epoxy products- deep pour, tabletop, and art resin.

Skill Level: Beginner/Intermediate/Expert

Estimated Working Time: N/A

What You’ll Need: 

• Upstart Epoxy Deep Pour Resin 
• Upstart Epoxy Table Top Resin 
• Upstart Epoxy Art Resin
• Upstart Epoxy Powdered Pigments Set 
• Tyvek Tape
• Silicone
• Glue Gun

Deep Pour Epoxy Resin

Let’s start off with deep pour, which is a 2:1 ratio epoxy, meaning that it requires two parts of Part A and one part of Part B. When you're pouring this epoxy, you're going to notice the watery consistency. Due to this, it’s important to make sure that the form you’re using is leak-proof! You can ensure this by using Tyvek tape on the bottom and sides of your form.

Once you put the form together, grab some handy dandy silicone and seal it up! Silicone goes in and clogs up all the seams or cracks that could be in your form. You want to make sure those are sealed up perfectly, because leaks are a waste of both money and material. Whenever you're placing wood into your form, you can use a hot glue gun to attach it.

Table Top Epoxy Resin

Let's move on to table top epoxy now. Generally, this formula is used to coat your finished product- for example, you might do a river table or charcuterie board with deep pour, do some finishing, and then turn to table top. It provides an everlasting coat, and elevates whatever you pour it on. If you want that glossy, sleek, glasslike look, table top is the way to go! It cures a lot faster than deep pour, and many people would consider it easier to use because it has a 1:1 ratio. 

Here’s the thing with the tabletop that you want to remember- always warm it up before using it, especially during the colder months. It’s ideal to warm it up in front of a heater for at least 30-40 minutes. The reason as to why you should do this is because the consistency of table top is a lot thicker and more dense than deep pour, which means it needs some prep before it works properly. 

Art Resin

Last but not least, let’s talk about art resin. Art resin is a simpler form of table top epoxy, and is typically used to make small little trinkets and crafts. It has a 1:1 ratio, you can do multiple pours in one setting, and you can even pour it up to two inches thick (in layers) if you really want to! However, the best thing about using art resin is that you can add some cool shapes or swirls as it cures! This is because it has a working time of 35 minutes, which gives you ample time to manipulate it and get the look you want. Art resin is very forgiving and fun to work with. Keep this guide handy, and you’ll be comfortable using our products in no time!