The scumblings of an obsessive artist: Resin Dollhouse Geode table, working in miniature with resin and Polymer Clay.

Making Miniature Resin Geode Tables

Ok I'll be honest, I absolutely love miniatures. To sit down all day and make everything in mini would be freaking awesome!! I was feeling sorry for myself the other week, resin allergy, no one interested in my art, when something popped into my head and filled me with excitement. Miniature resin Geode table for a dollhouse. OMG yes. I had to do it.

Polymer Clay popped into my mind for the base of the table, and that moment I went searching in the garage for all of my clay tools. With Mr 4 by my side we began playing with scrap clay. My scrap clay is a mixture of all the brands, Kato, Sculpey and Fimo.

Here are my four basic geode shapes. I just rolled some clay out, and cut out random shapes. They went into my mini oven for an hour and then they were ready to play with!!

I made up a very small amount of resin. The great thing about miniatures is, it uses less of everything! I placed the bases on upturned cups and began my experiment. A very small amount goes a long way, so I did have trouble getting the distinct lines I can get on my large geodes.

Obviously glitter played an important part, shiny pretty glitter. What could take the place of the rocks, glass and gems that I use on the large geodes?
Beads of course. I have a plethora of beads, finally time to use them!! I mainly used microbeads, which are teeny tiny, obviously.

I also used some glitter gravel that I bought from a cheap shop. It actually looks nice in geodes.

After the first resin layer was dry, I added another, this one I put in more glitter and tried to define the colours a little more. It basically took a lot of patience and a steady hand, moving the resin where I wanted it to go, then using the heat gun sparingly to blend the colours. I also added some gold leaf on the third layer.

After the fourth or fifth layer was completely dry I brought out the posca pens and drew some more defined lines around the geodes. This made them start to look like something worthwhile. I was a little worried to begin with. (Apologies for the dog barking in the video).

I wrapped the edges of the mini geodes with painters tape, leaving about a 3mm edge above the geode. I did this so when I poured the next couple of layers of clear resin they would build up and completely cover all the beads and make the table flat. It worked!!

To remove the resin that had dripped onto the bottom of the geodes I used the heat gun and a small chisel to carefully get them off. The resin actually came off quite easily, which was awesome. Time for the edges of the geodes. I used Mont Marte Leafing Size glue, and gold leaf and prettied those edges up. I was actually really surprised at how easy the glue made putting the gold leaf on. That one is a definite win, and I will use it again.

Mont Marte Leafing Size link.

The saga of sanding and using my dremel to cut some wood for the legs, ugh, wood and cutting just not my favourite thing. I am actually in love with the way they turned out, I love the thickness, and I can see all the layers of resin and glitter and beads that lovingly did. Let's not forget the swollen eye from my allergy to resin, the rash that spread like chicken pox, and the misery I was in from the pills and the itching. To sum it up, it was worth it. I will do it again, and again and again.

GLAM SHOTS!!

I'm happy with the experiment. My doll house, everyone's dollhouse deserves some glam geode tables I think. I absolutely love them :)

I have also made some experimental resin tiles for a dollhouse. I have embedded microbeads in some tiles, glitter in others and of course I have made a glow in the dark sample. All different styles and colours. I will be doing a project with them in it sometime in September. I will post my progress of that too.