Blooming Lotus

[Mobius]

I love doing epoxy inlays. Sure, it may be a fad right now, but they can still look pretty sweet.

[highpockets]

Beautiful work! I too like using epoxy in my projects.

Thanks for sharing.....

[jimandi5000]

Very nice.

[Beltramidave]

Very neat! Where are you getting your pigment?

[scottp55]

Simple AND Elegant Connor!!
You've got the "Touch"
scott

[Creation in Wood]

Very nice project

[mfirlott]

That just pops out. Very eye-catching.

[RebeccaJ]

I think this looks lovely! Thank you for sharing this! Would you care to share the process? I would love to try something like this

Thank you,
Beki

[Mobius]

I think this looks lovely! Thank you for sharing this! Would you care to share the process? I would love to try something like this

Thank you,
Beki

I can do that for sure, it isn't difficult by any means.

For this project I first V-carved a piece of maple, hollowing out some pockets for the lotus leaves. I then sprayed some fast drying acrylic clear coat inside the pockets, to create a barrier so the coloured epoxy doesn't bleed into the wood.

Next I picked some relatively fast curing epoxy (~10 min pot time), and mixed it with some coloured metallic pigments from BlackDiamondPigments.com. Don't overdo it with the pigment, you only need a tiny amount to colour a large amount of epoxy.

I poured the epoxy into the flower cavities, and then waited until the epoxy was starting to harden but still viscous enough to self level. At this point you can move the epoxy around with a stir stick to disturb the pigment and create different effects. This takes some practice and timing. Too early and the pigment may settle to the bottom, too late and the epoxy won't self level and you will have to start over.

Next run a torch or heat gun over the still-curing epoxy to break the surface tension and help any bubbles rise to the surface and pop.

Once the epoxy is fully cured, I surfaced the piece with my CNC to remove any excess. I also pre-sanded the epoxy area to 320 grit.

To add a little depth, I also pocketed the area around the lotus down 1/16th, before V-carving the lettering at the bottom. The lettering was then painted with some metallic black paint.

Final sanding, a little coconut oil, and done. Total time (not including waiting for the epoxy to cure) was a little less than an hour to make two these.

I have a couple in-progress CNC clips on my Instagram as well @distinctiveconceptsltd

[RebeccaJ]

Thank you for this! This is really useful, I will definitely be trying this in the new year
Yes!

I have a couple in-progress CNC clips on my Instagram as well @distinctiveconceptsltd

I spotted you this morning! I'm starting to notice more forum users over on Instagram
Thank you again for all of this useful information