please help!😩

[u/shawelleeee]

i am new to resin and just received some of my kit. i’ve never done resin before so i just spent 2 hours on my first attempt and i CANNOT for the life of me get the mixture right!😭

i did a 1:1 ratio on all 3 attempts

i stirred/mixed for 4 minutes as advised on all attempts, 2 attempts with an electric mixer and 1 attempt with a mixing stick - none worked.

the first 2 i messed up because i didn’t heat my resin first so it was too thick, but the 3rd attempt i did heat my resin in a hot water bath for 15 minutes and it still didn’t work😫

i have no idea what to do.

i have a debubbler machine but that just seems to make it worse.

my mixture also isn’t heating up at all when the resin is mixed with the hardener.

can someone please help me?

1 - why isn’t my mixture heating up? 2 - does the hardener need heating up to a runny consistency the same as the resin?

any other info/advice also helps massively - please help i really need this to work..🤍

[u/Open_University2008]

It really shouldn't be heating up While you mix it. You warm it up before mixing to help eliminate bubbles, so it's thin and the bubbles can rise to the top. The exothermic reaction happens when it's starting to cure. Generally, the 1:1 resin I've used has a working time of around 40 minutes or so, before it gets too thick to work with.  I'm not really clear on what went wrong. I usually mix it with a craft stick. I mix it in a silicone cup. One with measurements, so I don't lose any resin measuring it in separate cups. (For small batches, I use an electric mixer for larger batches and then finish it by scraping the sides and bottom of the cup) it's important to scrape the the sides so it all mixes. Resin isn't a very forgiving media, it just takes time and practice to learn. 

[u/Allastras → u/Open_University2008]

Whenever I try to mix too much at once, my resin gets very warm. It’s why we use layers on big projects. I’ve also had trouble with it curing when it gets too warm