Epoxy Tumbler for Mrs.Libera

Etsy - everymandan.etsy.com

In this video i made an epoxy cup using a 30oz. stainless steel tumbler, glitter, spray paint, Mod Podge, vinyl, clear cpoxy, and my Cricut. i put links to all the materials i used below. 

This project will take 2 days because after each application of epoxy you need to let it sit for a good 12 hours before you can work on it again. 

I started with a blue Zak 30oz. tumbler i got from target. i wanted a white one but i wasn't able to find one anywhere without having to order it. I got the lightest color they had and took it home and just used some spray paint i had laying around to paint it white. 

Once i had the cup fully covered i applied the mod podge and glitter. ( don't be afraid to us the glitter, just dump it on) when you have the cup covered with glitter to the way you want you will need to spray a clear top coat on the cup. i had seen where a lot of people used triple thick clear coat but from what i can tell just any clear coat will work. This will prevent the glitter from floating around or coming off in the epoxy when we are spreading it on the cup. Before you start the epoxy step put on electrical tape anywhere you do not want epoxy to cover. I only put tape around the top edge. 

The epoxy is mixed at a 1:1 ratio, you will pour equal amounts of each into a cup and mix it together. I measured out on a scale 1 fl.oz.of each part.  At first the mixture will be cloudy and swirly keep mixing it making sure to scoop all around the edges and bottom to get every bit mixed. When the mixture turns clear it is ready to go. you can try and work out some bubbles at this time or take your chances on the cup. using a heat gun on the cup to get bubbles out works well but i do not have a heat gun so i took my time with it. 

spread the epoxy on liberally, you will not add too much. make sure and use everything you mixed up, any extra will drip off ( this is ok ) keep turning it for an hour and a half continuously. After about 1.5 hours you can take your tape off the cup ( you do not want to wait until it is dry , it could mess up your clean edge. ) keep turning for a few more hours , this Doesn't have to be non stop but keep an eye on it and use your judgement. I keep turning non stop for at least 3 hours ( just kind of zone out watching a show while doing it ) In the video i showed how i got tired of turning it and made myself my own cup turner . The popular thing to do is to make them out of rotisserie motors but i didn't have one laying around and Katie gave me the idea to use our kitchen aid. ( This requires running the kitchen aid for long amounts of time) i found a piece of wood and whittled  it down to fit in the mixer and the end of my pvc pipe. worked perfectly, just a little loud. 

after the first layer i sand the whole things down until there is no glossy left. i stick on my decals and repeat the epoxy step( i only used about 3/4 the amount of epoxy ) and after it dried you are finished!

Turned Epoxy Cup

The school year is fast approaching and with 3 of us going back to school in the fall it has been busy around our house. I have been experimenting and researching a few projects for the blog and YouTube but have not gotten around to filming or editing much. But I have a lot in the works. 

Here are a few things i am currently working on and when they should be ready. 

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The Winner of the contest Cup!

 Finished with the project and has been filmed ( it went....not as planned ). I will explain what i was trying to do and what happened. It is in editing and should be out soon. 

Turned Epoxy Cups 

I got together with Jenn ( my sister ) and Adam ( her husband ) and we tried making some different kinds of cups with clear casting resin ( epoxy ). It was a learning process but it all went pretty smoothly. I made some cup turning platforms and we finished all three of our cups. I will make a post going into some of the details of those three cups and a video of me making one for Katie ( Some pictures of me and Adams cups below [I have not taken a picture of Jenns finished cup yet]).

Gunpowder Signs

This is a fun one an d worked much better than i thought it would. I have already tested it out and gotten it down i just need to film me doing one!

Kids Corner

Me and Lillian are thinking of our next craft for us to do after we got such an overwhelming response to our last video.  Lillian- " I'm YouTube famous " . We are currently narrowing down our options of what crafts. 

Maple and Walnut Box - special dovetail corners. 

I am going to make another box similar to my last one but a different size and i am going to try and do some special corners using dovetails on it. 

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I would like to have all of these done in the next couple weeks and hopefully posted. As the school year approaches it is going to be harder to do these but we will see how it works out. 

Kids Corner

Me and Lillian got to film our first Kids Corner video and she was so excited and happy to see herself on YouTube. She was a real trooper through the whole process, even more so than me most of the time. When i would start to get frustrated or made us take the same clip over and over again she was always calm and saying things like " maybe we should just take a little break and try again" . We are so lucky to have such an amazingly innocent, loving, kind, caring daughter. 

We both thought this video came out perfect. Looking at all the clips it was hard to see the end but we kept editing and it all came together really well. She was very focused when working as you can see in her face, she always tries to do her very best ( and she doesn't want to get hurt by the prickles ). The music, the voice over by Lillian and the overall finished product just couldn't have turned out better.  I can't express how great Kiddo was and we are looking for our next craft.

I hope you enjoy this video as much as we do. Subscribe to my YouTube give the video a 👍  and come back to the Blog for more projects I do and for more Kids Corner videos.

GIVE AWAY WINNER!!!

We have a winner! 

Congratulations! 

I will be getting in contact with you soon and we will come up with what you want on the cup. 

remember it will be etching and i will most likely be videoing it to put on YouTube and the blog

also soon ill be making a post where Lillian does her first Kids Corner video!

Walnut keepsake box.

Hi everyone! It has been a while since my last woodworking project at home and I was very happy with how it all turned out.

For Christmas Katie's dad went to a blacksmith's shop and helped to forge two blades to make into knives. I do not know if any of you watch the show "Forged in Fire" on the History channel, but its one of my favorites, and hearing about how he hammered and shaped the metal was pretty neat. The Smith made handles and a leather sheath for the knife and they were then given to me and my sister-in-laws husband for Christmas. It came a small card with instructions on how to care for the knife. One of instructions stood out to me from the rest " do not store the knife in the sheath " this struck me as odd . I'm not supposed to keep it in the sheath? So what do I do with it?! I tried to follow the instructions as best I could. With 2 kids and nowhere to put it that I might not accidentally cut myself, I had to come up with a solution to safely store it while not putting it in the sheath. 

I looked around online at different knife storage ideas and decided that I wanted to make a box for it. Boxes are small projects in size but you can get really detailed with your design and have fun trying different techniques. I've had a piece of Walnut in the garage for a while and this would be the perfect project to use it on.  I also wanted a contrasting wood for a few accent pieces so I grabbed a scrap piece of beautiful Ambrosia Maple I had laying around . Maple goes really well with Walnut and the ambrosia in this piece was so pretty I decided to use it for my lid also.

• On a side note. The "ambrosia" in the wood is made from the ambrosia beetle.  It digs into the tree and a fungus on its legs discolors the wood. When the wood is cut it reveals the ambrosia pattern. Each "stripe will have a small hole where the beetle traveled through the tree. 

I did not have my camera with me when i was making this box but i took a few pictures on my phone. A lot of the things I did between these pictures are mentioned in the captions. If you want to know about anything I did that might not be shown just message me or comment below.

- In this photo you can see that i have cut all my pieces to size already. i have mitered all the ends and cut a groove for my bottom piece and for my lid to slide into. I recently made myself a table saw sled and was eager to use it. The majority of my cuts were on the table saw and the sled made a HUGE difference. The pieces are ready for the glue up. ( see if you can spot where i made a mistake )

- After i fixed my mistake i got all the sides together, everything clamped, and let it sit overnight. 

- In the morning i took off all the clamps and tape and i had a box! but no way to get inside yet...

- If you read the part about the beetle, this is one of its holes. See how it is in the middle of the "stripe", an easy way to fill these holes is with a little super glue and sand it smooth. 

- I decided i wanted to put a little more detail into this box, the sides were looking a little boring to me. I made a jig to slide on the table saw to cut the slots in each corner. I then took a piece of the Maple and made the splines to fit in those slots. Once i had them all fitting snug i glued them in, cut them, and sanded them smooth. 

- Using the table saw i cut the box in two pieces ( the lid and the bottom ). I then got to use my chisel to notch out where the hinges will be. 

- i used 2 coats of Danish Oil on the whole box, this really brings out the beautiful color of the walnut and protects the wood. 

- I used a piece of i found that had been used for packaging and cut out the outline of the knife and sheath i had gotten at Christmas. Now i can store my knife out of the sheath