Are you struggling with creating that amazing shine that everyone else seems to be able to achieve! Its exhausting! (I've always just found an easier option.) I've watched countless You Tube videos, read many articles - done lots of research and so spent many weeks creating a 3D painted table with many layers and patience and I was NOT going to give up this time! I invested in a VonHaus Polisher- This would be all that I needed right?! Oh no!.... I started by levelling off the table and as expected this left the resin very rough. I used 250 grit on my detail palm sander, upped it to 400 grit, then 800, then decided to work through the sponges on the polisher. I used Auto-Glym super resin polish, Buffed it and……. VERY Frosted!! Ummm…! So I decided to go back to 250 grit, 400, 800, 1000, 1500, 2000, 3000 wet and dry, Auto-Glym glass polish, Auto-Glym Fast glass specially for acrylic surfaces, glass cutting compound, Buffed and…….FROSTED! AAGGGH! Its exhausting! How do they manage to make it look soooo simple on the videos? If I poured water on it, it was perfect but I couldn’t leave it like that! I was tempted to cheat and Lacquer it but the customer wanted the wood oiled and natural so resisted! Fed up I called the man at Glasscast. He was very calm and explained that if I went through all the grits carefully I could achieve it. He said the frosting is just light reflecting off the scratches. I think I even said 'but its as smooth as a baby's arse!'. He also said I should use a good quality glass cutting compound. Hadn't I already tried that??. Deep breath, nearly in tears and I tried again. 1000 grit using the Auto-Glym fast glass, I borrowed an orbital sander and made sure it was on slow, kept it moving to avoid over-heating the resin, kept my discs clean, and regularly wiped down. Moved up to 1500 grit and repeated the process on 2000 & 3000! I could see the clarity coming through! Buffed it and thought I'd done it but not quite. So close but still not there! I ordered the Glasscast fast cutting compound with the orange sponge for my polisher and just in case I also got the ultra fine compound to finish off. Super speedy service and they arrived this morning. Very excited I went down to my studio and couldn’t wait to get started. You don’t need much product and literally within a couple of minutes I could see the shine starting. Wiped down and put the ultra fine compound on and used the buffer on my polisher and finished with a soft cloth. I couldn’t believe the shine however I had missed a few of the edges so did the two compounds again, oiled the sweet chestnut - and I love it! Finally the shine I've been striving for xx
Please feel free to reach out if you need a boost and keep going you can do it!!
I'll be posting a process video of how I made this table shortly so please check back in for more updates. Happy Arting xx
