We've all seen it: the beautiful, glossy-looking wood furniture, translucent charcuterie boards, and tables that are popular in restaurants and bars. The way this look is achieved is through the use of resin.
Resin is a natural substance that's been used for thousands of years to make things like furniture, jewelry, and pottery. More recently, artists use epoxy resin to make long-lasting pieces of art and food-safe serveware like charcuterie boards.
But what exactly is epoxy resin? How does it work? And how do you use it? Let's find out.
What is Resin?
Resin is a natural substance found in plants—it's basically their way of protecting themselves from disease and insects. When resin dries out, it becomes solid and hardens into something called amber (which is actually just fossilized tree sap). Resin has been around for a long time—it was used in Ancient Greece for oral hygiene as well as made into creams to treat wounds.
It's still an important part of many industries, and is even included in some perfumes as a fragrance compound.
What is Epoxy Resin?
Epoxy resin is a material that mimics the look of tree-based resin and can be poured and molded into nearly any shape. It's created by mixing two different chemicals: an epoxy resin and an accelerator. The accelerator speeds up the curing process, which allows you to work with the material in a shorter amount of time.
Once mixed together, epoxy resin becomes very hard and durable; you can use it to make anything from jewelry to furniture to charcuterie boards.
Is Epoxy Resin Food Safe?
When cured properly, our epoxy resins are considered safe for use in food-safe containers and serveware. Some epoxies may contain ingredients that can be harmful if ingested or inhaled (such as styrene monomer), these are typically not present in food-safe products like ours.
How is Epoxy Resin Poured?
Pouring epoxy resin can be tricky, because it's very sticky in its liquid form and tends to stick to everything!
To pour epoxy resin into our charcuterie boards, we mix equal parts of epoxy resin and its curing agent into a container and then pour this mixture into another clean container before adding it to the wood—this ensures that it cures properly, and that no air bubbles get trapped in our final products. Oh, yes! And we can’t forget the mica that gives the resin in our charcuterie boards a unique color.
Then, we let the resin cure completely so that it’s food safe.
What Does Resin Look Like?
Resin looks like a clear liquid when it's first poured into a mold and allowed to cool into its final shape—and then it hardens into a clear material. Adding micas to the resin allows it to take on any color or level of opacity, from completely clear to solid black.
Buy a Resin and Wood Charcuterie Board
| Clear and Smoky Small Resin Board | Blue River Long Resin Board |
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| Check it out | Check it out |