Save keeps your ticked steps. We email you a link, no password.
Steps written out by Crafting Step by Step from sheri vegas' video (opens YouTube) (8:13). Published .
A resin ocean wave painting captures the moment a wave rolls up on the sand: deep teal water, a lacy white foam line and bare wood for the beach. Sheri Vegas pours two wood rounds side by side, one with cheap resin and the wrong white, and one done right, so you can see exactly what makes the lacing happen. This tutorial follows the method that works.
Lacing and cells are tiny breaks in the white where the colors below push through. Some resins make them easily and some barely make them at all. Sheri found a bargain resin gave her almost no lacing, while a quality art resin formed cells in the colors before she even touched it. Pick a resin sold for art and coating, not deep pours, and you are halfway there.
Use a heavy titanium white pigment made for resin. Its weight is what lets it stretch and break into lace. A thin alcohol ink white only tints the water a pale teal. Pour the line thin. A thick white line will not stretch across the colors, it only slumps.
Resin keeps moving for 30 to 40 minutes after mixing. If you blow the white out in the first few minutes, the cells look great and then flow away. Wait until you are 15 to 20 minutes in, when the resin has thickened a little. Then pass across once. Going back over it stretches the lace into a flat white wash.
The same pour works on coasters, serving trays, cheese boards and wall art. Leave a strip of natural wood as the beach, or tint some resin sandy beige for a fuller beach. A matching pair of boards makes a lovely housewarming gift.
New to resin? Start with how to mix epoxy resin and how to add color to resin. Get rid of bubbles with this guide, rescue a tacky piece with how to fix sticky resin, or paint the same scene in acrylic with how to paint ocean waves.
Free printable
One page you can take to the table. Free with a free account, no password.
Free, for this project
Pour a resin ocean on wood and blow out lacy white waves with a heat gun. A medium project: about 1 hour 15 minutes, plus 48 hours to dry or set. Materials cost about $25 to $50. You need 10 things, including art epoxy resin, teal and blue resin pigments and titanium white resin pigment. The 9 steps start with pour the Blue Resin Ocean Onto the Wood Round and spread the Resin Colors Into an Ocean Gradient.
9 steps, about 8 minutes. Tap a picture to jump to that step. Your progress saves automatically.
Tick each step off as you go.
Mix your resin and split it into cups. Tint each one a different shade of teal and blue, from deep to light. Drizzle the colors in lines across the lower part of a round wood board, darkest at the edge and lighter toward where the beach will be. Leave the top of the board bare. That wood becomes the sand.
Prop the board on cups so drips can run off the edges.
Use a craft stick to push the colors together and spread them up to a wavy shoreline. Blend the edges where the shades meet so the water fades from deep to shallow. Do not over mix. A few streaks of each color look like real water. Keep the shoreline a soft, natural curve rather than a straight line.
A gloved finger is handy for pushing resin right to the board edge.
Pour a line of clear, untinted resin right along the edge where the colors stop. This is the step most people skip. The clear line keeps the blues from bleeding into your white, so the foam stays crisp. It also gives the white a slick surface to glide over when you blow it out later.
A thin, even line is enough. You are making a barrier, not a puddle.
Mix titanium white pigment into a small cup of resin. Drizzle a thin line of it on top of the clear barrier, following the shoreline. Never pour the white straight onto the colored resin, or the blue tints it teal. Keep the line thin too. A thick white line will not stretch into lace.
Titanium white is heavy, and the weight is what makes the lace.
Give the resin 15 to 20 minutes after mixing. Resin keeps flowing for 30 to 40 minutes, so if you blow the white out too early, your cells stretch and fade as the resin moves. While you wait, a good art resin may start forming small cells and lacing in the colors on its own. That is a great sign.
Set a timer the moment you finish mixing so you know where you are.
Hold the heat gun a few inches above the white line and sweep it slowly across the whole shoreline in one pass. The air pushes the white down over the blue and the heat thins it, so it stretches and breaks into lace. Go across once only. It is tempting to go back, but a second pass washes the lace out.
A hair dryer on low works too, without the heat.
Step back and look. You should see a bright foam line with fine lacy cells trailing behind it into the teal water. That is your first wave. Leave it alone now, even if one spot looks a little thin. Poking at it smears the cells. Let the board sit level until the resin is firm.
Cover the piece with a box to keep dust off while it cures.
Once the first wave has set, you can add another out in deeper water. Pour a new thin line of clear resin where you want the second wave, then drizzle titanium white on top of it. Working in layers keeps each wave sharp. Pour several waves at once and the heat gun blurs them together.
Space the waves unevenly. Real surf never lines up neatly.
Wait a few minutes, warm the white with a little heat, then sweep the heat gun across the new line once. A fresh band of lacy foam rolls toward the shore and layers over the first wave. Keep each pass small and controlled. Then leave the board level to cure fully, usually 24 to 72 hours.
Less is more. Overworking a wave is the fastest way to lose its lace.
Keep going
How to Make a Resin Trinket Dish
10 steps · about 8 minutes
More on this topic, picked for this resin ocean wave painting.
You reached the last step
Your ticked steps, the free printable and your other saved makes, together in My Projects. Free, no password.
Free printable
The bonus is hidden until you sign up.
Free with a free account, no password. Every step above stays open to everyone.
How to Make a Resin Ocean Wave Painting
LET'S RESIN
LET'S RESIN UV Resin, Crystal Clear (500g)
Low-odor, low-shrink UV resin that cures hard and stays yellow-resistant. Sunlight or a lamp sets it in minutes, so no mixing or 24-hour waits.
LET'S RESIN
LET'S RESIN Coaster & Keychain Molds (18 pc)
Flexible silicone in the shapes beginners actually make, and they pop out clean and reuse for years. The mold set to start casting with.
LET'S RESIN
LET'S RESIN 36W Two-Sided UV Lamp
Cures faster and more evenly than sunlight, with timer presets so pieces do not over- or under-set. What turns UV resin from fiddly to reliable.
As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases. Links on this page may be affiliate links - clicking them and buying doesn't change your price, but helps support Crafting Step by Step.
The Crafter's Weekly
One short email with the week's best step-by-step guides. Free, no spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Did this work for you?
Curated theme pages that include this tutorial.
Hand-picked next reads based on the one you just finished.
Resin Art
8:10 video · 10 steps
Based on a video by Summer Girl Designs
Pick the crafts you want to hear about. One email every Sunday with new step-by-step tutorials. No spam, easy to unsubscribe.
Weekly digest. Pick the categories you want. Unsubscribe anytime.
Send me tutorials about
