1 minute
I used 5/4 Poplar Wood 36" long x 11.5" wide.
85 minutes
I carved the design in two stages.
1. I used the 1/16" Down Cut bit and carved out the 3 feeder fish.
2. I used the 1/8" straight flute bit and carved out the Shark
10 minutes
You can either use the wave files or use a jig saw to speed up the process.
If using X-Carve to carve the waves I would go with a 1/8" bit.
Give the Whole piece a light sand job.
35 minutes
I used Tuck Tape and taped the back of the Shark cut out and then clamped the shark board to another solid board.
I mixed the resins.
I used Total Boat Resin and Mica powders for the colored resin.
I pour into the shark roughly 35oz of resin and about 1.5 oz for the 3 Feeder Fish.
It took about 30 hours for the slow curing resin to harden enough to sand smooth.
Side Note Tip: I used a hot glue gun and pour a bead of glue all around the edge of the shark and fish. This will keep the resin from pouring out all over the board. Once resin is harden you can scrape off the glue.
Get many sheets of sand paper and make sure you get different grit’s.
I started with 80 grit and jumped to 120 and 250 grit – to remove the bulk of the resin and clean up the wood.
I later came back and hit the overall piece with 500 and 1200 grit with wet sanding to bring a polish to the resin.
I went with a dark walnut stain to help the blue shark pop off and let the feeder fish blend into the background.
With my background of woodcut printmaking. I added some wood carve styling to bring more contrast and movement to the overall piece.
Optional: you can re stain over the wood and let the carved design be subtle or you can clear coat and leave the natural wood showing through.
Add Sawtooth Hanger to back of art piece and call it a day!