11/13/2025
Full transparency: I don’t post very often — for a lot of reasons.
Here are a few of them:
Time management: I haven’t built social media into my schedule yet (maybe someday!).
Imposter syndrome and fear of rejection: I pour my heart into every single piece — literally and figuratively. Art isn’t meant to be perfect, but social media has a way of making you feel like it has to be. For me, it sometimes amplifies that voice that says, “you’re not good enough.”
That said, I want to be real and share something that honestly makes me cringe a little — but maybe you’ll relate.
This particular piece… everything that could go wrong, did.
When I first mixed the resin, something just felt off. The consistency wasn’t right, so I trusted my gut, poured it out, and wiped the mold clean. I double-checked everything — humidity, room temperature, resin temperature, mix ratio, even the level on the bottle to make sure it was even. Everything was perfect on paper. But sure enough, that resin I poured out ended up flash curing.
I was so relieved I hadn’t used it in the piece.
The next day, I tried again — the mix felt better, everything looked right — and guess what? Flash cure again. My heart sank.
For those who don’t know, flash curing happens when the resin overheats and hardens too quickly. It speeds up the ambering process and can cause the corners to bevel.
So I reached out to Alyssa to let her know what was happening. We only had one dahlia from the hospice garden, so our options were limited. I offered to wait until the dahlias bloomed again to redo it, or to add a darker background to help disguise the ambering. Luckily, Alyssa loves the vintage look, so she didn’t mind it aging a little faster.
I removed the piece from the mold, sanded down the sides, rebuilt the edges, and did another pour to protect the dahlia. We even made a plan in case she ever changes her mind — because at the end of the day, all I care about is making sure you have a piece you truly love.
That entire batch of resin went straight into the trash. Moral of the story: I’m not perfect. This is art- with a chemical twist- and things don’t always go according to plan. *Continued in comments*
