Is this resin? How to cost effectively recreate?

[Patrick Collins]

So I found this image on the internet
316147
http://www.homejelly.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/Clear-resin-stump-table.jpg

I have seen numerous pieces of art like this with a large amount of plastic/epoxy looking material? Sometime the resin is inside the wood, sometime outside.

However, the cheapest I can find resin is about $25 per gallon, which is really expensive for a piece as large as this one.

What kind of material do you think this is around the stump? Is it resin? How would you go about recreating this piece of art?

Thanks.

Patrick.

[Jamie Buxton]

Yes, it looks like pourable plastic of some sort. Polyester is less expensive than epoxy. I use epoxy for various stuff, and it costs me something like $100 a gallon.

One issue with this stuff may be getting the bubbles out of the plastic. You mix air into the fluid while you're mixing the resin and the catalyst. A vacuum pump helps to suck them out.

[Jerry Miner]

I'm betting it is clear polyester casting resin. Casting a large block like that without getting air bubbles will take some skill and practice. Also a fair amount of polishing and buffing.

If $25.00 a gallon breaks your budget, I think you should try something smaller.

[Dan Hintz]

If $25.00 a gallon breaks your budget, I think you should try something smaller.

This kind of cost is the nature of the beast, really. Since most here would last weeks/months (or more) on a single gallon, I think you have to look at it in terms of how outside the norm you're going with using so much at once.

[Pat Barry]

Acrylic is used for most of those types of things. I suppose you would get the acrylic resin and catalyst mix them up and pour them into a mold. The problem is doing it in away that outgasses the air bubbles so the finished product is as clear as glass.