Resin Colorants

There are different kinds of materials you can use to add color to Resin. Each of them has its advantages and disadvantages.
Resin by itself will mostly be clear. You can use this to coat surfaces or your paintings. When you add colors you can use it for casting or creating resin art.

These are the different kinds of colorants that i have personally used

1. Acrylic
One of the most popular and cheapest way to color your resin is Acrylic paints. Make sure that the acrylic you use does not contain any water. Acrylic will give an opaque and matte finish to your resin piece. If you want the final piece to be glossy you will have to put another coat of resin over the finished product.
I have also observed that acrylic does not work with some brands of Resin. It just sinks to the bottom. So always test a small batch to see if it mixes properly with the Resin. 

2. Alcohol inks
Alcohol ink will mix well with resin and will give the resin piece a transparent look.One thing we have to remember while using Alcohol inks is that it is flammable. So once you put the alcohol inks into the resin you cannot use any type of flammable items like lighter or heat gun on it.

3. Resin pigment
These are special colorants made for Resin. They can be either transparent or opaque.

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Removing bubbles from Resin

When you mix the Resin and Hardener you will get air bubbles. You need to eliminate these air bubbles or atleast minimize the amount or else once the resin has cured they will be visible or might create dents on the surface.

These are the ways i use to try and eliminate bubbles

1. Stir gently
The first way is to mix the clear and hardener gently. You need to make sure both have incorporated well together but mix gently and slowly for about a minute.

2. Use a flame lighter
This is one of the most affordable and common method to get rid of bubbles. After mixing use a flame lighter on the surface. All surface bubbles will pop.

3. Work in a warm room
Sometimes the temperature also affects the mixture. Here in India i do not have that issue. You can maybe run the heater for a while in the room if its too cold and make an ambient temperature for casting

4. Warm the resin and hardener before casting
Sometimes i use this method for my 1:1 resin since it is very viscous. I place both the resin and hardener bottle in warm water. Make sure the water is just warm and not boiling and do not keep the bottles for too long, just until you feel the liquid inside is moving more freely. Once the liquids are more fluid you will be able to mix it more easily thus giving you less bubbles.

5. Heat gun
This works similar to a flame lighter but with more heat and intensity. Use it over the resin surface for about 30 seconds. Using it for too long will affect the curing process.

These are some of the methods that i use. Apart from this there is another one. Putting the resin mix in a pressure pot. This is usually used for large castings. When you put the mix inside the pressure pot it creates pressure which makes the bubbles smaller and thus gets rid of them.

How to mix the Resin

Different brands of Resin have different ratio of clear and hardener mixing. The amount is mentioned in the label of the bottle. 
I have used three different brands of Resin and have observed the following
A resin that cures very fast like within an hour has a very short working time as opposed to one that takes 24hrs to cure. A fast curing resin will be more viscous and a slow curing one will be very fluid in the beginning.
Temperature also affects the curing process. If the room is very cold it would be a good idea to dip the clear and the hardener bottle in some warm water with the bottle cap closed to make it more fluid. 

Use a weighing scale to measure the amount of Clear and Resin. Once you pour both the liquid in a paper cup use a popsicle stick to mix it well. Mix slowly and gently to avoid getting a lot of air bubbles. The slow curing resins usually are easy to mix and give less bubbles.
To remove bubbles use a flame lighter or a heat gun and go over the surface where you have poured the resin for about 5-6 seconds. Do not use it for long as it will affect the curing process.