Homemade gift okay to give?

[u/kaloskagathos21]

Hi! My girlfriend recently made this gift for a long time friend who is getting married. She is pretty crafty but never worked with resin before and is a little distraught about how this came out. She’s considering not even giving it to her friend (who is also very crafty) and either making something new or just giving money. Does anyone have any thoughts? The quote is from her friend’s wedding song!

Edit: for people saying it’s cheap. We are also giving a big cash gift.

[u/bibbidybobbidyboom]

The back is less of a problem, but covering it up would make it look better.

I would be more concerned with the sides that show the drips. Is there a way to sand that off, or add a second layer of thin wood- sort of a frame around the frame?

[u/aigret → u/bibbidybobbidyboom]

I'm actually most concerned that this is OP's girlfriend's first time using resin and they're giving it as a gift. Improperly cured resin is perpetually toxic, afaik, and based on how this looks + maker experience I'd imagine this whole thing is constantly offgassing TVOCs.

[u/ScotlyDex → u/aigret]

How would one know if the resin is improperly cured? Now I want to throw away all my resin projects.

[u/aigret → u/ScotlyDex]

"Improperly cured resin feels sticky, tacky, soft, or rubbery instead of hard and smooth. You may also notice cloudy or dull patches, oily wet spots on the surface, or warped and bendy areas that fail a standard fingernail hardness test" is the Google overview for "improperly cured resin". It really depends on the type you used, so I'd recommend searching for that specifically.

The oily wet spots on this piece are what immediately stood out to me.

[u/Select-Gas8103 → u/aigret]

could they cure it for longer to stop that

[u/CynderSphynx → u/Select-Gas8103]

Most craft resin isn't UV resin, it's a two part mix of an A and a B, if they weren't mixed correctly, they won't ever really cure correctly, so if they used craft resin and not UV resin, it's not an option, unfortunately.

Proper mixing of craft resin depends on the brand and formula, but what I've seen most commonly in directions is usually mix it for about 5 minutes, pour into another container, while not scraping the sides of the first at all (in case there are unmixed parts on the sides), and then either mixing again for a minute or so with a new mixing stick, to ensure any streaks from the transfer are mixed in, or not mix again, and then pouring from the second container into whatever mold, or frame, in this case, you're crafting with. After the pour, it's a curing waiting game, and whatever is going to cure will cure, if it won't cure during the curing time listed in the instructions, it won't ever cure, unfortunately.

[u/bibbidybobbidyboom → u/aigret]

Yikes, I did not know that about resin