We messed up with the most expensive table. How it happened

Presenting a project that dragged on for a year. The biggest pour in the entire history of the workshop. Grand plans and a failure that turned out to be very costly. Honestly, we've never messed up like this before. Enjoy watching. This story began a year ago, last winter. At that time, we were preparing another batch of material and we noticed a couple of logs that were perfect for this kind of project. We loaded them into the general pile and headed back to the base. So the bird is in the cage and we can move on to the second stage. Now we need to cut out a rough blank from the solid log. In the end, it should look something like a giant letter L. Given the size of the log, the only option is to use a huge chainsaw with a special attachment. Well, after that, everything is clear and straightforward. After cutting off a couple of top slabs, we reached the required width for the blank. This will be the tabletop. Next, we make another cut, but not all the way through and try to flip this monster over. After the table is flipped with the tabletop facing down, we saw off the unnecessary part and overall we have the required shape, which still needs to be dried. That's what we'll do next. After we've loaded everything up, we send it to the drying chamber and forget about it for a month. That's exactly how long it will take for this material to dry and undergo heat treatment. And so after a month, we call Vova. But here we run into a similar problem again. Given the size and shape, we'll have to use a huge chainsaw to work on this piece. I wonder, can we even call it a woodworking tool? I suggest we discuss this point in the comments. And are there any other gasoline-powered tools used in woodworking? That's really got me thinking. I think a lot of people will have a perfectly reasonable question. Wouldn't it have been easier to cut the blank to size right away and only then dry it? On the one hand, of course, it's easier, but it's also riskier. The thing is, such a massive piece is guaranteed to keep its shape during drying. If we had cut off all the excess, there would have been a much higher chance that this piece would crack or become badly deformed. That's exactly why we decided to dry it in this form first and only then shape it to its final form. Fortunately, we're friends with Vova and can always rely on him. By the way, he has started his own YouTube channel where he shows this work from the inside. It's a very fascinating site, I highly recommend it. I'll leave the link in the description. Once the overall shape is ready, we move on to the details. Now we need to clean and treat all the small cracks, niches and remove any remaining bark. This didn't take much time and just a couple of hours later, we took the blank to the CNC machine. To the machine for calibration. One of the most unconventional calibrations in history. I think no further comment is needed here. First, we level the front side and then the bottom area. Even though Watson machines often do the impossible, sometimes manual finishing is still necessary. And this is exactly one of those cases. We bring the now much lighter version to the table and using an angle grinder and tried and true equipment, we start the dusty work. Finally, we trim the blank to size and send it to the casting area. With this project, we had to do many things for the first time, including the formwork, a very complex formwork. Yes, it was difficult. Yes, it took a long time, but it was worth it because such unconventional tasks help us grow. And even though many projects and approaches don't end up paying for themselves, this one definitely pays off in the experience and skills gained. As you can see, we conquered our task. We set the necessary. We shaped our so-called leg using an angle grinder. Here in this spot, we're going to have a few more pores right now because we have some slightly uneven areas, large cracks. We will fill those as well. There is a specific section here that we didn't really like. So I constructed this kind of formwork here. This is an arch glass, a millimeter thick layer, a lot of silicone. The pore is quite complicated because it goes downward, but I hope I prepared the mold very well and sealed everything properly. As for our main pore, it will be from the edge of the table. Here, we built this kind of formwork. We made it with some extra space and for the pore as well. It will become clear, the epoxy itself, and we will add pieces of R-class glass there. We haven't quite decided yet what color we want the resin to be. So we made two different samples, two small MDF trays. We'll pour them, light them up and take a look. And only then will we make the final decision about what color our pore will be. Here, as is our good tradition, we are using resin from Ecovanny. First, for the priming layer, we mix a compound called Art Eco. We also decided to pour the samples with this same compound. Here's the idea behind it. In the end, we need to achieve something resembling the natural stone called amethyst. It looks exactly like this. And the second option is the classic blue shade of tinted epoxy. A couple of days have passed. The resin in our samples has cured and now we can see what we've got. We added Hercules glass here and in the table, the lighting will be specifically in the area where the resin is poured. That's why we looked at them, thought about it and shown light on them in different ways. And the main feature of adding Arkyls glass is the refraction of light. And since we will have lighting added to the table, in the area where the resin is poured, we decided that we would pour the resin. This color right here, a little purple. Let's get back to our chunky piece and our formwork. There were concerns that it might leak, but everything turned out great. We sealed everything up really well. Now we need to pour about two centimeters of the purple base and at the same time, fill all of this spot, this area in. The end, we settled on the purple color and decided to imitate amethyst. Actually, we had already chosen the color a while ago and we made the second sample just to check the box. By that time, the primer layer had dried thoroughly. We sanded it, removed the dust and started getting ready for the next main pour. But even here, it's not all that simple. To make it relatively easy to achieve a complex texture, we use the following technique. We take very thick foil, tape it together and attach it inside the formwork. As a result, it will create the necessary jagged texture, which will only need a bit of finishing work. We primed our foil construction. Now it has become more rigid. It has taken on the shape we need. The shape. Our task now is to pour about 1.5 to 2 centimeters of resin here to create a base where we will then lay our glass, Urkelz. And then we will keep pouring the entire composition until we achieve the result we want. Well, now we can pour the first main layer. For this purpose, we use a compound called Art Massive from Ekovani. We mix together the required amount, add the tint, carefully pour it in and wait for it to dry completely. After a few days, we lay out the Urkelz and perform the second pour. What's the idea here? Urkelz is a type of decorative glass that works perfectly as a filler. Light refracts in it and, as a result, will achieve the intended effect. But besides that, Urkelz is also an excellent way to reduce the cost of the pour. Its price is five times cheaper than epoxy, so the pour becomes several times cheaper and faster as a result. Trouble came from where we least expected it. Our very cool formwork ended up leaking after all. We have this little stream flowing here. Resin, slow. The resin is liquid, very liquid. It will stay that way until tomorrow. So we made the smartest decision. We put a bucket underneath. It drips into the bucket and then we pour it back in. In the end, we waited until the resin set and naturally sealed the hole through which it was leaking onto the floor. So today we're pouring the final layer. We've mixed 10 kilograms of our favorite Art Massive resin. All right, let's start pouring. Basically, we poured it in like from a bucket, went over it with a corrector and came back a week later to check the result. All in all, it took us about two weeks to finish everything. Now we're going to remove our formwork and see what kind of beauty we've created. If there isn't a solid base under your pour and you come up with some kind of formwork like I did, there's a good chance that some of the resin might end up on the floor. So don't skimp on the silicone. It's best to use the expensive kind. It's still a bit cheaper than epoxy resin anyway. The next step is to bring the workpiece into the workshop. And as you can see, this isn't the easiest task since it has become 100 kilograms heavier. In the end, this task is accomplished. The countertop is on the machine. It's in great condition and it's slowly being calibrated. At this stage, we need to remove a couple more millimeters to achieve a perfect surface. First from the front side and then from the bottom. After the CNC has done everything it can, manual finishing remains. At this point, we use whatever tools are at hand and the shape gradually takes on its finished form. By then, we had the final dimensions of the countertop and moved on to the most interesting part. Now we need to model a huge crystal that will serve as the table support. You can see it on the screen. As a result, we made a couple of size options to choose from but decided not to rush and to test the technology on a sample first. We are faced with yet another quite challenging task. We need to make a figure that is approximately one meter in height. It's a crystal and it will be cast from epoxy since we have never actually created this particular shape before. So we decided to make a detailed small-scale master model to fully understand the manufacturing process and develop a technique that would allow us to meticulously perfect all the nuances. Furthermore, we need to construct a mold into which the liquid epoxy will be poured. We will cover all of this with silicone and then encase it in a fiberglass shell so that the silicone stays in place inside the shell and then hopefully everything will work out for us. Well, at least that's what I think. So they printed for us a master model on a 3D printer. We definitely need to divide the part into several pieces. It will be much easier for us if there are fewer pieces. So I decided to just try splitting it into two parts. They printed it for us already cut. We made a flange and right here we created a groove that will connect the two silicone molds together. Now all of this will be filled with silicone. This side, this part of the mold will be completely made. Then it will be flipped to the other side. The flange will be removed and we'll get a kind of rim on the silicone into which the second part of the mold will fit. This will prevent the flexible silicone from shifting around relative to the sides of the container. Our silicone has already set and cooled down and we've trimmed the edges. The first layer was a primer layer of silicone and for the second one I specifically added a bit more. I added more hardener and positioned a heat lamp for drying so it would set much faster. And I carefully and simply brushed the silicone onto the mound letting it run down. The second layer is rather shapeless. There might even be some bubbles in it but they will not negatively affect the quality of our product in any way. We neatly trimmed the outer edges here as well since there also needs to be a joining flange here. These two separate fiberglass halves in which several holes will be drilled for the self-tapping screws now we're meticulously laying down the fiberglass mat in one thick layer without even rolling it out. We just need an outer shell that will securely hold this entire silicone base inside. The first half is now ready and looks exactly like this. Here is our joining edge. We actually messed up a little bit in one specific spot when we were making the contour of this edge. We didn't quite think about the fact that one crystal on the other side sticks out past this edge. But it's okay, we trimmed it. That's actually why you make a master model to understand all these nuances. We also have some very thin silicone areas that lift up right here and over here. But you really need to keep in mind that our final production part will be much larger than this. So these specific areas will naturally be quite a bit thicker. Now we glue the two parts of the crystal together. For the significantly larger piece you will need to make some precise positioning dowels so that this part can be accurately placed in its proper spot. Now I'm gluing it with super glue along the perimeter of the mating side. And I more or less have to align it. There might be a slight misalignment. Let's hope that won't be critical. One half of the mold is already done. That means half the work is already finished. Next we move on to the second half. We do everything according to the same principle. I made a barrier out of aluminum tape, a little fence, so that it wouldn't leak and stain the fiberglass part of the mold. We thoroughly coat everything with release wax. Especially the silicone. Silicone sticks to silicone very well. Also don't forget to use a brush to get into hard to reach places. And now we'll pour the silicone. Well now we pour the mixture out as if from a bucket and we understand that we need to reach deep into these recesses. If needed we'll help with a brush in certain specific spots. It won't be easy but we'll manage. This is our first layer of silicone. There will be two layers. The first is a priming layer and as you can see the silicone runs down from the tops. But here we need some thickness like a little mound or hill. We'll form that with the second layer meaning we'll keep adding silicone to the top with a brush so that a little mound forms here. It's not worth doing that with the first layer because it's very runny and we might leave brush marks. Those streaks would end up on the front surface of the mold itself. And now we're just meditating watching the little bubbles rise up from its great thickness. Now we're mixing the second batch of silicone. I've added more hardener to it. There's enough silicone at the bottom but it has run off from these tops. So now I need to keep adding silicone to the top with a brush. I need to form a little mound here. As you can see the second batch of silicone is a bit more pinkish. That's because our hardener is red. It's convenient when the hardener is colored. The silicone was originally white. We can see whether it's mixed well, right? Whether the mixture is blended properly. And with the second batch I went a little overboard with the hardener to speed up the silicone curing process to form that very mound I mentioned. We achieved what we intended. The mound is formed. Maybe I'll mix up another 200 grams or so. Pour it in and tie together this textured painting. Everything's good. Everything worked out for us. The silicone has set. We've trimmed the edges and evened out the shape to make it easier to work with fiberglass. Well now we get to work. With fiberglass we've applied a release agent so that the two halves of the fiberglass mold then they were separated. During the unpacking process what we did was trim down the outer edges and drill a hole so that it would be much easier to assemble and position the mold later on. Everywhere it was needed the silicone flowed in especially in this part. And here we can see that the silicone is a bit darker. I added a little more hardener to it so it would set faster. And right here it's a bit torn. That is everything. I think it will turn out well. Now we will pour the entire piece with resin and see how this part reacts and behaves during the casting process. We can demonstrate how it works. This lock and what it's for. We put so much considerable effort into it because first of all we have exceptionally precise positioning meaning the part comes together as a single hole. And secondly it's a good physical barrier for the resin so we'll definitely have some flash. So the resin will seep into this gap but it will be a bit harder for it to penetrate through this lock and escape from the mold. Now we clean all the silicone with a degreaser. As you can see it's not static. It's a bit sticky. Now we wash it with warm soapy water or a degreaser. Gather everything together and then send it off for casting. Now that we have put together the two silicone halves and here is the answer as to why we specifically made this fiberglass frame. We are going to have a very large volume of resin. Even in this example I think if the mold were made only of silicone during the casting process it would most likely change its original shape. That is exactly why we have such a rigid frame. Everything fits together with precision in its place then we tighten it all down with bolts and we will ultimately get a truly flawless result. Well at least we believe in that. Now I'm going to apply the primer and at the same time I'll install the glass that we have all grown to love. And we'll pour resin over all of this and in miniature we'll get our crystal. So generally speaking it probably would have been better to prime everything right away but I approached the drone told it that what it did was cool but the drone doesn't believe it. I don't have any leftovers so in order not to waste an extra day waiting for the primer layer to dry we immediately dumped in the art mass almost one and a half kilograms here and now we wait for a week in a week we'll dig it out. Our so-called diamond. Our casting has completely hardened and now it's time for the long-awaited reveal and unboxing. It seems like the mold is perfectly sealed meaning nothing leaked out anywhere. The resin we used was a slow curing one it took a week. Here we have some signs of a possible leak but I think most likely it spilled during the pouring process and probably that's how this got smeared. Let's unscrew it. The assumption was correct most likely there was a puddle of resin on the table and that's how the stand got smeared with resin because if the resin had been seeping out somewhere here we would have had a sort of flash. A subtle hint that if there had been a leak here there would have been a flash but everything here is fine and sealed so everything worked out. We've taken out the crystal let's see what we have here. There are a few small and minor imperfections from casting the silicone. For example you can see there was a large bubble where the resin seeped in but that's not a big deal you can easily trim and sand all of this down. Overall it turned out quite well in the end. As we can see the silicone mold wasn't damaged it's completely reusable for future projects. We also have a few more bubbles in the resin itself here's a hole for example but that can be fixed as well. You can use a Dremel to sand them out fill them with resin and then sand them again. So our micro sample is successfully finished which means we can move on to making the real full-scale model. First we printed a full-sized crystal on a 3D printer and started assembling it from many puzzle pieces. We're starting to assemble the full-sized crystal. We printed the first part without any complications. While we were printing the second part a new idea occurred to us. Why not use wooden dowels for positioning during the assembly? We made a hole in the part for the dowels. This way it will be a bit more convenient to assemble. In places where the parts fit together we'll glue them using Dichlorothane however where there are some visible gaps we'll use super glue along with an activator to ensure that we don't get mixed up or confused. All of our parts are clearly and carefully labeled according to their specific layers. We're using the glue technique in a way that is actually slightly incorrect. If you carefully apply the glue adhesive to one part and spray the activator on the other you will find that you simply won't have enough time to align the parts properly. Instead we apply the glue first, join the parts together and then thoroughly spray over the top of the seam with the activator. And I have to say the glue works well this way too. It actually hardens completely even without the activator but it takes a long time. That's exactly what we need. Where the parts fit more tightly we glue them with Dichlorothane. And again this is just a mock-up. In order to make a mold from it the quality of the gluing process it really doesn't matter at all here because this is just a model that we'll use to make the full-sized version. The same kind of crystal made from cast resin. But then it took several more days to apply the putty, finish and carefully prime this model. Using a universal automotive putty we filled and finished the joints. Next we will use an adhesion primer specifically for plastic applying one thin and even layer and that's it. On top we cover it with a sandable filler primer in two thick coats. You only need a single uniform very thin layer of adhesion primer just making one light and gentle pass without soaking it at all. It's needed to increase adhesion. Specifically the adhesion of the acrylic primer to the plastic itself. While the adhesion primer is allowed to dry completely we begin to carefully mix the high build filler primer. We'll be mixing it in a measuring cup following the scale. The primer is mixed at a 4 to 1 ratio and a small extra bit of thinner. We load all of this into the spray gun. The primer gun has a 1.8 nozzle for a thicker coat. And after priming another two days are spent sanding and perfecting the shape. After both halves of the crystal are ready we have to perform exactly the same operation that the drone recently explained in great detail and with clear visuals. Nothing has changed here at all except that our model is now 10 times larger. So I suggest we don't repeat ourselves and quickly go through all the steps. The preliminary preparation work we've done includes of course applying a release layer thoroughly coating the crystal with hard wax and also constructing a temporary formwork out of cardboard. We also applied wax to it so that the silicone wouldn't stick. The cardboard does its job quite well making for an inexpensive disposable formwork. We'll be using lithium silicone from Him Snap Composite and also when we start building up the thickness we'll add a thickener to the silicone so it doesn't spread out as much. However for this very first layer it is required to be the facing layer. So the initial thin casting layer will be applied without any thickener. Our workshop has been around for more than 10 years and the drone has been working with composite materials for even longer. During this time we've tried all the manufacturers and suppliers of composites. In the end we decided to work specifically with Him Snap Composite. We can confidently say that they are the best material supplier. So if you need silicone, resin, release agent or really anything at all don't hesitate to contact them. And if you don't know what you need their technologists will explain everything to you in detail. To be honest even with our experience we constantly learn something new from their specialists. In general Him Snap is a composite. Here I screwed up. What happened? It got very cold in our workshop so I decided to add just a little bit more hardener to the mixture. The silicone lasted for about 40 minutes but it was constantly dripping so I took a spoon and just gently tossed it around to help it set. I put the silicone on top and then the moment came when the silicone started to set in the places where I used the spoon and a lot of bubbles formed. Since this is our primary face layer everything on it has to be perfect. So now I am just carefully peeling all of this off and I will be pouring it all over again. This time we will add maybe even a little less hardener and I also think I will dilute it with some nephra so that the mixture becomes much more liquid. Why are we showing our mistakes? Well because mistakes are inevitable so why hide them? It is what it is. That's why projects actually take a long time and sometimes have to be redone. Well of course it's a shame about the silicone I don't know. We'll cut up some wobblers and go fishing. And here we've gained a bit more experience again. Fortunately the lesson was inexpensive and now we're following the process we've refined on a sample. We've already finished the first half of the silicone mold. When I was building up the thickness with the silicone itself I would catch the moment when the silicone reached a sort of rubbery state and then I would use a brush to spread it over all these upper areas since it tended to flow downwards. But what I needed was to build up the thickness right there in these spots so that the silicone would smooth out all these bumps and dips. Next we need to make a fiberglass shell that will hold this silicone mold. We'll build up the thickness I think three layers of 600 fiberglass mat will be enough. We also glued a board to the bottom this will serve as the stand for our crystal since it will be cast. With the resin it will be upside down. In reality of course making a small prototype is the right and very useful decision but it doesn't give us the full picture since working with a full-sized crystal brings new challenges and nuances that didn't come up when working with the small one. Drone mentioned some of them but some things were left off camera. But despite this after a couple of days we... Unpacking is on the agenda today. Today we're going to carefully take the crystal out of the mold. It took an entire week to make this massive mold out of 50 kilograms of liquid silicone and many liters of fiberglass. Now we're finally unpacking it taking a good look at it and enjoying the finished result. Silicone is very prone to getting dirty so you shouldn't handle it with dirty gloves because dust sticks to it very easily and that dust can end up in the casting in the resin. That's why we're going to work in almost sanitary conditions while we dig around in there. This is how the latch works so we open it and then... We also close it just as easily. Here you can see these streaks. These are separators. I tried a new one here. We'll wash it off with warm soapy water. I think everything is great. We have a few spots here with some pretty sharp bends. There where the casting is deep I was right in these areas and these spots are pressed in quite hard. I wouldn't want to tear the silicone so we'll try to pry it out very gently using kind and gentle words. I think we had a significant leakage issue inside our model here. In all probability the silicone leaked through and created a firm mechanical lock between the two halves. We'll cut the silicone there with a knife and everything should work out. Here is the silicone that leaked through. We need to trim it. Here it is in its place. In the end it took us a full two months to get the matrix to this state. First there was some careful modeling then we created a master model in miniature tested the technology made the matrix and thankfully everything worked out as planned. Next we moved on to creating the actual crystal at its full size. While it was being printed we carefully polished it primed it and prepared it for the casting process. The matrix also took a lot of time. There are a couple of problematic spots. These thin areas here are a flaw that happened during the design stage. So here is our joint. The lock is precise and here at this spot we have a perfect fit. Here the wall is strong and solid. These two silicone parts will fit into each other get tightened with bolts and everything here will be precise. But this little appendage is a thin flimsy tail and when the resin is poured it will most likely stick out resin will leak in here and it will be messy and then we'll have to somehow fix this on the part sand it and do some touch-ups here. A lot of resin has been poured in here by volume. I think it will weigh up to 100 kilograms which is also quite a lot because this little model filled with resin and with this crushed glass inside is actually quite heavy and now we screw together and assemble the mold and then pass it on for casting. I know that many craftsmen are watching us as well as those who are just thinking about starting to make something with their own hands and especially for you we've developed this kit. This is a kit for creating your first resin and wood product. Everything here has been thought out in advance and it's suitable for both professionals and complete beginners. By ordering this kit you can easily make a table like this yourself which by the way makes a great new year's gift. And if you've never worked with wood and resin before that's not a problem. The kit comes with a detailed video tutorial which will help you create something this beautiful even if you've never worked with wood and resin before because we've thought of everything and included it all everything you need. A mold for the formwork an edge and of course a ready-made table base. Right now by following the link in the description you can contact the manager and choose a unique blank from the catalogue and start your journey in this craft for just 19,000 rubles. The number of these kits is limited and there won't be any more. This is a one-time offer so hurry up. The link is in the description. So the long-awaited mold is ready and we're starting the pour. Here the process and materials are exactly the same as when pouring the tabletop. We mixed the first bucket of art mass tinted it and began filling the crystal. From the start we understood that this kind of pour would only look impressive if it was properly illuminated. We also understood that fully illuminating such a large volume would be very difficult and then we came up with a brilliant idea or at least that's what we thought at the time. We decided to embed a thin LED string light inside the pour. The idea was as follows. The string light would be placed in the center of the crystal and it wouldn't be visible. After unpacking we would turn it on and see the result. If we didn't like the result we would simply cut the wires and leave it inside. That way we wouldn't lose anything or take any real risks. Spoiler alert! This turned out to be a fatal mistake. The difficulty is that we can't see at all what we're pouring because the height here is about one and a half meters. We have no way to control what's happening underneath the surface. So we take our preferred choice of resin and the attacked art array. We tried to prime everything with it as thoroughly as we possibly could. Plus it doesn't really get along with silicone. It just runs off it and then we pour in 30 kilograms of resin. Three days have passed and now we're going to pour in another 20 liters here to fill it to the top. Right now our task is to keep the space at the top empty without any resin. We carefully created a specialized kind of niche so that we could seamlessly integrate additional lighting into this space plus some necessary control units. After we built our main structure we wrapped our foam in protective tape took two small wooden bars glued them on securely with a hot glue gun and also made an extra silicone edge right here for a clean finish. This is necessary because we have a very large casting volume and during polymerization the resin will shrink significantly. Three days have passed since our second large volume pour and the resin has shrunk a lot. We need to add about two more kilograms here. Well now so we don't have to wait another week we've mixed up some Artec which is a fast setting compound and basically we've degassed it. It also degasses very well. We have two kilograms. That's it. We're doing what we hope will be the final pour. But while the last two kilograms of resin are curing we're heading back to our crystal model. As you remember it's divided into two parts. Now we need to glue them together. The next step is a piece of MDF. We cut out this thing that imitates our tabletop and the future hole for the crystal. Let's have a sample of the crystal. Now it's not entirely clear at this point whether we'll actually be able to create a stable support point so that the table sits firmly and securely on the crystal and doesn't end up wobbling. Also will the crystal even be able to support this weight? According to the plan the crystal should rest on the outer points. How it will actually turn out we'll have to see. Since the top of our crystal flares outward the area should have some allowance. So we need to build a prototype at a completely different scale. That is precisely the approach we decided to take. We made one out of MDF. Now we're going to attempt placing it on the large crystal. So the crystal is being set in place. Support points. It has them. It's more than stable enough. We have some gaps appearing. Unfortunately they're not all the same size. We need to somehow standardize this and make them uniform. And at the same time it will make inserting the crystal much easier. And only now are we mentally ready to drill holes in our tabletop. As you can imagine this is a very responsible task. And here we can't take any risks. That's why we're using woodwork router bits. An excellent tool and the best value for money on our market. We confidently recommend it. Once all the holes are cut and the tabletop has its final dimensions it can be prepared for painting. Here again we apply primer sand and finish it from all sides. This took about another week. And now after a week we have the final fitting. In order for everything to fit together perfectly and so that the crystal doesn't get scratched later on we had to slightly widen this specific groove. This opening just a little bit more. Next we'll think about how we're going to cover this up. Most likely we'll make some kind of overlay here so that everything looks very nice and covered. As you remember the key to success with such a massive casting is the lighting. And the countertop is no exception. For this we make a recess in the resin on the underside of the countertop and move on to the long-awaited crystal. And here after the long-awaited unboxing we weren't exactly disappointed but we can't say we were thrilled either. Overall the idea worked out and we have a huge solid crystal but its appearance doesn't quite satisfy us. The thing is the color turned out too dark and the intended effect of light refraction in the glass pieces was simply lost. Also the string lights which were supposed to be invisible in some places shifted toward the edge of the casting and are very clearly visible. Of course this is not what you want to see in a million ruble product and the crystal itself now falls into the category of defective goods. Yes that happens. Of course it needs to be redone. But to be honest right now there's neither the time nor the mood for that. Since this project was done for the sake of the project itself not as a commission at the next available opportunity we will start making a new crystal and this table will be sent to our store for sale. If you're interested in purchasing it you'll find our contact information in the description. We're tidying up what we have so we can show it to you. Powerful LED matrices like these will be installed at the base of the crystal. But considering that the resin turned out darker than planned even this light source won't be enough to illuminate the entire volume. Here a reasonable question probably arises. Why did we make a sample and why did we test everything in advance? That's actually the problem. We did a test pour of a small crystal and we were satisfied with the result. It was according to this proportion that we mixed the main batch but in the larger volume the color of the resin became too dark. So we'll chalk up these expenses to gaining experience and move on. Now we have the final painting after which we can evaluate the result. Here's the intermediate result. And if we end up making a revised version we'll show it in our telegram channel. Thank you for watching. Wishing you the goodness of the axe. Experiment. Don't be afraid to make mistakes. Only this way is the truth born. Sound.