With a global recession in force across the world, the construction industry has been badly hit with less demand for new houses, new projects being put onto a back burner and everyone looking for ways to cut costs without affecting the quality of the products needed.

Creative Resins feel they have the perfect solution to this problem and demand for their products have recently increased as architects and project managers are pushed to come up with new ideas to keep the customer content, despite feeling the economic ‘pinch’.

Creative Resins' range of products can be applied by hand, by pump or by machine and can create any design onto glass, wood, aluminium, plastic and ceramic.  Most customers apply them to glass.  Unlike traditional stained glass methods, the Creative Resins process is only applied to one side of the glass and looks the same from both sides.  It is laid onto the glass mainly by machine and then coloured by hand.  These resin stained glass panels can then be placed to the exterior of a building as they are totally UV stable and are guaranteed for a minimum of ten years even in such heat as Asia and the Gulf regions.

As the process is efficient, labour costs are dramatically reduced as a bespoke design for a Church or Mosque which would usually take weeks to manufacture using traditional methods, literally takes hours to manufacture using the decorative resin process.  As the production schedule can be vastly improved, the process enables companies to offer the panels at more competitive rates that traditional methods.

Once the resin outline has been applied, the panel is left flat for 30 minutes or so, before colouring can start.  Some customers prefer to wait for a full 24 hours before colouring the panel, allowing for different effects to be used such as marbling, crazing and shading.  The colour infills can all be mixed together to create any colour required whether it be transparent, translucent or opaque.

The application possibilities for resin stained glass are immense – not only is it used on windows, doors, mirrors but also on kitchen hotplates, giftware, ceramic tiles, shower screens, sun catchers as well as signs, wooden furniture and champagne bottles to name a few.

The cad machinery that applies the stained resin outlines is inexpensive and comes with around 600 ready to run designs.  Various sizes of glass and various designs can all be laid on the machine to run at any one time enabling the operator free to carry other duties or colour panels at the same time.  All machinery carries two years parts warranty and full training.  The software which runs the machine comes with a full costings facility so you are able to determine how much a design will cost you in material before costing it to your customer.

Customers who already have the cad machinery to produce resin stained glass have carried out work for Dubai airport terminal 2, Government building in the Gulf region, private villas in and around Asia, domes in Mosques, murals in shopping centre’s as well as the standard windows and doors.

For companies that perform deep sandblasting, the decorative colour infills can be used to colour in the deep sandblasted panels using an airbrush. In 2007, all decorative resin outlines and infill colours went to a new faster drying recipe making decorative stained glass quicker and easier still. 

The decorative resin outlines replace the need to use stick on lead and film which can tend to peel or flake after a number of years.  It also replaces the need to buy in pre decorated glass which comes in various shades as all of these shading effects can now be achieved in house.

New spray resins to colour glass in – house

Over the last year, Creative Resins have launched a new spray coat resin which can be applied to glass, wood for kitchen cabinet doors, aluminium and steel. 

The new spray resins are guaranteed for a minimum of 10 years internal (monolithic) and 10 years external (when laminated).  There are over 18,000 colours available as well as sparkle, pearlessence and metallic effects.  Over the last couple of months a new granite effect resin has been introduced which can turn a plain piece of glass into a fantastic looking granite worktop or splashback.

Mother of pearl effects are very popular in Asia as these are used for splashbacks in kitchens and bathrooms.  The introduction of the new sandblasted effect spray is a lot easier than sandblasting actual glass. The design possibilities with the new spray resins are endless.

As the spray resins can be applied in house it stops the need for companies to order in pre coloured glass which is expensive and liable to breakages during transit.  It can also be used instead of ceramic frits as no rollers are needed to apply the spray which can be costly when damaged.

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