Homemade Christmas gift fail (three times)

So this is what I was going for, a neat idea I saw on the internet a few months ago. Basically it's just pizza encapsulated in some epoxy resin.

I'm not sure what the proper methods of any of this stuff are, as will become increasingly apparent as you scroll. I made a triangle shaped container in which to hold the epoxy and the slice. I used plexiglass and hot glue to hold it together.

I think this was the second attempt. note holes drilled in lid to help air bubbles escape. It seemed like a good idea at the time.

Not much to say, just make sure the dimensions are fairly symmetrical.

This was the third try, I coated the slice in polyurethane in an attempt to seal it.

This was the first try fail, notice the cloudy appearance.

I just had meager directions to follow that were printed on the bottle.

The epoxy never got to proper temperature to set, I am working in a rather cold space, it couldn't have been over 50 degrees F this day.

Plexiglass popped right off (which led me in a wrong direction on my next attempt) and the epoxy was not set and just cracked right in twain.

On take two I had in mind a few changes to try, mostly making everything proper(ish) temperature. Notice that the jugs are sitting on top of a heater.

Looks better,

Not too bad, I had set a fan on the base of this stool to vibrate the piece and get out bubbles, it was working - epoxy not fully set yet.

next day, see the bubbles trapped at the epoxy set, the crust had all kinds of air in it.

Still the second try, Seems like it shrunk and pulled air through the vent holes. Also the plexiglass shell is permanently affixed, I should have popped it of earlier or used a release agent, my first try gave me false hope that it would come off easily.

Third try was a total bust. I did all of the other things except the aforementioned polyurethane. I had been using a heat gun to help everything remain at temperature to set and must have overdone it a little, sprung a pretty significant leak, I guess hot glue, and that was that. At least I have a nice epoxy coated stool now.

So here is (from left to right, just like all you bastards like) the progression of my attempts. Fail, Fail, and Fail.

I wanted to make this post with a great success at the end but that isn't really how it works out sometimes.

I tried, and tried, and tried again and failed magnificently but hey at least I tried and I learned a lot from my mistakes. So if you're afraid of trying something just because you think you'll mess it up just think of this.

I am tabling this project until it is warmer, Thanks for the 4 people in user sub who followed this and encouraged me.

Merry Christmas.