I made paddles the same way. One thing I'll pass along to you is edging. I soak some soft 5/16 white polyster rope in epoxy and wrap it around the blade. I stretch it around and hold it on the bottom with some duck tape. I later sand and fill in the weave etc. I makes a really nice abrasion edge. I made quite a few of them and I used to go around the blade with a rat tail file and carve a tiny grove so the rope wouldn't slide out while I was stretching it around the blade. It also makes a nice looking finished paddle. My blades were a litle thicker than an 1/8 but you could do it with anything with a bit of thickness.