How to make resin jewelry
A few years ago I was asked by the Olympia Senior Center to make Mah Jongg items for sale at their first ever benefit tournament. I wanted to make pendants and key chains. I’d also never done resin jewelry before, so you get to benefit from all my research in one easy blog post. In case you are wondering how different this is from the jewelry I make, you can head here to see what I mean: www.andiclarkejewelry.com
Materials needed:
- Pendant trays (available at most craft stores)
- Ice Resin (or other jewelry grade resin)
- Photographs, Scrapbook paper, drawn images, photographs, tiny seed beads, steam punk elements, fine glitter, tiny shells, just make sure the objects are not higher than the rim of your pendant or earring tray. Also, if printing up images make sure you have done it on card stock (this is VERY important)
- Mod Podge, decoupage or White craft glue
- Scissors and ruler
- Foam applicator
- Mixing container (disposable cup)
- Wooden stirrer or plastic spoon
- Flat tray with baking parchment
Process:
- Decide what your image will be (I was drawing my own images from pretty Mah Jongg tiles that I liked the design of. I didn’t photo copy them because of Copyright laws.) If using photos, print these up on a good printer and on card stock. Better yet, if using photos print them up as actual photos at a commercial printer.
- Measure the exact size of the interior of your pendant tray. It should be close to exact.
-Use your foam applicator to put some Mod Podge inside the metal tray and try to get it to all the corners.
- Place your image/photo/scrapbook paper down and make sure there are no bubbles. Allow it to dry or dry it with a hair drier.
- If you want a really crisp image or especially if you’ve used an ink jet printer for an image, you need at least two layers of Mod Podge to seal it. The resin will otherwise seep into and dull the image a bit. This also applies to scrapbook paper. Allow this to dry or dry with a hair dryer.
- Mix resin according to directions.
- Place pendant trays on top of some baking parchment on a very flat tray or plate.
- Pour resin gently over the image and decide how full you want it to be. A plastic spoon works great for this.
- Check the resin after about 5 mins of sitting and pop any bubbles by blowing on them or pricking them with a toothpick.
- Allow to cure according to instructions on resin mix.
- Added note: There are all sorts of inclusions you can add to the resin, glitters, beads etc. Play around with the options, they add an interesting dimension.
I hope that you enjoyed this post. It truly is easy and is also a fun girls night craft night thing and you can make wonderful gifts to give friends and family. It also can be used to make key chains for guys with family photos or even their favorite sporting team logo.
Feel free to email me with photos of your creations or tag me on Instagram with them @andiclarkejewelry. I’d love to see the results of your work.
If you have enjoyed this jewelry making tutorial, I have a few other blog posts with different jewelry making tips:
- torch firing PMC (precious metal clay)
