Making resin necklaces and beads

There are many ways to use an epoxy resin. Among them, the creation of jewelry in epoxy resin. These DIY jewels can have various shapes and colors. We will see that it is even possible to create phosphorescent jewelry.
This article is intended to explain how to make your creations step by step. All these steps are essential to obtain creations that meet your expectations.

Creating jewelry with epoxy resin

We are going to describe these three necessary steps :
- Mixing with the pigments and nacres
- Mixing with the hardener
- Making the silicone or latex mould

Note that it is very important to incorporate the colorants before the hardener because the latter will harden your epoxy resin so quickly that you will not have time to carefully weigh the pigments and pearls.

How to use a dye for an epoxy resin jewel ?

We have dedicated a page to the question "Which epoxy resin colorant should I use?" to help you choose the best pigments and pearls for your jewelry. Be careful to choose a resin that hardens quickly because if the hardening process is too long, the pigments will have time to fall to the bottom of the container. Furthermore, it is recommended to use the finest pigments (1-5µm or 5-15µm) and therefore the lightest, so that they remain in suspension before the resin hardens.

How to mix epoxy resin with hardener ?

You got it. A catalyst is needed for the resin to harden in the mould. Unlike paints, did you know that epoxy resin hardens faster the thicker it is? This hardener is supplied with all our epoxy resins. To find out the proportion of hardener to incorporate, refer to the manufacturer's instructions on the product packaging. For example, for the WWA Resoltech transparent resin, 40 grams of hardener will be added to 100g of epoxy resin. To obtain optimal hardening, it is essential to choose the right product: a quick-drying resin for a thickness of a few millimeters and a resin reserved for very thick castings for large-scale projects.

How to mold your jewelry ?

Two tools are available to mold your colored epoxy resin and form your jewelry : silicone molds and latex-based molds. The latex is very thin, dries quickly and is easy to handle. Silicone is very thick, difficult to mix with hardener and dries slowly. Silicone and latex are equally soft. Latex is sold in liquid form in one liter cans and silicone in one or five liter cans. Unlike latex, silicone needs to be mixed with a catalyst to dry (5 parts hardener to 100 parts silicone).

Simply pour the silicone or latex into a plaster or ceramic liquid clay mould. The mold will absorb the moisture present in the latex or silicone, which will allow it to dry. The silicone hardens between 24 and 48 hours, depending on the thickness and the ambient temperature (24h at 20°C). The mold can be handled after 7 days. The latex will be dry in a few hours. Once the mold is perfectly dry, all you have to do is pour the epoxy resin inside and let your jewel dry before unmolding it.

How to create a river table with epoxy resin ?
How to make and varnish fishing lures with epoxy resin ?
Advice on curing epoxy resin
How to make on the ground in epoxy resin ?