Resin jewelry is a lot of fun to make. There are so many ways to use this glass-like medium. The technique is not hard but it require time. Curing times are roughly 24-48 hours. So it is best to work in batches. I particularly like doing a little bit at a time and leaving the projects to cure until I have time to do the next step! Works for busy people!
This tutorial was inspired by the ancient technique of
marbling paper on water. There are tons of Youtube tutorials using this technique for nail art. I wondered if people had tried it on resin. And sure enough there were. VictoriaGarden
demonstrated it on her resin pieces. Pretty cool swirl designs!
But I didn't have much luck as some nail polishes just don't work (OPI is one brand that does). My nail polish drops just sat there and did not spread after the first drop. It is still tricky even if it worked.
On to Plan B - the dry marble technique ie no water.
Robin Moses demonstrates some cool ways to use a very fine brush to pull through nail polish streaks and dots on nail "canvases" for great
drag
marble nail art! Love her example with fine Swarovski crystals.
So here is how I made my resin art nail polish pendants :
First step is to mix up some 2 part epoxy resin. I used
Little Window's Brilliant Resin which I like for many reasons - colorless, long shelf-life, low bubble producer. I also added a drop or two of
their white resin coloring agent. You can also use a little acrylic or oil paint but these take longer to blend in. Alternatively, you can just work with clear resin since you will be covering these resin pieces with nail polish.
I wanted to test
their new small silicon mold set which comes with a cropping template for embedding photos etc. What I like about their mold sets is there are several of the same shape and size which are handy if you are going to make a number for linked bracelets. (When you are working with colored resins, you want the same batch color in one go.)
As a comparison, I also
filled one of their large resin mold sets. These are not silicone but they do have mold release in them. Still, these are not as easy to work with as the silicone ones. Some twisting and sharp tapping is required to get the cured resin out. I used the pink clips to help weigh down the mold so it laid flat during the curing process.
Once the resin is poured, cover to keep out dust and leave 24-48 hours to completely dry.
I used blue tack to make a small stand at the back of the cured resin pieces. Then placed them on a sheet of wax paper to protect my work surface.
Then comes the fun part! I just painted nail polish bands over the top and sides of the pieces.
Then dragged a tooth pick from the bottom to the top of the pendant several times in a fan shape. Any drips will just fall on the wax paper below.
Again, cover and let the nail polish dry properly.
You can add the blue tack back and then add 2 layers of clear resin completely over the pieces. Some will drip down onto your wax paper. Let the first layer completely dry before you add the next.
Another way is to use
a silicone doming tray like this one. Any drips in the tray can be peeled off after the resin has cured.
I used a little too much resin so some excess pooled in bumps on the underside of my pieces. Easy problem to fix.
First cut off as much as you can. (Sacrilegious for a Canadian, but I used a hockey puck as a "cutting board"!!)
Then sand smooth. You can do this by hand using wet/dry sandpaper. Here is how I organize the papers in a dish of water. I placed a piece of the roughest one (220 Grit) and then layer with increasingly fine sandpaper all the way up 1600 or 2000 Grit. In order. I start at the bottom with the coarsest paper, with the rest of the pile pushed aside. Then I bring in the next finer one to sand the piece and so on.
However, for this particular project, all you need is the roughest one to sand down those bumps until the bottom of the pendant is flat.
But if you have no patience, and have a Dremel, use a sanding drum (200 G) to smooth down the bumps in next to no time. Wear a dust mask!
Rinse off the dust and dry the pieces. I added a layer of clear resin to the back and any evidence of those bumps disappears. That is why I didn't bother to finely sand them!
Cover and cure one more time. I do not like to use resin itself to glue on the bail because the bail moves while the resin takes its time to cure. I prefer to use
E6000 glue
(best to buy in small tubes to have the glue as fresh as possible) after the resin is cured. Do not use
Super New Glue 
(my favorite jewelry glue for cord ends) on resin. There is some sort of interaction and SNG will not set.
Put on a chain or cord and you are done! Have fun!
DisclosureI receive books and products for review. I do receive a small fee for any products purchased through affiliate links which are provided as resource information for readers. This goes towards the support of this blog. The opinions expressed are solely my own. They would be the same whether or not I receive any compensation.
PhotographyFinal project photographs taken in natural light with my iPhone 6S, ProCamera app (testing this one out) and Modahaus TS400 Photostudio. Tutorial pictures were taken using the same equipment but in artificial light in my windowless basement studio.
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