What Can You Colour Epoxy Resin With

If there's one thing you can always count on, it's that as artists and crafters, we're always looking for ways to expand our options and push boundaries. Take, for instance, resin. There are hundreds of colours out there made specifically to colour resin...  ...and yet, we still want more. We have an insatiable thirst for new... different... ALTERNATIVE. And that's what we're going to explore... colours that weren't designed for resin but work anyway!  Without even knowing it, you have household items - things hidden in the back of cupboards and drawers, or hiding in plain sight - that you can use to colour resin. This is a great way to save money and use up things you already have. But first, a disclaimer:  Things don't always go right when you work with colourants that weren't designed for resin. And when that happens, you end up wasting your precious time, throwing away your resin... and worse, wasting moolah! If you use the wrong colourant... ... t...

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Epoxy Resin - Casting Resin vs Coating Resin

Have you ever poured epoxy resin onto a canvas only to have it all run off so that you are left with only a very thin coating?  Or have you poured your epoxy into a mould and found that it was full of bubbles that just wouldn't rise to the top? Then chances are, you were using an epoxy resin that wasn't designed for the project that you were making. Not only is there more than one type of resin, but there are several types of epoxy resin and they are all designed for different types of resin work! To keep it simple, let's look at two general categories of epoxy resin and why artists and crafters need to know the difference. When shopping for epoxy resin, you need to look closely at the packaging.  You might notice that some epoxies are labelled EPOXY CASTING RESIN and some are called EPOXY COATING RESIN. Some other names for coating resin are: bar or tabletop resin pour-on resin artwork resin doming resin. So what's the...

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How to avoid Sticky or Soft Resin

Have you ever had a piece of resin that didn’t cure properly and it feels sticky to the touch? Or is your cured resin soft and bendy? You know something’s gone wrong, but you have no idea what it is or how to avoid it happening again. Well, don’t be too hard on yourself… it happens to the best of us at some point. It can easily happen if you get distracted. So let’s have a look at some of the many reasons why your resin stays sticky or doesn't harden properly. 1. Inaccurately Measuring Resin and Hardener The biggest culprit is usually off-ratio measuring. That sounds like a bit of a fancy term but what it really means is that the resin and hardener weren’t measured in the exact ratio that the manufacturer specified.   It’s important to measure the resin and hardener in the ratio recommended for your resin. Your resin kit will tell you if it’s a 1:1 or a 2:1 ratio (these are the two most common ratios for craft resins) and it will also say whether you should measur...

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How to Care for Resin Moulds

After you've been resin crafting for a while, you'll start to get quite a collection of moulds. Your resin moulds are an investment in your resin hobby so you want to make sure that they last a long time.  No matter what type of moulds you have - silicone, plastic, ice cube moulds, clay moulds, soap moulds - they won't last forever. But if you know how to look after them , you'll get many, many casts from them.   So, let's break this down into the two main types of moulds you'll use with resin :    SILICONE  and  PLASTIC ,   and look at what the best practices are for caring for each type of mould . Silicone Moulds Silicone moulds are the best thing since sliced bread and will take your resin casting to a whole new level! Why are they so good?  Because... resin doesn't stick to them...  they're flexible and SO easy to demould...  they come in every shape and size you can think of silicone moulds last a really long time and you'll get...

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How to Finish Resin Jewellery

If you've got the resin bug and have started making resin charms and cabochons, you no doubt want to turn them into head-turning pieces of jewellery that everyone swoons over. After all, you've spent time and money and poured not only the resin but your creative heart into these pieces, so you want them to look professional and have that exclusive designer look about them. Right? But you probably didn't give too much thought to how you'd assemble the charms once they cured and now you're asking yourself "How do I turn all these charms into jewellery?" Well, there are many ways to assemble your resin casts into jewellery and wearable accessories. You can get as creative as you like with your designs but before you can do that, you'll need some basic methods that will allow you to connect pieces together first.  Here's a few ideas that you can try: Glue on a flat pad components Drill a ...

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