Monday, October 31, 2022

Dia de Muertos - How to Make Day of the Dead Skeleton Earrings from Resin

I got totally drawn in by the moving limbs of this skeleton mould. It was ideal for making Halloween skeleton earrings... but I like my moulds to be versatile to get good value from them.

With a minor tweak to the embellishments, you can easily turn the skeleton into a Calavera design.

These are seriously neck-tickling earrings for Day of the Dead festivities?


White calavaras skeleton decorated with mini clay roses


While this is an EASY resin project, it's a little fiddly because of the size of the body parts, so spooning the resin into the mould works much better than trying to pour it. You'll also find tweezers, fine-tipped adhesive, toothpicks and a crystal positioning tool really helpful as you work through the steps.

Here's a list of supplies you'll need:

20 x 6mm jump rings
2 x 5mm jump rings
2 x earring wires
Tweezers
Chain nose pliers
Toothpick
Nitrile gloves and protective eyewear

As with any resin project, you need to keep your health and safety in mind and wear gloves and goggles whenever you handle the resin.

Measure, Mix, Colour and Pour the Resin

Tip: It takes a little over 5mls resin to fill both the skeletons so if you are making a pair of earrings, measure out at least 6mls of resin or you won't be able to fill the body parts to the top of the mould.

Most graduated plastic cups have measurements for 2.5ml and 5ml so you need to carefully measure out a little more of each part to make up 6mls.

If you're using a 1:1 ratio resin, measure out 3mls resin and 3mls of hardener and mix the two together thoroughly. (For a 2:1 ratio resin, then measure 4mls and 2mls.)
Measuring out the resin and hardener into a plastic cup

Add enough pigment to colour the resin white. Stir it through until it's completely mixed.
Gloved hand holding a pink plastic stirrer, stirring the white pigment into the resin

Drip the resin into the mould. 
Gloved hand holding a pink plastic stirrer, dripping the resin into the body parts of a blue silicone skeleton mould

To eliminate air pockets in the fine detail of the mould, run a toothpick around the inside bottom edge of each piece. This should dislodge most of the bubbles so the limbs don't have holes along the edges.

Leave the resin to cure for 24 hours.

Flex the mould to demould all the pieces.
Blue skeleton mould sitting on a brown craft sheet. One half of the mould is still filled with white resin. The other skeleton has been demoulded and is sitting on the craft sheet

Decorate and Assemble the Calavera

This is the fun part... decorating the skull and rib cage with miniature flowers. 

I used miniature Fimo nail art roses. The small ones are 3mm and the larger ones are about 6mm. You don't have to use roses... any mini flowers will work. But I recommend looking for nail art supplies to find flowers small enough.

White resin skull with flower garland connected to a white skeleton chest filled with pink, blue, orange and yellow miniature clay roses.

Select the flowers you want to use and position them on the resin, rearranging them until you're happy with the design.

Use a generous amount of adhesive on the back of each one so that the resin oozes down into the ribs for a secure bond. 

The tweezers make working with such small flowers a little easier. 
Applying G-S Hypo Cement to the back of a purple flower being held with a pair of tweezers

Position the flowers on the chest and around the skull to create a garland.
Tweezers holding a purple rose and positioning it on the rib cage

Attach the crystals to the eyes and let the adhesive set for 10 minutes before assembling the skeleton.
Placing flat back crystals on the skull for eyes

Assembling the Skeleton

You only need to know one jewellery-making technique to assemble the skeleton: how to open and close jump rings. If you've never done that before, this tutorial shows you how to do it.

Connect all the bones together with the 6mm jump rings.
Pliers holding a jump ring that is connecting the rib cage to the hips

Once the skeleton is assembled, you can connect it to the earring wire.

The loop on earring wires usually faces sideways and that doesn't suit this project, so we're going to twist it 90° to face the front. 

Grip the loop with the pliers and turn it. Do this carefully so you don't weaken the steel and snap the loop off.
Pliers gripping the loop of the earring wire

Insert the 5mm jump ring through the skull and hook it onto the loop of the earring wire. 

White skeleton earrings decorated with miniature clay roses


These Calavera-inspired earrings are drop-dead gorgeous (pardon the pun)... definitely Day of the Dead Style!

If you've loved this project then...

PIN IT!
White resin Calavera earrings decorated with roses on a pink background. Text overlay reads, Easy resin tutorial. How to make day of the dead earrings.


Happy Resining!

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