In this post I am sharing my experience with using resin, more precisely 2-part polymer resin.
For my holographic collection I have used this type of resin as it really makes the holographic effect pop. However, using this stuff isn’t as easy to use as you might think. I used a product called “Envirotex Lite”, which is a 2-part polymer resin. This type of resin requires a sunlight and takes up to 24 hours to cure fully. This can be quite a challenge when you live in a country where it rains a lot. I actually had to wait for weeks and check the weather forecast to make sure I had a good day with enough sunshine but a low humidity (60% to 70% is ok). The next thing was to measure and mix the stuff correctly. According to this type of resin you need two measuring cups (the ones I have are very small and Environed have 5ml increments written on them).
You pour in the resin first and then the hardener. You have to make sure the amounts are equal – if not it can result in stickiness. For my first two lots I actually mixed up 10 ml of resin and 10 ml of hardener. You mix both thoroughly with cocktail stick, but not to vigorously as that will create a lot of bubbles. Then you pour the whole mix into another cup and mix with a new stick for another minute. Pouring the resin was not such a good idea as I needed to make sure I don’t spill any resin I didn’t want outside the hole on the dome bit of the pendant– so it was a slow process with my cocktail stick – with my third batch which went wrong I used a popsicle stick.
Once I had all pendants filled with the resin, I set the alarm for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes I checked them for bubbles – and bubbles will always appear when you work with resin. I checked YouTube for suggestions on how to deal with bubbles and found that the straw method works best – you exhale through a straw onto to the resin and moving the straw in a circular motion which pops the bubbles. I had to repeat this on all pendants. Other methods mentioned were using a lighter and also a craft torch. I used the craft torch with my final batch.
After another 15 minutes I checked again and popped a few bubbles.
The next day the first batch was completely cured – and to my shock and horror I noticed that I missed out a big bubble on one of my purple pendants. What to do?
Large holographic pendant – Purple (swirl)
Well, I burst the bubble and thus created a small hole I had to fill. My solution was to add a pretty crystal to that hole and seal it with resin with my next batch. I had to wait for a few weeks though (due to the weather) until I could work on batch 2 and 3.
With batch 2 I messed up slightly as I managed to spill a bit of the resin on some of the pendants. As scraping off resin is not so easy, I just added the resin with a brush on top of the whole pendant. So, some of my pendants in this collection have a nice glossy top. This wasn’t actually planned, but they look nice.
When resin goes wrong.
And then I worked on my final batch. I only had a few pendants left and therefore only mixed 5 ml resin and 5 ml hardener. I thought I mixed it thoroughly and decided to cover the whole pendants with the resin – but not using a brush. Instead I just used the popsicle stick. It was quite a messy affair and I ended up putting them on top of my measuring cups to let the resin drip. Big mistake!! I also checked every 15 minutes for an hour to burst bubbles – using the straw and the craft torch.
Pendants after pouring the resin
My pendants curing .
The next day I checked the pendants and every one of them turned out to be sticky. You can imagine my frustration.
I don’t know what caused the stickiness as I thought I had mixed the resin thoroughly. Maybe adding so much on top of the pendants wasn’t a good idea or maybe using the torch and the heat of the torch made it sticky. I don’t know, but I probably won’t use the torch again and stick to the straw method.
I tried to scrape off the resin, but that didn’t work well as I ended up scraping some of the clay too, as you can see in the photo below. I also tried rubbing alcohol and that actually seem to help with getting rid of the resin. It’s just incredibly time consuming. Those pendants are currently in a box and I probably will have another go at getting rid of the resin with the alcohol at some time. It’s a real shame I had this issue as I liked the designs on the red ones.
My sticky pendants.
I have to admit that after using resin a few times now I can honestly say – I am not a fan of the stuff. It’s messy and unpredictable. It requires good weather and takes a day to cure. It’s also not cheap. I was looking into trying out UV resin as that type of resin doesn’t require mixing and supposed to cure fairly quickly with UV light, which I have. I have looked into this, but found that there are so many different brands on the market and UV resin is actually more expensive then two-part resin. It also comes with its own issues. I don’t think UV resin would have worked for the holographic pendants, as you can’t pour it thickly but have to apply it in thin layers.
All pendants that cured properly
Anyway, here are my top tips for using 2-part resin:
- Use gloves – as working with resin is messy and getting it off your hands is a pain in the proverbial. I know from experience.
- Take your time – don’t rush the process.
- Follow the mixing instructions and make sure you have the accurate amount of hardener and resin. If it’s not mixed properly it will not cure properly and result in stickiness.
- Make sure you cover your work surface with something you can dispose of. Scraping off resin is not much fun. I tend to use waxed paper.
- Check for bubbles 15 minutes after pouring and also a few times after that.
- The best way to burst bubbles is to use a straw. Make sure that when you exhale onto the resin you don’t accidentally inhale through the straw! I tend to hold my breath, breathe or blow out onto the resin, and inhale without the straw.
- Use an old brush for adding a thin layer of resin on a piece.
- What to do with spills? You can try to carefully scrape off the resin, but that can be tricky on polymer clay. I found that rubbing alcohol to rub off the resin works- this takes a while though and you better wear gloves for this as alcohol is very aggressive to your skin.
I hope you found this article interesting and useful. You can find my holographic pendants here and here.
Thanks for reading
Helen x