Reveling in Resin - DIY....

Hello Moxie Fab friends.  Have you been to Moxie Fab World yet today?  I've got a Moxie Talk post all about the fabulous resin accents that are so HOT right now.  We started seeing these little goodies show up in the paper crafting world within the past year and they were everywhere this past weekend at CHA. Here is just a small sampling of the fun resin embellishments out there...

Whenever I see a trend like this, the crafty side of me says "Hey, can I make those myself??"  So naturally while I was thinking about these little doodads for my post this week, my mind started to wonder about what it would take to create my own.  I did some research and experimenting and I'm pleased to say that YES!  You can make them yourself and it's really pretty easy and FUN...although it's pretty fun to just buy them too! :-)

So...what do you need?  First off, you will need some molds.  I purchased a few small silicone molds from Mold Muse on Etsy.  They are fairly inexpensive and can be used over and over again.  They've got lots of really pretty designs, too!  The silicone is nice because it is flexible and your designs will pop right out once they are set.  You can also use candy molds, but will need to use a drop of vegetable oil in the bottom as a release agent so that your finished design will come out of the mold.  I haven't tried this myself, but it's what I've read.

Now...what are you going to fill the mold with?  The embellishments you purchase are made from molded plastic or resin.  While at CHA, we came across a booth that manufactures a product called Ice Resin.  It's really very easy to use and can be colored with various colorants.  Let's check it out...

The nice folks in the Ice Resin booth provided me with a sample to experiment with that looks like this... 

It is a 2-part resin -- the sample pack has these little plungers which makes it super easy to use...you don't even have to measure!  Just squirt out as much as you want to use.  Here is what you'll need if you want to try this yourself...

The resin, a mold, and something to use as a colorant.  I used some Papertrey ink refills for my colorant, but there are lots of other things you can use...acrylic paint, oil paint, pigment powders, etc.  I kept it simple and used what I had on hand.

 

First you'll want to mix the resin according to the package instructions...very easy, just put equal parts of the two different formulas and stir.  You can then add your colorant.  I used just ONE drop of ink refill...a little goes a long way!

 
Then just pour the resin into your mold and let it sit.  It takes awhile to harden...I filled my molds in the afternoon and let them sit overnight.  By morning I could pop them right out of the mold!

 
If you're interested in playing around with resin, I recommend the book Explore, Create, Resinate.  It is filled with tips and ideas for crafting with resin.  I am slightly fascinated by it after seeing the Ice Resin booth at CHA.  They had the most gorgeous jewelry and charms and they were making the most fabulous resin coated paper.  It was GORGEOUS and I definitely need to try it!  The Ice Resin site also has LOTS of information.

 
So, back to creating our embellishments....I also played around with using clay.  This was easy too, but it gives a slightly different effect.  The finished product has more of a matte finish.  I tried three different kinds of clay, shown in the photo below.  I found that I liked the Pardo Jewelry clay the best.  After it was baked, it had a nice, irredescent sheen.  It doesn't have the same translucent quality of the resin, but still very pretty.  It comes in lots of colors and I picked it up at Hobby Lobby.

 
To make embellishments with the clay, just knead it until it is soft, then pack it into your mold.

 

Bake it according to the package instructions, then let it cool and pop it out of the mold.  You can see from my photo that I was a bit impatient and tried to get the largest rose out of the mold while it was still very warm.  You'll want to wait until it cools a bit.  :-)

 
This was a super fun experiment and I'm going to need to make some more of these little beauties.  Here is my end result...

The large orange cameo and the aqua roses were done with resin.  The green roses, blue cameo, pink cameo, and blue heart were done with clay. You can see on the blue cameo that I got a little adventerous with the clay and tried to make the flowers a different color....not sure that worked out so great.  I think brushing the finished piece with a bit of acrylic paint would definitely be the easier/better way to go.

How about a card using one of these?  I used the pink cameo and brushed a bit of cream acrylic paint over the rasied portions. 

That adorable sentiment stamp is from Kim Hughe's new stamp company called Paper Smooches!

 

Now, if you haven't been there already, make sure you head over to the Moxie Fab World blog to see my post all about these trendy resin beauties!

Thanks for visiting today and sharing in my little experiment!