My first resin rings

I found a pair of "old" resin rings I've made some time ago. Some of my first tests using epoxy resin and "resin powder", actually. Which would explain the sloppy work -- don't check for resin drops on the outside of the bezels...

Anyway, this first one is a simple ring where I cut out a rose from one of my favourite scrapbook papers. I had -- and have -- no special epoxy resin so I just used the common epoxy glue you can find in the hardware store. Non-yellowing according to the manufacturer. Looking carefully you can see some tiny air bubbles as I didn't know how to get rid of them.


I do prefer epoxy resins especially made for jewellery making, not least since those doesn't begin to cure as fast as epoxies intended as adhesives. But when you want to try something new you make due with what you have. Which was the thought behind the ring below as well.

This ring is made from japanese paper and UTEE (Ultra Thick Embossing Enamels). I wanted to try this as I'd just read about JudiKins' Amazing Glaze and thought it'd be fun to try. But I couldn't buy it at the time so what to do? Well, some time ago I'd bought some UTEE as I wanted to make some cool paper beads I'd found instructions for. That didn't happen as I don't own a heat gun, but I had read that you could melt UTEE in a melting pot -- so surely you could melt it in the oven too, as you would with Amazing Glaze?

Melting Amazing Glaze in the oven was fun, but I fear I'm not as steady on hand as I should in order to work with powders like this -- more than once I dropped my rings and bezels on the floor before I even got them into the oven. This ring I dropped directly when taking it from the oven and before the plastic powder had had time to harden...

As you can see in the close-up above the resin also "leaked" through the paper, but that is not as obvious when looking at the ring IRL.



Nowadays I've found another favourite that doesn't require mixing as epoxy does or handling powders and work with multiple "firings" as UTEE does: Gel du Soleil 1-part UV-curing epoxy resin. For some things I can't use it, but for resin bezels like the ones above I love it!

(There's also another brand of UV-curing resin: Lisa Pavelka's Magic Glos, which I haven't tried.)

Resin charms with Gel du Soleil

In my other blog, I've written a long ode to Gel du Soleil, a single-part epoxy "resin" by JudiKins that is cured with UV light. Theoretically, it can be cured in sunlight, but November in Skåne is not the best time and place to test that... I had to give up after 30 hours of barely no sun at all. But as luck would have it, my dad has this old UV-lamp for philatelistic purposes, which turned out to be perfect.

I really like not having to mix a two-part resin -- that can be really messy -- and the need of UV light means the resin will stay liquid as long as I want it too, unlike the usual epoxy resins. The bottle also make the resin super-easy to apply. Small bubbles can easily be removed by keeping it close to a lighter flame. And if you accidentally scratch the surface of touch the resin before it's fully cured, it will disappear with a new layer of resin covering it. It's a bit smelly, but not worse than many other things I work with.

Above you can see my first charms I made with the resin, using Patera pendants and NunnDesign image transfers. For the charm on the right I used a piece of a "vintage perfume label" sticker. Unfortunatly, I didn't think of sealing it so the resin seaped through the sticker, making it darker than I meant it too. Still think it turned out OK, though.

I bought the small 0,3 oz (9 ml) bottle and my only worry right now is how long it will last. Because the bottle is black, to keep UV-light from curing it already in the bottle, I can't see how much resin is left. Nor does it help to shake the bottle. My fear is that it will run out halfway through a project.


There are still times when other resin may be a better choice, but for the rest of my projects, I'll probably stick to UV-curing epoxies.