Create Colorized Resin Mosaics with Excess Resin Tutorials

If you have worked with resin before, you often have some leftover resin you don’t want to waste. This tutorial will help your resin be “good to the last drop.”

Resin, when it is still curing, is very soft and can be easily cut with scissors and even rolled. Create interesting mosaics with the excess resin that would have otherwise been sent off to the trash!

Shop Wholesale: Buy & Try Resin Mosaics – Colorized Resin, Open Back Bezels

Supplies Needed:
Nunn Design Open Pendants
Colorized Nunn Design Resin

Others:
Packing Tape
Wet-wipes
Toothpicks
Stir Sticks
Mixing Cups
Business Cards or glossy card stock
Goo-Be-Gone
Rubbing Alcohol
Plastic Bags
Q-Tips

Tools:
Scissors
Tweezers
Needle Nose Pliers

Learn How:

Step 1:
Sometimes it is challenging to get everything completed before my resin starts to set-up. If this is your experience too, have some plastic bags, like ziplock, handy to pour your resin onto. Spread the resin around with a stir stick until it is thinned out.

Step 2:
After 12 hours, the resin will be slightly cured, yet soft enough to roll and cut with scissors. Peel the resin up from the plastic bag and lay on a flat surface.

Step 3:
Use a pen to trace the inner dimensions of a Open Pendant onto the resin. For my first pieces, I mixed all three colors together, so trace the design on multiple colors of cured resin.

Step 4:
Cut a piece of packing tape and place it on your work surface. Place an Open Pendant onto the tape. Using your fingertips, press the pendant down onto the packing tape and rub back and forth on your work surface to make sure it is burnished down.

Tip:
Check to see that your packing tape is clear and there is no residue or mottling in the adhesive. If there is, it will show up in your finished resin piece when you remove the tape once the resin is cured. Try to use an area of the tape that does not have blotches or marks.

Step 5:
Trim away any excess packing tape from around your Open Pendant to avoid the curing resin piece from being potentially disturbed.

Tip:
I like to place each bezel on its own individual piece of packing tape. It makes the pouring easier to manage and eliminates the chance of disturbing the bezel next to it.

Step 6:
Using a pair of scissors, cut the cured resin into design patterns of your liking. The resin is soft enough to be rolled into spirals and placed into the Open Pendants.

Step 7:
Use a pair of tweezers to embed the resin into the Open Pendant, securing it onto the packing tape.

Step 8:
I tend to work in a small area (typically my kitchen table), so I like to work on a surface that projects can be easily moved around and not disturbed. Place some business cards or some heavy card stock onto your work surface, making it easy to move the pendants without getting any resin on your fingers.

Step 9:

Read the resin instructions for safety concerns regarding the Nunn Design Resin. When I work with resin, I always:

• Place a large plastic bag over my work surface and tape it down.
• I make sure I have ventilation in my workroom.
• I wear gloves.
• I wear glasses (readers because I can’t see anymore. Plus it protects my eyes!).
• I have a pile of wet wipes handy.

Step 10:

Place one cup (included in the Nunn Design Resin Kit) onto your table. For curing purposes, it is very important that the resin be an exact 1 to 1 ratio of Part A and Part B. I suggest getting your eyes level with the resin so you can see the lines on the measuring cup. Pour Part A of your resin kit up to the ½ fluid ounce mark on your measuring cup. Pour Part B of your resin kit into the same cup until it is filled to the 1 fluid ounce mark. It is important to pour Part A first and then Part B. It is some chemical thing about the part B being heavier or something.

Step 11:


Set your timer for 2 minutes. Using the stir stick from your kit (a popsicle stick or coffee stir stick will work great too), slowly and carefully stir your resin scraping the sides as you stir. Stir for a minimum of 2 minutes. If your resin is still cloudy continue to mix until clear. After mixing is complete and your resin is clear, scrape both sides of your stir stick on the edge of your resin filled cup.

Step 12:
Slowly drizzle your mixed resin into the Open Pendant until the base of the bezel is filled.

Step 13:
Use a toothpick to agitate the resin and make sure there aren’t any air bubbles lurking below the surface.

Step 14:
If you have any resin where you don’t want it, use a Q-Tip to clean up the surface. If any of the resin spills over the sides, don’t worry. I’ll show you how to easily clean that up once the resin is slightly cured.

Step 15:
Set the bezel aside for 12 hours until the resin is slightly cured. If you see bubbles rising to the surface, using your hot breath, breathe on them. It isn’t a “blow” sort of breath – more of a “huff” sort of a breath. The hot air will make the bubbles expand, rise to the surface and pop. As the resin starts to set-up and become thicker, it will be more difficult for the air to rise to the surface. Make sure to check in on the curing resin and double check for air bubbles. If you do have some bubbles, use a toothpick to gentle drag them over to the sides. This agitation process will help them to pop. When the resin is thick and taffy like in texture it is time to let it be. If you attempt to pop bubbles at this time, you may end up with a gooey mess.

Step 16:
If you do have some overflow, let your resin filled bezel set for 12 hours. After 12 hours, the resin will be set, but still very flexible. Use a pair of needle nose pliers to pry away the resin from the pendant. The resin will easily peel away and is fairly easy to pick-off with your fingernails.

Step 17:
Remove the packing tape from the backside once fully cured. If you do it after 12 hours (like I did so I could remove the spillage from step 16) the resin will still be very flexible and can easily “bow” within the bezel. Just go slow and don’t press or pull too hard.

Step 18:
If you have any excess residue from the packing tape on the backside, use the tape to remove it like you would when you are removing lint or animal fur from your clothes. Keep touching the packing tape onto the sticky surface until it is no longer sticky. If the residue isn’t coming up, try Goo Be Gone! Follow the manufacture’s instructions for best results. I applied a couple drops on the backside and let it sit for over a minute. I then used a stir stick to scrape the tapes residue. To remove all that sticky mess, pour some rubbing alcohol onto a wet-wipe and wipe it away.

Additional Information!
Another blog post that you might be interested in is; How to Make 2017 Summer Pantone Colors with Colorized Resin. In this post I list formula to mixing Nunn Design Resin with Castin Crafts Opaque Pigments to create colors from the 2017 Summer Pantone selection.

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