Are you a naturally thrifty crafter like me? We love to repurpose, and we hate wasting or throwing away material. And resin is not really cheap, so I wanted to give you several ideas on how to use up extra resin.
HOW TO MIX THE RIGHT AMOUNT OF RESIN
The first tip I have though is for helping you mix up the correct amount of resin in the first place. Because the frustration of having too much left over is second only to not having enough in the first place and having to mix more.
If you are filling a mold with resin, first pour water to fill the mold. Pour that water out into a measuring cup and you’ll see the volume of resin you need – then do add just a little more to account for what might stay stuck in the mixing cups.
So if you end up with 4 ounces of water, you would want to do 2.5 oz resin and 2.5 hardener. That will give you about 5 ounces of mixed resin, making sure you can fill the whole mold.
Be sure that the mold is completely dry after this process, before adding resin to it. Any water left in can interfere with the curing process.
If you are doing a coating pour, check the product specs for how much resin to use for the project size you have.
IDEAS FOR LEFTOVER RESIN
Ok, so you’ve done all that, your mold or pour is complete, but you still have some perfectly good and beautiful resin, perhaps in several colors even. What do to?
Get a collection of cute, small molds that you like. It could be earrings, a pendant, small charms that could be added to thumbtacks, or even an alphabet mold.
Have some of those molds selected and ready before you begin your original project. Then you don’t have to go looking for them later, possibly using up the rest of the pot time that your resin has.
With the leftover resin you have, start pouring some of those small molds. Layer colors if you need to.
If you have some molds with accents in their design – like a part that will be raised when demolded, use these small amounts of resin to color in those accents and finish them later.
You could even start to build a collection of crazy coasters. Fill a single coaster mold after each project, swirling and mixing whatever colors you have left.
If it only covers the bottom of the mold, when you have a few of them ready, you could mix a new batch of clear or colored resin to fill in the rest of each mold to complete the coasters.
Here is a resin cuff bracelet that I built up with layers from several projects over a few months.
What are some things you have made with leftover extra resin? Tell me about it!
Shop resin supplies to get started
- EasyCast (for knobs, jewelry, charms, coasters, etc.)
- Pour on Lite (high gloss coating, great for tables, coatings, etc)
- Jewelry Resin (specifically for making jewelry)
- Polyester Resin (Embed objects like insects, coins, shells, etc in clear plastic)
- Mold Builder (for creating silicone molds of objects to then fill with resin)
- Mixing cups (large and small)
- Stir sticks
- Silicone candy mold (no food use after this)
- Other molds (make trays, coasters, pendants, accessories, etc)
- Mold Release Conditioner
- Opaque Pigments and Transparent Dyes
- Resin Powder (mica powder for adding color)
- Gloves and eyewear