Decorating for the holidays is so much fun. I get so excited when I start to see all the holiday decorations in the stores (although maybe not when they start appearing in September!). But rather than always buying holiday decorations, it’s so much fun to make them instead! This simple tutorial will show you how to make your own personalized DIY resin ornament.
I love working with resin, there are so many projects you can do with it, but one of my favorite things to do is to make resin ornaments. They are fun to make, easy to personalize, make great gifts and look amazing on your tree!
Table of Contents
What is a Resin Craft?
A resin craft is something that is made out of Epoxy Resin. It is a clear thick liquid and when it is mixed with polyamine hardener, it dried to be rock solid. It can be a little messy, but it’s great fun to make custom crafts with. There are dozens and dozens of ideas for resin crafts, but they are normally for adults.
One of my favorite Halloween projects is my Halloween Resin Charms.
This resin ornament project is perfect for older kids and teens. Little kids could even help with it, but they would need a LOT of supervision!
Epoxy Resin
It is relatively easy to buy epoxy resin and hardener (they normally come together in a kit), however, it can be pretty expensive at the crafts stores (and is rarely on sale).
I buy mine from Amazon, as I find this is the cheapest place to buy it. I personally use EnviroTex and like the way it pours and dries. However, there are many other brands (especially if you want to buy it in bulk).
Tips For Working With Epoxy Resin
Here are a few tips that will help you when you are making your resin charms!
- Make sure you measure the resin and hardener carefully. It must be exactly 1:1 ratio.
- Mix the two parts together thoroughly. Take your time and mix for at least 5-10 minutes. If they are not completely combined, then your resin charm will not set and will stay sticky!
- When mixing, make sure you do it carefully and don’t get too much air into the mixture. You want to keep the bubbles to a minimum.
- Once you pour your resin into the molds, if you still have bubbles on the surface of your resin, you can use a lighter to gently pop the bubbles.
Silicone Molds
To make this holiday resin ornament, you can either use a plain circle silicone mold or if you want something a bit different, then you can use a Holiday shaped mold!
Ideally, you want to pick a mold that is shiny on the inside. That way your charm will be shiny when you remove it from the mold. However, if the only molds you can find are matt on the inside, then all you need to do is apply a thin coat of glossy Modge Podge once the resin is completely dry.
How to Make Resin Ornaments
This craft is a little messy, but the steps are easy, just pay attention to the measuring of the resin and thoroughly mixing it!
Scroll down for full instructions, supply list, and notes.
Start by carefully measuring and mixing the epoxy resin according to the directions on your box. They are all slightly different!
Once it is thoroughly mixed, you can gently pour the resin into your molds. Be careful not to get too many air bubbles in the resin as you pour.
If you do have some bubbles in the resin, you can use a lighter to carefully heat the surface of your resin ornament. This will cause the bubbles to burst.
Now you can carefully place any beads, stickers or chunky glitter pieces into the resin. I used so cute 3D snowmen that I got in the scrapbooking section of my local craft store.
You want to place the stickers face down. And if you are using letter beads, be sure to spell any words backward, as they will be viewed from the other side of the finished resin ornament.
I also placed a few snowflake shaped glitter pieces around the snowmen to make it look like they were in a storm!
If you use fine glitter it will sink to the bottom. So I sprinkled the white fine glitter on the lower half of the ornament. But I waited 8-10 hours for the resin to harden slightly before I sprinkled the blue glitter on the upper half. Otherwise, the blue glitter would have sunk and ruined the look of the ‘sky’.
Once the resin has hardened slightly but is not completely set (about 10-12 hours), you can carefully remove it from the mold and insert a jewelry eye pin into the top of the ornament (cut the eye pin to length before inserting)
Once your resin ornament has fully dried (about 24 hours), you can string your ornament and hang it on your tree!
Easy Holiday Resin Ornament
These resin ornaments are easy to make and so much fun! The options are endless - just pick your beads, stickers and glitter combination. Perfect Christmas craft for older kids and teens.
Materials
- 1/2 Cup Epoxy Resin
- 1/2 Cup Hardener
- Snowmen Stickers (do NOT use paper stickers)
- Chunky Glitter (silver)
- Fine Glitter (white and blue)
- Jewelry Eye Pin (cut to length)
Tools
- Silicone Mold
- Plastic Container
- Wooden Stick
- Lighter
Instructions
- Carefully measure equal parts of epoxy resin and hardener in a disposable plastic container. Mix together thoroughly, follow the instructions on the packaging.
- Once the resin is completely mixed together, gently pour into the silicone molds.
- Use a lighter to heat the surface of the resin to remove any air bubbles. Keep the flame moving, so you don't burn the surface.
- Carefully place your stickers into the mold. Do not use paper stickers, you only want to use plastic or metal ones.
- Sprinkle glitter over the surface on the resin (see note below if you are using fine glitter).
- If you would like to hang your ornament: wait until the resin is partly set (about 10-12 hours) and gently remove from the mold. Insert the jewelry eye pin into the top of the charm (you will need to cut the wire shorter, so it doesn't stick too far down into the charm).
- Allow the resin to fully set for 24 hours and then carefully remove from the mold.
