DIY Art Resin Jewelry Pendants: Clever Gift Idea You’ll Love!

In this tutorial, Steve with Upstart Epoxy walks you through the super-easy creation of epoxy resin jewelry pendants using art resin. These are the PERFECT gift ideas if you’re looking to DIY some presents this year! This project requires very few tools, very little time, and is easy to do for any epoxy skill level.

Skill Level: Beginner/Intermediate/Expert

Estimated Working Time: N/A

What You’ll Need:
Art Resin
Small Wood Slab
Tyvek Tape
Sander
Small Drill
Wood Oil

How to Make Resin Jewelry

We had some leftover scrap of wood, so we decided to try our hand at making small resin jewelry pendants that we can give away as gifts! To start things off, grab a small piece of wood that has a bit of character to it, similar to the one we used. This will be the base of your pendant. Once we got these wood pieces all cut and carved up, we used a little bit of Tyvek tape to create a reservoir on the top of the base. This is where you will pour your art resin to make epoxy jewelry.

Art resin is an easy, functional, flowing epoxy resin that you can use for unique creations. It’s very similar to tabletop, as it’s a 1:1 ratio and it cures very quickly- nothing like deep pour! Once you’ve taped up your piece, you can go ahead and mix up a batch of our art resin and mix it slowly for a few minutes. We didn't need a lot here, and only mixed up about two ounces of art resin, just to fill up those pendants. We poured in about an inch, stopping just before the art resin reached the top. Next, we made sure there were no leaks coming out of the edges or sides that we taped. Once it’s been mixed thoroughly and the bubbles have dissipated, you’re ready to pour!

If you want to add more detail to your resin jewelry, it’s important to wait until the art resin is at the consistency of peanut butter to add additional colors or elements. This will ensure that the epoxy is near curing, and will properly take in whatever you add to it. If you want your designs to stay in place, don’t skip this step!

Coloring Your Pendant Jewelry

Then we went ahead and got our powdered pigments set, and mixed our chosen colors into a cup with our leftover resin from our additional pour. As recommended in our last tutorial, we wanted to wait until that first layer got to the consistency of peanut butter before adding in our colored resin. That's the best time to manipulate your epoxy, as any designs you create will stay put. We swirled the colors in and they added a creative, unique touch to the pendant. We were pumped!

Finish Your Epoxy Jewelry

Once you have added everything you want to the pendant, wait 8-12 hours to remove the tape, and voila! You have the first glimpse of your epoxy resin jewelry . Look at how cool they're already starting to look!

At this point, lightly sand the pendant (using 220-grit) to achieve the transparent look and ideal shape you want. This will also get rid of that stickiness from the Tyvek tape, as well as iron out any excess epoxy that may have leaked out.

Our next step was to drill holes through our pendant so we can run cording through them. We used a small drill and went to town on adding a little hole through it. Next, finish the base off with some wood oil, add in cording, and you’re done!