Craft Resin is not one resin in different bottle sizes. The range is split by job, and picking the right formula for the job is the single biggest factor in whether a project comes out well:
- Craft Resin Arts & Crafts – the flowing craft formula. It pours into molds, carries colour, releases bubbles and captures fine detail. Coasters, jewellery, trays, small castings, fluid art.
- Craft Resin Table Top Epoxy – the surface formula. It is thicker, so it stays where you put it and self-levels instead of running off an open edge. Countertops, bar tops, wooden boards, tumbler exteriors, a glossy coat on artwork.
- Craft Resin Deep Pour – the thick-pour formula. Any single layer deeper than 6 mm: river tables, deep castings, encapsulations.
If you are deciding between the first two, Table Top vs Arts & Crafts compares them property by property. This blog walks through the projects you can make and names the formula for each one.
The list below covers lots of projects, but because epoxy resin is extremely versatile, you can create lots of other projects with it too, artists are finding new ways to use resin every day!
If you want to create a project thats not on this list, go for it! Experiment, get creative and most importantly have fun trying new things - Thats what artists do, and that is where the beauty in your art comes from.
Resin Tableware:
Resin is a great substance to use to make different table ware items. You can colour resin and create all kinds of patterns within your projects and so you can create tableware items that can be bespoke to your own decorating style or your customers.
Some of the most popular tableware items are things like:
Resin Coasters
Resin Trays
Resin Wine Butlers
Resin Bowls
Wood/Resin Chopping Boards
Creating different projects with epoxy resin will take very similar basic techniques, but will vary slightly with the equipment needed and the molds you’ll use.
Most tableware items are smaller pieces cast in a mold, so Craft Resin Arts & Crafts is the formula to use for most of these. It comes in smaller bottle sizes too, so you have more purchase options when working on small projects. The exception is a wood and resin chopping or serving board: that is a surface job, and the formula for it is Craft Resin Table Top Epoxy.
Usually tableware projects are relatively thin, and so you don’t need to worry about changing techniques in order to create thicker projects. If a single layer will be thicker than 1/4” (6 mm), use Craft Resin Deep Pour rather than stacking layers of the craft formula.
Resin makes for great creations like coasters. Cured resin softens slightly at high temperature and hardens again as it cools; the heat from a hot mug will not normally damage a coaster surface. Heat resistance differs between the formulas, so check the figure for the one you are using on its product page and in Table Top vs Arts & Crafts before you make anything intended to take heat.
We do have a blog all about creating basic resin coasters, so if you would like to start creating these projects then this is a good place to start to learn the techniques. Once you have perfected the basic techniques then you can change to different projects and also different colour and pattern techniques too.
We also have lots of free video tutorials that can teach you how to create different resin projects:
Creating with resin is an art form and can be a very therapeutic activity to carry out. You also end up with some incredible creations to display in your own home, or gift to family and friends, or as products to start a resin business.
Items like resin tableware projects are great for selling, they are items that everyone uses in their daily lives and that can look extremely attractive in a home. A great selling point with these kinds of projects is that you can create them to the customers bespoke colour needs to match their home style.
Resin Tables/Countertops:
These are two different jobs and they take two different formulas. A river table is a thick pour into a channel, so that is Craft Resin Deep Pour: it is formulated so the heat build-up stays under control in a large mix, which is exactly what the craft formula cannot do. A countertop, worktop or bar top is a coating job on a flat surface, so that is Craft Resin Table Top Epoxy: it is thick enough to hold position and self-level across a wide area instead of running off the edges.
Resin river tables can look incredible, and you can usually create a very lucrative business out of selling these as you can charge more for projects like this.
Resin kitchen countertops have also become very popular over recent years, as you can normally recreate an expensive countertop look for a fraction of the price.
If you are going to be creating any large projects using our brands resin, we would always recommend practicing the simple techniques on something smaller first before tackling the larger creations. Resin can take time to perfect and the techniques you use need to be flawless to create larger projects without imperfections, so please bear this in mind.
We have further guidance online for creating worktops/countertops, please read this and do some further research before taking on a very large creation.
Resin Artwork:
Epoxy resin can give a great protective cover to your artwork, and make it glossy. Or you can create your own Geode Artwork with it.
Geode - These can look incredible displayed in your home, or gallery. Resin Geode art is more 3D than normal paintings and can be created with the most mesmerising colours and patterns to it.
You can add crystals to your Geode artwork, or create your own resin crystals to use in your work.
Covering art - this is the traditional use for Craft Resin: a clear coat that protects the piece and gives it a gloss. For a small canvas or panel Craft Resin Arts & Crafts will do the job. For a large flat piece, or where you want a thicker and harder protective layer that holds its position to the edge, use Craft Resin Table Top Epoxy.
The anti yellowing properties and UV protection in our resin, help to protect your artwork from the elements and keep the colours looking as fresh as the day it was created.
Please make sure if you are covering your artwork in epoxy resin, that you have used the correct paints, not oil based, and you have allowed the paints to dry fully before applying the epoxy resin to your work, drying times can take weeks.
Resin Memorial Art/Gifts:
As epoxy resin drys hard and offers protection from the elements it’s a really great substance to use to create memorial pieces with that will stand the test of time.
If you are creating with resin for the very first time we would suggest practicing on something less valuable for your first one or two attempts at a project. If you don’t follow the techniques to the letter with resin it can sometimes go wrong, and we would not want to you have used your valuable ashes, or flowers to create something that then doesn’t turn out as you would like it to.
Ashes - Some people like to create resin keepsakes with the ashes of a loved one or favourite pet in them. Items like resin jewellery, dog tags, and special display items can all make great keepsakes.
There are lots of established resin artists out there who create items like these and have a proven track record with items like this going right, so please do some research and contact these artists directly if you would like someone else to create these items for you.
Flower keepsakes - If you have recently got married and would like to keep your beautiful bouquet of flowers as a keepsake for all time, then encapsulating them in resin can be a great way of doing this.
We do have a blog dedicated to working with epoxy resin and flowers, but once again, if you don’t feel comfortable working with your own special flowers then please speak to a resin artists who creates these projects all the time and they will be able to create something special for you with your flowers.
Photo memories - Sometimes people wish to encapsulate photos in resin to keep them safe for the future. There are various frames you can create out of resin which you can encapsulate a photo in.
There are specific techniques to follow when encapsulating photos in resin, we don’t have a guide available for this at this time, so further research will need to be carried out before you begin a project like this.
Resin Statues:
By statues we’re not talking about a large statue that you would sit in your garden, but instead the smaller statues and figurines you see around homes.
There are lots of projects like this that the members of our Facebook Community Group create all the time, and they look amazing.
Here are a few ideas of what statues you can create from resin:
Resin Pyramids.
Resin Skulls.
Resin Bears.
Resin Goddesses.
Letters/Wording.
When it comes to creating statues with resin, you’re really only limited by the molds that are on offer, or that you can make yourself or have made for you.
Resin statues like pyramids take a large quantity of resin in one piece, so Craft Resin Deep Pour is the better option: you can cast them in far fewer layers than with Craft Resin Arts & Crafts, and without the heat build-up that a big mix of the craft formula would produce.
You can read how to use our Deep Pour resin to create projects like this here.
Resin Lights:
Many of the thicker projects like statues actually look really great if you add lights to them. Especially in the winter months when it is dark outside, resin statues with lights in can make a home look extremely cosy.
We do have a blog which explains more about putting lights into epoxy resin creations so please do read that if you’d like to learn more.
Animal Tags:
Resin when cured is an extremely lightweight material, this then makes great items like animal tags for collars as they won’t weigh the animals down.
You can get molds in the shapes of bones, hearts, rectangles and paw prints. They all come with a section in the mold that sticks up to form a space where a chain can go, so that you can easily attached them to an animal collar.
You can use lots of different colours to create bespoke tags, and you can also add resin stickers on them which you can seal in with a layer of clear resin over the top to add in the pets name.
If you do sell these kinds of creations, make sure you put some guidance in the pack sharing how these are not to be used by animals who like to chew their own tags. No pet should swallow these tags as they may be harmful.
Tea-Light Candle Holders:
Every Craft Resin formula has a heat-resistance limit, and the limits differ between them. Check the figure for the formula you are using on its product page before making anything that will be near heat – and treat that figure as an upper limit, not a target.
Tea light holders can be extremely beautiful, but caution must be taken. If the tea light holder has very low sides, normally the flame will not touch the resin or get close enough to burn the project. But if you are going to use a real tea light candle please make sure it is never unattended.
The safer way to do it would be to use a battery operated tea light, this is much more safe and can be left unattended as the lights won't heat up and cause any damage to the resin.
Prevention is always better than cure, and so avoiding flames near resin in the first place will always be the better option.
The same applies to ashtrays, which we are also asked about. A cigarette resting in the moulded dents of an ashtray is fine; the lit end resting directly on the resin is not, as that can soften the surface. If you sell tea light holders or ashtrays, include that guidance in the pack for your customer.
Jewellery:
Similar to the animal tags, epoxy resin makes for great jewellery pieces because it is very lightweight when cured - No saggy earlobes with resin earrings!
You can create so many different jewellery pieces and in your own unique style, or your customers:
Resin Earrings Hoops, studs, dangly ones the lot!
Resin Necklaces.
Resin Bangles.
Resin Hair Clips.
Pretty much only your imagination will limit what jewellery can be created with Craft Resin. There are so many mold makers out there who can create bespoke molds for you, and you can even create your own. You can literally make anything!
People are craving bespoke creations these days, personalised and unique to them. Resin gives you the perfect medium in which to create bespoke items for people, whether that’s resin jewellery or resin coasters, you can completely personalise them to the persons tastes, colour scheme and to the seasons if you wish to.
One thing our range is not intended for is epoxy flooring – there are other epoxies on the market formulated specifically for floors, and those are the right choice for that job.
If you are not sure whether your project will bond to the material you have in mind, what materials Craft Resin sticks to covers that.
If you have a creation in mind that you don't see on the list above, that doesn't mean it can't be created, it just means that it might take some more experimentation than these more traditional resin creations. Craft Resin products are so versatile. Please contact our team if you are ever unsure if epoxy resin is the best substance for your particular project and we'll send you all the guidance you'll need to create something a bit different.
What are you going to create first?
Topic Of The Week Giveaway:
We have attached a giveaway to these Topic Of The Week announcements on our Instagram platform, this is helping us to spread the knowledge of how to use epoxy resin further, but also enabling anyone who helps us share this information to win free resin and mica powders.
To enter the weekly giveaway please see the latest post pinned to the top of our Instagram feed and follow the instructions to enter:
Team Craft Resin
