Uv resin: Experiment #1

I don't have a UV lamp (yet), so I cured the old-fashioned way: in sunlight.

Steps:

1. I brushed the inside of the mould with a thin layer of silver glitter. (I used my finger, I put on disposable surgical gloves lol)
    
2. I mixed UV resin with blue poster colour and a bit of blue glitter dust and poured one layer in. Left to cure.
    
3. I mixed UV resin with a lot of pink glitter dust and poured one layer. Added six 11/0 seed beads (each bead is about 2mm in diameter) arranged in the shape of a flower, a turqoise flower sequin, and four randomly placed petals of a blue flower sequin. Left to cure.
    
4. I mixed UV resin with a little (just a very little, I didn't want it to be overwhelming) purple glitter "hairs" (short stripes?) and poured one layer. I was impatient and lazy, so I poured more resin in an attempt to dome the project and as a result, the resin overflowed the mould, although I tried to wipe off some excess. Gave up on wiping and left to cure.

Result:

The edges are jagged, but I knew that was going to happen due to the overflow of the resin earlier. I also know (have seen in YouTube tutorials) that I can file or sand those edges off.

The surface of the piece is not smooth. I don't know why. There is a "bump" in the resin on one side.

The very first layer, the blue, didn't cure properly and left a patch stuck in the mould :( The patch was hard, so it's not that it didn't cure (as in didn't dry), but that it didn't bond. I think there was too much pigment (I've read that pigment can affect curing as it blocks the UV rays from reaching the photoinitiators in the resin to activate the curing process) and indeed, even while mixing I felt that I had put too much colour, although I only added a small drop! The colour was very dense.

I like the 3D effect given by layering the resin over the embellishments. It feels like the items are suspended in water, that's the best way to describe it.

The blue cannot be seen much through the pink glitter layer, but looking at the piece closely, I think it does have the effect of providing a base colour for the glitter.

Take-aways:

• Add less pigment to the resin, just a teeny-tiny bit will do.
   
• Add the pigmented layer last when using a mould, not first! (Because the back of the piece is actually the last layer, the one facing you; the front is on the inside of the mould) You want the colour to be a sort of background for the whole thing, not to appear on the front and obscure everything. I think the first layer can be totally clear or just have a little glitter in it to add shimmer / shine.
   
• Plan layers more carefully (what to add in which layer, so that it will give the desired effect)
   
• Be careful about the amount of resin being poured. Don't over-pour. If want to dome the top (i.e. the back of the piece), do it in one last step after the layer which creates a flat surface has cured.
   

UV Resin

I have a new obsession and need to write things down so that I don't forget!

I've just discovered UV resin by watching a YouTube tutorial, and it has gotten me excited! It cures under UV light within 15-20 minutes maximum, and doesn't need mixing unlike epoxy resin.

Epoxy resin always felt intimidating to me cos you have to mix the ingredients together and get them exactly right, or it might not cure properly, and of course took forever to cure. Because UV resin cures so fast, you can apply layers to your piece and build up interesting 3D effects. I love the concept! And being Miss Impatient, I also love that it cures fast!

So. There are 3 main ways (that I've seen) of making pendants with UV resin:

1. Use a silicone mould and pour the resin in, cure it under UV light, pop the pendant out of the mould, and attach it to a bail or drill a small hole in it to attach a jump ring;
    
2. Use a cabochon-type bezel and pour the resin in, then cure it under UV light;
    
3. Use an open-backed bezel or connector/link finding (anything that has a hollow space in the middle), paste refrigerator/painter's tape on the back to "seal" the back (any tape which doesn't leave sticky residue would work), then turn the piece over, pour in the resin, cure the whole thing under UV light; when done, peel off the backing, apply one more thin layer of resin on the back, and cure again.

This means I've ordered several silicone moulds and various types of bezels and bails. Uh-huh. And a pin vise drill, or mini hand drill, and refrigerator tape. Uh-huh.

Aaaaand you can use nail art embellishments for your pendant, cos those embellishments are tiny and you can place them wherever you want in the pendant, to jazz up your design. So I've been looking at loads and loads of nail art stuff. There are rhinestones and glitter and powder (glitter powder and holographic powder, to name just two) and sequins and stickers and stencil stampers! Holy smokes. See this fantastic tutorial using stencil & stamping! There are even "caviar beads" (super tiny beads) and foil flakes and dried flowers and flatback half pearls.

A note on glitter powder: it's different from glitter cos glitter is coarser, usually around 1mm in diameter, whereas glitter powder is fine, like dust. I think glitter powder, when mixed in the resin, will give a shimmery effect, while the glitter itself will be more blingy because there are larger pieces reflecting light. There are also different ways of applying the powder. I've seen a video where the powder was dusted into the silicone mould, then the resin was poured in -- which means the glitter would end up being on the top surface of the piece; but on an open-backed bezel I've seen it being dusted on one of the layers, usually a background layer before applying any other stickers, painting, or other embellishment; and of course you can thoroughly mix it with your resin solution before pouring the solution into the bezel or mould. I plan to experiment with all three ways and see what difference it makes to how my piece turns out.

Now, to colour the UV resin, there are pigments specially made for that, but I read that eyeshadow or chalk work too; just squeeze a bit of resin onto a surface which acts as a palette (I heard that a polypropylene plastic sheet works well because resin does not adhere to it; you can also use wax paper or baking paper), scrape some of the colour off your eyeshadow or chalk, and mix it in. So now I'm looking for cheap eyeshadow palettes. I think it's probably cheaper than buying the resin pigments. Why colour the resin? Well, apart from giving your pendant a specific colour, sometimes to layer different colours, or have your pendant's background coloured differently in different sections. See this tutorial! UPDATE: A YouTuber answered a question I asked in a comment, and said that she uses soft pastels to colour her resin. She just scraped off a bit of the pastel and mixed it up in the resin.

UPDATE 2: You can use these to colour UV resin:

1. Eyeshadow
2. Soft pastels (also known as chalk pastels)
3. Acrylic paint: It creates an opaque effect (the item won't be see-through) and also makes the surface of the item become matte (usually cured resin is a little glossy, but the acrylic paint counters that glossy finish). Plus, it also may make the item look a little grainy

UPDATE 3: I have had success using poster colours to colour the resin. Just put a teeny tiny dot. A little goes a long way!

Alcohol ink and food dye / food colouring won't work, according to this video. The lady stated that they may work for epoxy resin, but will prevent UV resin from curing. And here is a very informative blog post!

You can draw on the UV resin too, like doing nail art: See this gorgeous peacock pendant tutorial. What I've read is that this UV resin is very similar to gel nails which are also cured under UV light (and you can use the gel manicure lamps to cure your UV resin pendants). So I was reading about gel nails and nail art, a subject I know NOTHING about, and I discovered you cannot draw on gel nails with regular nail polish cos according to one report, the polish will crack when the gel top coat is applied over it and cured. You can use gel polish or acrylic paint, or "nail art pens", but nowadays there is also gel paint. Gel paint can of course be cured immediately after application, but if you use acrylic paint (as in the paint you'd get from any art & craft store) you need to wait for it to dry before applying a gel top coat and curing that. But gel paint is thicker than gel polish (the whole point of creating a paint is so that the nail artists wouldn't have to go over their artwork again and again, applying many layers in order to achieve the necessary opacity to get the design to stand out; polish tends to be less opaque, hence we usually apply a minimum of two coats of polish, even with regular polish) so -- where was I? -- oh yes, so with gel paint you need to take up and apply only a little at a time with your brush, to avoid possible goopiness.

And you'd definitely need a set of nail art brushes as long as you're not using those specialty nail art pens, plus brush cleaner to clean them (I read that we shouldn't clean them with acetone -- the solution used to remove gel nails -- because that would damage the brush). So: that means buying gel polish / gel paint, a set of nail art brushes, and brush cleaner... I still need to discover how to clean off the resin from the polypropylene sheet used as a palette.

I also read that LED UV lamps cure gel nails more quickly than regular UV lights, and of course they tend to use less wattage and are much longer-lasting than regular bulbs or tubes. So I'm looking for an LED curing station which is powered by plugging it into a wall socket, and not via USB charging. Cos if there's an internal battery and you keep charging it, eventually one day it will retain less and less charge (power?) and then it will die, and I don't like that idea. It also needs to be large enough that the silicone moulds will be able to fit into it.

Okay I think that covers it all for now! I might have forgotten something, in which case I'll come back and edit this post when I recall whatever it is I've missed. This is mainly intended as a resource for myself.

EDIT: Last night I watched a tutorial by a Japanese lady who used origami paper (or patterned paper) as a pendant background. She glued double-sided scotch tape onto the paper prior to inserting it onto the first layer of resin in the silicone mould, because she said when she tried putting in the paper by itself, "it got darkened when the resin got stained" (that is a Google translation of what she wrote in Japanese! lol). I think a 4mm-wide clear cellophane tape (packing tape?) would do -- I have that around the house -- but I also think a layer of Mod Podge, varnish or any kind of paper sealant would work. Another thing to try out once my supplies arrive.

EDIT 2: I watched a video where the lady used holographic nail art transfer foil to decorate the surface of the finished piece. She brushed on the UV resin, spread the foil over it, and cured. After curing, she peeled off the foil. I had been wondering if there was a way to use the foil and now I'm all WOW! Also, if you apply resin onto the surface of the piece with a brush (like for finishing, the final cure), another YouTuber said, "I always wipe the used brush with wet tissue paper containing alcohol. Although it gets a little sticky, it can be used without problems."