Well people, I finally did it. I made my own resin letters! And it was, AMAZING! Resin has become extremely popular to use for educational purposes, recently. My Instagram and Pinterest feeds have been flooded with resin letters and numbers made with glitter, little charms, dried flowers and bold colors. I couldn’t stand it any longer; I just had to try it! So, I grabbed myself some resin mix from Amazon, and got to creating!
I have wanted to tackle resin for quite a while, but I put it off because I thought it would be super difficult. Guess what? It’s not!!! Honestly, the hardest part was waiting for it to dry!
Even though it is rather simple, it is extremely important to follow the instructions exactly or your resin might not turn out. I am going to lay out how I created my resin letters, but if you choose to purchase a different resin than what I used, be sure to read those instructions and follow them.
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Materials
- Resin mix
- Silicone letters mold
- Glitter
- *4 plastic cups with measurements
- *3 wooden stir sticks (or popsicle sticks)
- Paper towels
- Cookie tray
- Foil
- Parchment paper
- Garbage bag
- *Rubber gloves (throw away)
- Toothpick
*Note: the resin mixture that I purchased came with 4 cups, 3 stir sticks and gloves. So, if you purchase from my resin link, you do not need to grab additional cups, stir sticks or gloves!
The cookie tray and foil are not required, but I found that it helped to set my letter mold on the cookie tray so it had a stable, even base and I could move it if need be.
Related: Here is another fun and easy letter craft for learning to try!
How To
The most important thing I found with resin, is that you need to take the time to get set up before you start mixing. The moving and pouring is time sensitive, so if you mix your resin then try to set everything up, your letters may not set properly or your resin may start to harden in the cup!
So, get everything set up before you touch your resin bottles!
Set Up
1. Wrap your cookie tray in foil (to protect it) and place it wherever you want your resin to cure. Be sure that your space will remain between 70-80 degrees Fahrenheit. For me, that was my garage.
2. Choose your mold and clean it from any debris. Whatever is in your mold will end up in your resin. So, if there are left over crayon crumbles or dust bunnies, you will see those in your final product! Place your mold on your cookie tray and set a few paper towels and a piece of parchment beside it.
3. If you would like a glitter front like I have pictured here, sprinkle a layer of glitter into each letter now. If you want the glitter mixed throughout your letter, add it to the resin mixture before you pour it into the molds. And if you want to add charms, dried flowers, or anything else to the middle of your resin letters, add them after your resin is poured.
4. Lay out a garbage bag on your mixing work surface to protect it from any spills.
5. Set out all 4 cups and 3 sticks on your work surface.
Mix Away!
You are now ready to start creating! Your resin kit should come with 2 bottles: the hardener and the resin.
1. Put your gloves on and open the seal on each bottle. Place a cup in front of each bottle with a stir stick.
2. Decide how much mixture you want to mix at one time and pour equal amounts in each cup. For example, my cups measured up to 100mL, so I poured 40mL of hardener into one cup and 40mL of resin into another cup. It is extremely important that your measurements are the same for each liquid! If the amounts are unequal, your resin may have soft spots when dry. So MEASURE CAREFULLY! I chose to only do 40mL of each because I wanted extra room to mix them together in the 100mL cup.
3. Carefully, pour both cups (the resin and hardener) into a 3rd cup (together). So now, you should have about 80mL of liquid in one cup. Mix this cup for 3-5 minutes or until you no longer see streaks of white. Be sure to scrape the sides and bottom while stirring.
4. When your resin is thoroughly mixed, pour your mixture into the 4th cup and mix for another 30 seconds. This will ensure that your resin is as mixed as possible. *If you want glitter mixed into each letter, add it to your resin now and mix it up before pouring.
5. Pour your mixture into the prepared mold. You will not want to add more to the same letter later (it starts to dry quickly), so be sure to fill each mold as high as you would like the first time around.
6. Go back to your mixing station and mix up another batch following steps 2-5! I found that this resin kit had enough resin to fill each of my letter molds about half way to make one complete alphabet.
7. Once all of your letters are poured, grab your toothpick and start popping bubbles! Any bubbles that form while your letters harden are there to stay. So I recommend checking your letters 10-20 minutes after pouring and popping the bubbles before they get too comfy! Cover your mold with a sheet of parchment paper to keep dust and debris off of it while it hardens.
8. Now comes the hard part…waiting! Wait 24-48 hours until your letters are completely hardened. You can pop them out of the mold earlier, but I waited 12 hours to do that, just to be sure they were set.
And Now…ENJOY!
These little letters are worth the labor and time it takes to harden. They are beautiful and can be used for so many different set ups! I used them in learning centers to practice beginning sounds and enhance sensory bins. We’ve spelled our names and simple words with them. They are perfect for practicing word families. And they look gorgeous sitting on your shelf!
They are so shiny and inviting, my kids can’t keep their hands off of them, haha! I can’t wait to see what you create! Share in the comments below or find me over on Insta @momentsenriched!
Are you in the mood to create? Try our DIY Recycled Egg Carton Trains for some play-filled fun!
