Epoxy resin jewelry is becoming more popular every day. A variety of pendants, earrings, bracelets, and, of course, rings. The beauty of such products is simply mesmerizing. But the cost of such jewelry on the market is quite high, so many people learn to create masterpieces on their own. Is it easy to make rings from epoxy resin at home? Let’s try to figure it out.
Jewelry made from epoxy resin surprises with its variety. Despite the fact that the general manufacturing technology remains the same, making some adjustments allows you to achieve a truly unique look.
Epoxy rings are surprisingly smooth and even, but they can also be versatile:
These are just the types of rings that are most commonly found. The ring can also be ordinary jewelry, and only a “pearl” is made of epoxy resin.
The main requirement for fillers for products and wooden parts is that they must be completely dry. Even a small amount of moisture will cause the product to become cloudy from the inside. In dried form, any materials can be used, even organic materials, for example, insects to imitate amber.
To make epoxy rings, the craftsman will need a set of certain items and tools. The list can be adjusted depending on the selected pattern.
First you should prepare your work area. To do this, you will need a table, which must be covered with oilcloth or cellophane. Such measures will protect the surface from accidental ingress of particles of resin, hardener or other components.
It is necessary to work in a well-ventilated area; high-quality ventilation is one of the most important components of worker safety.
The workplace is located:
Such rings made of wood and epoxy resin are now very popular, but alas, in stores the prices for them are not very affordable, so for those who know how to hold an instrument in their hands, we will give a master class on how to create such a ring from epoxy resin and wood and it will look no worse than those sold in stores.
So, to make such a ring we need:
First, we need to make a mold for filling the blank, for this we take a cardboard box or make one ourselves of the required size, cover it with tape on the outside and inside so that the epoxy resin cannot leak out of it and the blank can be easily removed from the molds.
If you plan to make only one ring, then a disposable cup can serve as a mold, the main thing is that the chips are the right size and can fit.
We throw pieces of wood into the mold, and then pour epoxy resin mixed with hardener and dye (the color of the dye can be any color you wish, I used epoxycone dye). After this, we try to get rid of the bubbles with a wooden stick, for example, a toothpick (although sometimes they can, on the contrary, be a decoration of the ring), and then we leave the workpiece to dry for a day.
After hardening, the result is the following:
Then, using a crown of the required diameter, it is necessary to drill out the ring itself (outer diameter) from the workpiece; I do not drill it all the way, since in this form it is easier to drill out the middle with a drill (or a crown of a smaller diameter), and then I drill out the outer contour completely with a crown. From one similar blank you can usually get several rings and each of them will look individual on the inside.
We bring the ring with a file to the desired thickness, while rounding off the sharp ends.
Now, using a cutter, we bring the internal diameter to the required size (it is better to work with a respirator with the vacuum cleaner turned on, since the work is very dusty), if there is no cutter, then you can bring it with a round file or coarse sandpaper screwed onto a stick.
When the ring is adjusted to size on all sides, we begin finishing with sandpapers of different grain sizes, from coarse to fine (from 150, then 300, 600, 1200 and 2500). You can do this in a soap solution. We sand on all sides, not forgetting the inside.
After this, you need to polish the ring on a polishing wheel using wood polish. Then we treat the ring with linseed oil and rub it with wax while heating it with a hairdryer.
How to make a ring from wood and epoxy resin
In this material we want to clearly demonstrate to you how to make interesting and beautiful, modern jewelry from natural wood and epoxy resin. The result of this work will be a beautiful texture and color ring and pendant.
Feel the holiday effect with jewelry pendants! We always give joy!
Materials
To make jewelry from natural wood with your own hands, prepare:
Step 1. First, you will need to make blanks from wood for rings and pendants. To get the desired texture inside the ring, pieces of boards must be broken off by hand. This will leave you with sharp, broken protrusions.
Fix the board on the workbench with a clamp or vice and, with a hammer or hand, break it into several pieces.
Step 2. You will need to place two pieces of board in a plastic mold so that there is free space between the sharp edges.
Step 3. You will need to do things a little differently with the blanks for the rings. To begin, cover the sharp, broken edges with paint in a darker tone of the color that you will use to paint the epoxy resin. In this case it was blue paint, but for processing the wood we used dark blue. After painting the pieces, leave them to dry completely.
Step 4. After this, wrap the pieces of boards with thick plastic wrap and, if necessary, secure its edges with tape.
Step 5. Dilute a small part of epoxy resin in a plastic glass and add white pigment to it. Send a little of the prepared material directly to the sharp edges of the blanks for the rings. In the finished product, such edges will resemble mountains covered with snow.
Leave the workpieces in this form until the material dries completely. After this, remove the film.
Step 6. Now you will need to protect the wooden part of the rings. To do this, wrap them in film, leaving the part where there are notches exposed.
Step 7. Place the blanks in plastic molds.
Step 8. Dilute clear epoxy resin in a plastic cup and add dye to it. Add it a little at a time until you achieve the desired depth of color.
Step 9. Fill the prepared plastic molds with epoxy resin. Leave the products to dry completely.
Step 10. Remove the pieces from the mold using a wooden stick or a very sharp knife. Remove the film from the rings.
Step 11. Now you will need to shape the blanks. For the pendant, simply cut a piece of wood into an oval or rectangle shape. Bring it to its final look using sandpaper of different grits or a sander with different attachments.
Step 12. You will also need to drill a small hole in the pendant so it can be hung.
Step 13. For the rings, the blanks will need to be given a rectangular shape and locations for drilling holes for the finger will be marked. Decide on the diameter of the ring drill based on the size of the rings you wear.
Step 14. Drill holes in the wooden part and then, using a grinder and sandpaper, smooth out the sharp edges of the product and give it its final shape.
Resin is poured into portions, dyes, glitter, a knife (I made it myself, from a bearing race), shavings, molds for filling (silicone is the most convenient) and/or you can make paper ones by gluing them with tape. (you can easily remove the workpiece), cups for additional mixing And be sure to work with gloves (either latex ones are sold in pharmacies, or in the store “everything for 51 rubles” I bought from cellophane)
The first step is to mix the shavings with resin and tint - these dyes give a bright, dense color, so add drop by drop, on the tip of a toothpick, until the desired saturation
in this case I used 3 dyes - black, green and blue.
added glitter sparkles in a simple way))
Mix the resin with the hardener in the specified proportion: 10 parts resin to 1 part hardener. What are the white cups for? We pour the resin-hardener mixture into them and mix again. Since the initial cup may contain unmixed resin and hardener, and if you pour it into the mold, you may be unpleasantly surprised by the stickiness of the workpiece. Therefore, we pour it and mix again. During the mixing process, air bubbles appear in the resin, and we get rid of them as follows:
There is one more secret - before vacuum treatment, we heat the resin in hot water to 50-60 degrees - it becomes thinner, and the bubbles leave the resin faster. Vacuum for 10-20 minutes. After this you can pour it into the mold.
after pouring and 10-15 minutes have passed, use a lighter to remove small bubbles and leave for 24 hours until completely hardened (according to the instructions). Practice shows that the heated mixture hardens completely in 4-5 hours. The simplest part is over.
These are the cubes I pulled out of the mold this morning.
Processing... Here we IMMEDIATELY put on clothes for dirty work, and be sure to wear a mask - since there will be a LOT of dust, and if possible, do everything in a checked room and/or with an exhaust hood.
It’s much easier for me to take it to work and grind and drill there on machines. At home I use a regular drill for drilling and a file))) First of all, I drill holes with a diameter of 12 mm in the center of the workpiece and after that I go to make a circle from the square))
This is how I look after turning the blanks on a machine with a hood. So I remind you once again that this is a “very dirty” stage
I grind it with a round file to almost the right size.
And the first “meditative” process with sandpaper begins - rough grinding of the ring. Bad photo, but the essence is clear - the ring is taking shape.
And the important stage begins - “get the size”))) because 15 mm and 15.5 mm is a huge difference for wearing a ring comfortably. Girls know what a small ring means - the finger swells and it is very difficult to remove the ring without the help of soap, cream, thread (you don’t have to mock :-))))
And the second “meditative stage” of polishing begins. For this I use waterproof (important) sandpaper 600,1200,2500 grit.
We do all the sanding with water; water prevents the sandpaper from becoming clogged. We “pass” each ring through all the skins from 600 to 2500 - we remove all the scratches. I usually start on the inside and depending on how well I sand the inside, how well the ring will look on the outside. I spend about 30-40 minutes polishing one ring and the final treatment is polishing. I bought polishing paste by weight at the car market - “For optics with plastic lenses” and with the help of an engraver the rings take on their final form.
Today, fashionable rings made of epoxy resin are quite popular; they have a variety of shapes, as well as various additives and fillers, and the resin can be given any color. You can put shavings, glitter, or some kind of insect into the blank, everything turns out very beautiful and interesting, and most importantly unique, which comes first in our difficult times.
Despite the apparent complexity, the whole technology is quite simple and understandable, you just need to delve into the process a little and you can make yourself a dozen rings of different sizes)))
The base is epoxy resin and hardener in a ratio of 10/1, glitter and wood shavings are added. First, the required amount of resin is poured into the container, then glitter is added to it and everything is thoroughly mixed, then the shavings and stirred again. The epoxy resin is painted with color; you should add a little at a time at the tip of a toothpick, stirring to catch the desired color. The hardener is added last in a ratio of 1/10 of the total proportion of resin, that is, for example, 10 grams of resin and 1 gram of hardener, everything is mixed very thoroughly.
So, let's look at what exactly is needed to make an epoxy resin ring?
Materials
1. epoxy resin
2. hardener
3. glitter
4. wood shavings
5. color
Tools
1. container for preparing the solution (plastic cups)
2. silicone mold
3. emery
4. pliers
5. drill
6. round file
7. waterproof sandpaper with grain 600/1200/2500 grid
8. mini grinder
9. caliper
Step-by-step instructions for making a ring from epoxy resin with your own hands.
The first step is to prepare all the components so that everything is at hand during the work, you also need to wear gloves made of latex or mica, because the resin is very sticky, and the hardener is aggressive; if it gets on exposed skin, you can get burned, so safety comes first Total. A respirator is also a mandatory safety measure against fumes of resin and hardener; in small quantities, of course, it’s not so scary, but still..
To fill the blanks, it is best to use a silicone mold, because it is very easy to remove the filled figures later and nothing sticks; you can also make the mold out of paper and cover the inside with tape, which is also a good option for starting work)
It is advisable to spread mica or a simple bag on the table so that drops of resin, color and hardener do not stain the surface of the table.
After which the author pours epoxy resin into the container, adds glitter and makes it smooth, then wood shavings, adding color a little at a time on the tip of a toothpick so as not to overdo it with contrast. In this case, the author used 3 dyes: black, blue and green.
Everything is mixed very thoroughly.
Next is important! It is necessary to expel air bubbles from the solution, and the author does this using a homemade vacuum installation. That is, a glass of resin is placed in a jar and air is pumped out from there within 10 minutes. Additionally, the resin can be heated in a water bath to 50-60 o C
this way it will become even more elastic and air bubbles will come out much faster.
Epoxy resin with an added hardener hardens after 24 hours; the hardened workpieces come out of the silicone mold quite easily.
These are the blanks for making rings. The work is very dusty, so we change into work clothes and protective equipment: respirator, goggles, gloves.
Then we begin to sand the ring from the inside, sandpaper was used with 2500/1600/600 grit. It is necessary from the inside, because the degree of polishing of the product will be determined by the inside.
The outer part of the ring is sanded with waterproof sandpaper.
Starting with coarse grain and gradually reducing to 600.
Polish the ring with a burr with polishing paste. The author bought it at a car dealership.
