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How To Make A Resin Clownfish Pendant

by Ben Harden on July 16, 2011 Table of Contents How To Make A Resin Clownfish Pendant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Intro: How To Make A Resin Clownfish Pendant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Step 1: Safety Precautions! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Step 2: Materials Needed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Step 3: Sculpting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Step 4: Molding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Step 5: Painting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Step 6: Casting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 2 3 3 4 5 8 9

Step 7: Sanding & Polishing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Step 8: Done! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Related Instructables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

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Intro: How To Make A Resin Clownfish Pendant

If youve ever ogled at someone elses resin jewelry and wished you had some, or you wanted to know how it was made, youve come to the right place! Not only is this a guide on how to make the pendant shown in all of the pictures, but also a complete guide for getting started making your own resin jewelry, silicone molds, and really whatever you want to make using that knowledge. The end product can look great, and youve probably seen some great looking resin jewelry; but from what I could tell, there is no specific resource for resin jewelry from start to finish. A lot of people seem pretty confused about it, and there isn't a complete consensus on how you should make clear resin items. There are partial guides and probably some book on it, but I had to pull information from all over the Internet to figure out how to do this! So hopefully you will benefit from having all of the steps presented in a nice orderly fashion with everything you need to know to get started. This is not only my first time to make silicone molds but also to use casting resin, so it probably isn't perfect. If you have any suggestions, I'll definitely check them out!

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Step 1: Safety Precautions!

This step is optional IF YOU WANT TO DIE! Okay maybe not really, but it sounds pretty awful. Heres what the polyester resin catalyst says on the bottle: DANGER CAUSES SEVERE BURNS. MAY BE FATAL IF SWALLOWED. SEE BACK PANEL. And on the back panel: FLAMMABLE Keep from high heat open flame. Avoid contact with skin and mucous membranesHow about on the resin can: "CAUTION: MAY BE HARMFUL BY BREATHING VAPORS. CONTACT WITH CASTING RESIN MAY CAUSE EYE, SKIN OR RESPIRATORY IRRITATION. EXPOSURE MAY CAUSE NERVOUS SYSTEM DEPRESSION. COMBUSTIBLE." I dont know about you, but that seemed pretty convincing to me. Here's a list of the safety garb: For Your Safety! -A respirator - I got one for 15$ online. Make sure it has organic vapor cartridges. -Nitrile gloves - This resin can eat away at normal latex gloves, so nitrile gloves are needed instead. -Safety goggles - Just in case you somehow spill this on your eyes. I wear glasses, so I tend to not use these. They are advised though.

Step 2: Materials Needed

There are certainly a lot of materials involved in making resin jewelry from scratch. But they can all be used for more than just this project, and you probably have some of them already. Materials: Clear Casting Resin- What the pendant will be cast in! Casting Resin Catalyst- Required to harden the resin. Usually sold separately. Two-Part Silicone Rubber- This will be what the mold is made out of. Polymer Clay- Our pendant to be molded will made out of this, and also the fish. It can be any type of hardening clay you want. Rubbing & Polishing Compound- These will be used to polish the pendant. Zougeebean on Etsy (who has some excellent resin pieces) recommends Meguiar's brand car polish for this, but I already had this 3M Marine polish and rubbing compound. Paints- For painting the fish! Foam-board- This is for making the mold box in step four. Tools: Sandpaper- Low grit all the way to as high as you can get! Polishing Cloth- I used a piece of an old t-shirt. Exacto or Box Cutting Knife- For cutting the foam-board. Glue Gun- Nothing special here. Dremel- (optional) This was for smoothing out the pendant hole.

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Image Notes 1. Nitrile Gloves 2. Polyester Casting Resin Catalyst 3. Clear Polyester Casting Resin 4. Oomoo 2-Part Sample Sized Silicone Rubber 5. Acrylic Paints 6. Respirator Mask 7. Paintbrushes 8. Foamboard 9. Necklace Box and Necklace String 10. Sandpaper and Sanding Pads 11. Super Sculpey Polymer Clay 12. Box Cutting Knife 13. Old T-Shirt 14. Rubbing Compound and Polish

Step 3: Sculpting
As you can see in the pictures, I went through a lot of revisions on the pendant as well as the clownfish. It started out as a fish in a bag pendant, which was a cool idea! But because of the shape, I was unable to polish it, and it was almost impossible to see what was inside it from the front. My advice: stick to flat, or smooth curved sides, but nothing too crazy. After I sculpted and baked the final pendant, I smoothed it down with some fine grit sandpaper before making the mold of it.

Image Notes 1. Too big 2. Not enough character 3. Seemingly perfect 4. What is this?! Cloudy? Perhaps the next pendant. 5. Failure! 6. The final design.

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Image Notes 1. Failure fishies

Step 4: Molding
This step features pictures from the pendant that was a failure! Because I took pictures of that whole process too. Here's how you make the mold: Step one: Make a box out of foamboard, and make sure all of the cracks are sealed with hot glue. Step two: Place the pendant flat side down at the bottom of the box. Step three: Mix equal parts of the silicone rubber parts A & B (or follow the instructions included if they are different) Step four: Try to minimize the amount of bubbles, and then pour the rubber over your pendant. Step five: Wait an hour or so, and then split apart the sides of your mold box. Carefully pull out the clay pendant.

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Image Notes 1. Plastic cup- I used three 2. Oomoo Silicone Rubber Part A 3. Oomoo Silicone Rubber Part B 4. Box-cutting knife 5. Innocent looking pendant that will turn out to be a failure 6. Magic stirring device (plastic knife) 7. Awesome quad-color pen, for marking on the foamboard!

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Step 5: Painting
You can paint your fish or whatever you made however you want. There isn't any specific way to do this, just don't paint it with anything that you think would start to come off in the resin. I used acrylic paints, and a paintbrush that I cut as small as possible to paint this tiny little clownfish & anemone.

Image Notes 1. It's so small!!!

Image Notes 1. Makeshift paint palette

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Step 6: Casting
This is the step you're going to need to wear all of the safety gear. If you're unsure about how your pendant is going to turn out, you should probably do a test first before you put in your precious clay fish. It takes an extremely long time to cure, so be careful with your resin piece when it is still in the mold. Also, the resin started to dissolve the cup I was using, so use a clear plastic cup and work fast! Step 1: Pour a small amount of mixed resin (mix a little resin with a drop of catalyst in a disposable cup) into the bottom of your mold. This is to give some space between the fish and the front of the pendant. Step 2: After fifteen minutes go by, it should be solid. Pour some mixed resin over the fish so there are no air bubbles. Place the fish on top of the resin already in the mold. Step 3: Mix enough resin to fill the rest of the mold, and fill it up to the top, plus a little more to compensate with shrinking. Step 4: After about two hours it will still be sticky, but it will be solid. Put it in the oven for 30 minutes at 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Step 5: After it cools down, it should be fully cured. Ready for sanding & polishing!

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Step 7: Sanding & Polishing

Start out with some rough sandpaper, and smooth out any lumpy areas and imperfections. Gradually sand all the way up to your highest grit sandpaper. Mine was 600, but 6000 is recommended. Smooth the pendant hole if it is needed. After that you can rub it with some polishing compound, which is when you really start to see it shine! Repeat this process until it is as smooth and shiny as you like!

Image Notes 1. 300 grit 2. 100 grit 3. 600 grit

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4. Rough!!

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Step 8: Done!
Your pendant is finally finished! If all went well, it looks amazing and you are extremely satisfied with it. You can string it onto a necklace and give to someone, sell it or keep it for yourself. I personally made this for my girlfriend for our one-year anniversary, and she loves it! There is potential to make all sorts of fantastic things using these techniques, so if you make anything cool post it in the comments. Thanks for reading!

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