Swirled Resin Coaster Craft Tutorial

I have been experimenting with swirling acrylic paint in resin.  Here are two coasters I have completed:

I think they turned out okay, but I think I can do better!

I made the first one by mixing metallic acrylic paint into resin I had separated into small cups and then I poured it into the mold and swirled it.  Three things that would have made it better:

1.  I would have skipped the silver.  It ended up just looking gray.

2.  My red got really thick, really fast.  I have no explanation as to why that happened.

3.  I found parchment paper’s Kryptonite!  Parchment paper can withstand hot glue and resin, but like the Wicked Witch of the West, water will kill it!  I dripped water into the center of my mold and parchment paper wrinkled.  (Took me a while to figure out what I did wrong!)  The wrinkles must have broken the seal and some of the resin leaked out.  Lesson learned!

To make the second, I poured the resin into the mold and let it sit for awhile.  But I let it sit too long and it was too thick, so it didn’t swirl very smoothly.  The reason I let the resin harden is because when I have tried to do this before, I put the resin in the mold and immediately poured in the paint.  The resin was still too thin and the paint sank to the bottom.  My logic was to let the resin thicken and then put in the paint, but I guess timing is everything and mine was a little off.  Oh well.

If you want to give it a try… and I will try again…. here are the directions for the first coaster:

You will need:

–  Coaster mold (I will attach the video and how I made mine….. sans water…)
–  Resin – I use Easy Cast
–  Acrylic paint in varying colors
–  Skewer stick to swirl

Directions:

1.  Prepare your mold
2.  Prepare your resin according to the package directions
3.  Split your resin into small cups – the number of colors you plan on using determines how many cups you will need
4.  Mix in your acrylic paint colors
5.  Pour the different colors into your mold and use a skewer stick to swirl them together
6.  Let sit for 12 hours
7.  Pour a thin clear layer of resin over the swirled resin and let sit for 12 hours before unmolding

That’s it!  Thanks for stopping by and Happy Crafting!

Mona