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Based on a video by Summer Girl Designs
Opens their YouTube channel
Steps written out by Crafting Step by Step · Published
These resin trinket dishes look like a flower opening inside the glass. The trick is a 3D bloom: you pour coloured and white resin in loops, then drag a stick through it to pull up petals. Nadia of Summer Girl Designs makes a custom set of four here, two purple and two white and gold, then curves each flat disc into a small dish.
Each dish is about 4 inches across, a good size for rings, earrings or a few hair ties.
A two-part epoxy resin, round silicone molds (wavy edge coaster molds work), white pigment paste, a coloured or transparent pigment, gold pigment or mica, gold leaf flakes, mixing cups, wooden sticks, a torch for bubbles, a heat gun, small bowls to shape the dishes, plastic wrap and a gold leafing pen.
Use a medium to high viscosity resin. Thin, runny resin will not hold a 3D bloom; the petals flatten out before they set. Thicker resin keeps the white lines standing so they read as petals. Check the pot life on the label, since you need time to pour three colours and drag the petals before the resin starts to gel.
The bloom comes from white resin sinking through the clear layer and spreading. A dense, opaque white paste gives the crisp lacy edges you see in the video. A weak white turns cloudy and the petals lose definition. Mix the paste in its jar before adding it, and add only a little.
This is the part most people get wrong, Nadia included. Resin stays flexible for a while after it sets. Demold at around 8 hours and the disc bends easily into a bowl. Leave it a full day and it is too stiff, though a heat gun will soften it again. Times vary by brand, so test one piece first.
Work in a ventilated room, wear nitrile gloves and protect your table with paper. Move the torch quickly and keep it moving, or you can scorch the resin and the silicone. Keep pets and children away until the pieces have cured.
Cured epoxy is tough but not heatproof, so keep these dishes for jewellery, keys and small trinkets rather than hot mugs or food. Wipe them with a damp soft cloth; skip the dishwasher and harsh cleaners, which dull the surface. Keep them out of strong sun, since some resins yellow over time with UV.
Try blush pink with gold for a wedding favour, deep blue with silver for a winter set, or red and white for Christmas. Matching pairs make good gifts for a mother and daughter or two sisters.
Petals melted into a blur? The resin was too thin or too warm. Disc stuck to the bowl? Line the bowl with plastic wrap next time, or soak it in warm water for about ten minutes to free it. Sticky surface after curing? The resin was not mixed well enough; see our guide to fixing sticky resin.
New to resin? Learn how to mix epoxy resin, add colour to resin and use resin molds, then make a matching set of resin coasters.
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Measure part A and part B resin into a clear cup in the ratio on the label. Stir slowly for a few minutes, scraping the sides and bottom, until there are no more streaks and the resin is completely clear. Set your round silicone molds out on a level, covered surface before you start, along with every pigment you plan to use.
Stir slowly. Fast stirring whips in bubbles that are hard to remove.
Pour the mixed resin into smaller cups, one for each colour. Nadia uses a white pigment paste, a bright gold paste and a transparent red violet. Mix each paste in its jar first, then add a small amount to its cup and stir well. Keep one cup of resin clear for the base layer of each dish.
A little paste goes a long way. Add more only if the colour looks thin.
Pour clear resin into each mold, trying to put the same amount in every one so the dishes match. Use a wooden stick to push the resin out to the edges. Pass a torch quickly over the surface to pop any air bubbles. Keep the flame moving so you do not burn the resin or the silicone mold.
Aim for about 1/8 inch deep. Too thick and the dish will not bend later.
Take the coloured resin and pour a thin stream onto the clear base in looping petal shapes, like drawing a five-petal flower. Start near the centre and loop out toward the edge and back. Do the purple ones first, then pour the gold resin the same way in the other molds.
Pour from close to the surface for a thin, controlled line.
Now pour the white pigmented resin over and around the coloured loops, following the same petal pattern. The white is what creates the 3D effect. It sinks through the clear layer and spreads into lacy edges, while the colour sits beside it to give each petal its tint. Torch the surface once more.
Use a dense, opaque white. Weak white turns cloudy instead of crisp.
Take a small wooden stick and drag it through the resin from the outer edge into the centre, between each pair of petals. Each pull narrows the petal and lifts its shape. Finish with a small swirl in the middle. Watch the flower open as the white keeps sinking for the next few minutes.
Wipe the stick between pulls so you do not drag colour where it is not wanted.
Pick up a few gold leaf flakes on the tip of the same stick and press them into the centre of each flower. They make the stamen and catch the light. Leave the molds on a level surface, covered from dust, to cure. Check the timing on your resin, but plan on at least 8 hours.
Cover the molds with a box to keep dust and hair off the surface.
Peel the silicone back and lift each disc out. Both sides of a 3D bloom look good, so pick the one you like best. Nadia normally uses the bottom but chose the top for this order. Demold while the resin is still bendy, around 8 hours in. Leave it a day and it gets too stiff to shape.
Bend a corner gently. If it flexes, it is ready to shape.
If the discs feel stiff, warm each one with a heat gun until it softens. Line small glass bowls with plastic wrap and press a disc into each one so it curves into a dish. Place something on top and tape around the bowl to hold the shape. Leave them for a few days to cure fully in that shape.
Skip the plastic wrap and the resin may stick. Warm water frees it.
Lift the cured dishes out of the bowls. Run a gold leafing paint marker around the wavy edge of each one for a finished, gilded rim. Go slowly and steady the dish with your other hand. Let the paint dry, then your set of resin trinket dishes is ready to use or wrap as a gift.
Two thin coats of gold look richer than one thick one.
Keep going
How to Add Color to Resin
9 steps · about 15 minutes
How to Make a Resin Trinket Dish
LET'S RESIN
LET'S RESIN UV Resin, Crystal Clear (500g)
Low-odor, low-shrink UV resin that cures hard and stays yellow-resistant. Sunlight or a lamp sets it in minutes, so no mixing or 24-hour waits.
LET'S RESIN
LET'S RESIN Coaster & Keychain Molds (18 pc)
Flexible silicone in the shapes beginners actually make, and they pop out clean and reuse for years. The mold set to start casting with.
LET'S RESIN
LET'S RESIN 36W Two-Sided UV Lamp
Cures faster and more evenly than sunlight, with timer presets so pieces do not over- or under-set. What turns UV resin from fiddly to reliable.
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