Glow in the Dark Resin Jewel Hair Pins

While working on making things glow, I thought I would explore not only black light reactions but also making resin glow in the dark! For my first glow in the dark resin project I made some awesome glowing jewel hair pins!

 

 

Gather your supplies… EasyCast Resin, Castin’ Crafts mold release, a cup and spoon, Glow in the Dark Puff Paint, a mold, E-6000, and some hair pins.  

*ETI suggests wearing gloves when working with resin for safety* Gloves also help keep your nails nice :)

The mold I’m using is actually made for hard candy. This will come up again when we are removing our resin from the mold.

Spray your mold with Castin'Crafts Mold Release and set aside to dry and mix a small batch of EasyCast Resin.

Next, I am adding some glow in the dark 3d paint (also known as puff paint or deminsional fabric paint).  The natural color glows the brightest but there are other glow colors too: yellow, pink, orange, and green. I’m using Scribbles brand but Tulip brand should work too.

I just squeezed a little blob straight into the resin. Gently mix it in for another 30 seconds or so until it is a uniform color.

 

Pour it into the mold. A paper cup it great for this because you can pinch a pour spout into the side. For small molds like the one I’m using, pour slowly to avoid overflowing the cavities.

Set aside to harden for 24-72 hours.

The mold is made of plastic that is thin and brittle and really wants to hang on to the resin so, put your mold into the freezer for 10 minutes. The cold causes the molecules of the resin to contract which, in turn, helps the resin to release from the mold. It should now easily pop out of the mold. You may need to repeat this to get all of your resin pieces out of the mold.
 

Now they are out! Here is what the look like in regular light…

This is under a black light…

Here they are glowing away with the lights out!

 

To turn the jewels into hair pins, we will need some E-6000 adhesive and some hair pins ofcourse!

Take 2 jewels of the same shape and put some E-6000 on the back of one. Firmly press the hairpin into the adhesive on the back.

Add more E-6000 to the back of the other jewel and sandwich it onto the other jewel with the hair pin in between the two jewels. Be sure that you press the sandwich together firmly and that the jewels are lined up. Let this sit for 24 hours to get maximum adhesion.

Here is the side view of the sandwiched hair pin.

Now it is ready to wear. I’m thinking of a bun with several of these surrounding it!