Royal Flush in Resin

I am always on the hunt for projects that can be gifts for a guy. With boyfriends, dads, uncles, and grandfathers one needs a good "man" project.

I used EasyCast Resin, Castin' Crafts Mold Release, a mold, Mod Podge, Glossy Accents, and a deck of cards. Also, some scrap clear packaging, a permanent marker, and some scissors.
*ETI suggests wearing gloves when working with resin for safety* Gloves also help keep your nails nice :)

To make a template for the mold cavity I'm using a piece of scrap clear packaging (this is from a Martha Stewart Mold).

Put the packaging over the mold cavity and trace inside the space using a permanent marker. Cut out the packaging and now we have a template.

I'm using the cards to make a royal flush to go in the resin. You could also do a full house or black jack!

The borders of the cards are too wide to fit my template so I trimmed all the corners down.

Now that it fits I need to hold it that way!

Using some Glossy Accents, I glued all the card corners together. Glossy Accents dries in about 20 minutes but stays wet long enough to move the cards around to fit the template.

Put the template over the design and trace around it with the permanent marker.

Cut this out carefully.

Now is the time to do any trimming or regluing if needed.

Paint a couple of coats of Mod Podge on the card pieces to seal them.

Spray the mold with mold release and mix up a batch of resin. Pour a layer of resin into the mold.



This is a mold from Yaley Enterprises.
They make resin and Deep Flex Resin Molds along with a variety of colorants.
Check out all the offer here: http://yaley.com/SitePages.asp?ID=46
 

Submerge the cards face down into the resin.

Top off the mold cavities with some more clear resin and let set to harden for 24-72 hours.

Very nice man-ly resin!

To turn these into key chains I'm using E-6000, bails, chain, split rings, key chain rings, some key chain hooks, and jewelry pliars.

Apply some E-6000 to the bail...

Press the bail firmly to the back of the resin piece and let dry for 24 hours to get maximum adhesion.

These are my key chain hardware...

Attach the keychain ring to the key chain hook...

Attach a piece of chain to the key chain ring using a split ring...

Attach the resin piece to the chain using another jump ring...

Now these key chains are ready for gifting... I think they'll be a real winner!!!