bqueen creative exchange

So you want to make some resin jewellery, home wares or embed objects and don’t know which materials to use… here’s a guide to resins to help you choose the right one.

Bqueen:  for jewellery
Bqueen resin is the easiest type of resin to use for making bangles, rings, pendants etc.  It sets super quick (within 15-20 minutes), which means you can make lots of pieces with a limited number of moulds.  It is a transparent champagne colour and easily coloured with a range of pigments available from Barnes.

It’s best used for smaller pieces (ie under 100ml total volume) as the work time is reduced the greater the volume.

Water clear resin for embedding objects
The best product to use is a polyester resin called ‘Clear Casting Resin’.  A word of warning though:  it smells!  

• It usually takes a couple of hours to set.
• Polishes up beautifully and has a glass like feel.
• To use it safely you will need to either be outside or have an extraction system and wear appropriate safety equipment.
• Great for pendants with papers or objects inside them

The beauty of this product is that it is water clear in colour, pigments easily and is great for showing off objects inside the resin.

You do need to purchase the catalyst that makes it set and specific pigments designed for polyester resin so remember to check prior to use.

Easycast Clear:  professional use only
A lot of people have been using this for resin jewellery making but it is not recommended for this application.  Easycast Clear is not actually easy to use.  You need to pre warm the bottles before use, be extremely accurate when measuring and be patient as it takes a while to set.  It also requires you to mix the Part A and Part B much more thoroughly than bqueen resin or else it won’t set properly and will remain sticky forever.

This product has also been known to cause rashes if the appropriate safety gear is not worn.  It can also cause rashes to other people who are in the same room as the person using the resin!!

It is also very sensitive to moisture (example embedding insects or leaves) which can create prolific bubbling.

This product should only be used by experienced/industrial resin casters.

TC802:  great for home wares
This product is quick and easy to work with.  It appears transparent in its bottles but once the two parts are mixed together they turn white…which means that when you pigment them you will get beautiful pastel colours.

 

If you need any more help selecting the right type of resin for your project don’t hesitate to contact me or visit the Barnes website at www.barnes.com.au.