Posted on October 1, 2023March 25, 2024 by Katherine Swift
News flash: Resin sticks to a lot of things. In fact, there aren’t many surfaces resin won’t stick to.
Ask anyone who’s made resin crafts. Drips of cured resin adhere easily to:
> hair
> carpet
> countertops
> favorite shoes
(yes, I’ve got personal experience with all of these scenarios)
And while it makes a pretty good glue,
Sometimes you need to know what surfaces resin won’t stick to.
Why?
Here are three reasons I can think of right away…
1. You need to know what protects your table while you’re using epoxy resin for art.
2. Knowing what resin doesn’t stick to helps get the resin to do some neat things. Like making resin beads.
3. It’s how you get an even edge on canvas art when you cover it with resin.
What surfaces won’t resin stick to?
Mold release
You want to use mold release to keep your epoxy resin from sticking to molds. Plus, it is excellent for prolonging the life of molds. It lets you demold resin jewelry and crafts without distorting and pulling at the mold. This causes warping and tearing that impact future castings you make with the mold.
⭐️ BONUS: Here are three reasons why I always use resin mold release.
Wax
Resin will not stick to it, whether it’s candle wax or lost-wax casting wax. The same goes for car and furniture wax. This is useful if you want to create a void in your resin charm or casting. Pour the resin around the wax and allow it to cure. Then pull the wax away. But be careful. If you use a fast-curing resin, it can melt the wax and make a mess.
Polyethylene plastics
Disposable plastic sheets for painting and sandwich bags both contain polyethylene. Epoxy resin will not stick to these, making them a great protector for your resin art and crafting area. They are also inexpensive. You can throw them away if you don’t want to clean them up after making your epoxy art.
Anything with a greasy surface
Anything that has a waxy, oily, or greasy coating, will not bond to resin. But remove the grease, and you’ll turn the surface from one that resin won’t stick to into surfaces resin will stick to.
Silicone
So, this is a little bit of a trick answer because silicone is a resin itself. But the good news is that other resins will not stick to it, which makes it perfect for resin molds. The exception to this is if you pour more silicone into the silicone mold. If you don’t use rubber to rubber mold release, the silicone will stick to itself, creating a large block of silicone. Whoops.
Painter’s tape or packing tape
This resin hack is useful for creating open-backed jewelry with resin. Once the resin cures, peel the tape away.
⭐️ BONUS: See why the tape is essential when making open-backed resin pendants.
💡 Pro tip: Use painters’ tape to mask off a surface. If the resin spills onto the tape, let it partially cure. Then peel away the tape. You can see the technique in this article on resin cheese board.
Wax paper, parchment paper, or freezer paper
When taped to a surface, leaving the waxy side up, the jewelry epoxy resin will cure but peel away from the surface.
⭐️ BONUS: Use extra resin and wax paper to create a glass vase with decorative accents.
Have you found other surfaces resin won’t stick to?
Confused about all the details you need to know about resin?
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Unpublished Blog Posts of Resin Obsession, LLC © 2023 Resin Obsession, LLC
