Hey everyone! Today I am going to be talking about coloring resin. Not everyone knows that you can actually color resin with lots of things. You may be surprised to find out what you can use! Let’s hop right into it.
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Table of Contents
Color Resin With Glitter
Glitter is one of the most simple ways you can color your resin and add a nice shimmer. Sprinkle as much as you need, but be mindful of the glitter to resin ratio.
Don’t dump your entire glitter container into the resin, but add a half a teaspoon at a time until you get the desired look. Stir it in very well.
Color Resin With Acrylic Paint
Yes! You can really use with acrylic paint of any color. My recommendation is that you only add ten percent or less acrylic paint to your mixture of resin. Too much acrylic paint can cause problems with the resin curing.
Also, keep in mind that acrylic paint can remove some of the glossiness of the resin. Still, you can create gorgeous, dynamic works of art using acrylic paint.
Color Resin With Alcohol Ink
Alcohol ink is a fascinating type of resin colorant. In general, alcohol ink is very fast-drying. When you add alcohol ink to resin, the alcohol evaporates quickly, which will not disrupt the curing of the resin.
Try mixing different colors of alcohol ink to experiment with different marbled looks. There are many techniques for alcohol ink. I will cover those in a future post!
Color Resin With Mica Powder
If I had to pick a favorite way to color resin, it would be mica powder. It comes in so many vibrant and unique colors! I ordered a 50-pack of mica powder colors, and I’ve been using them forever.
All you need to color your resin is a small sprinkle of mica. Depending on the intensity of the color you want, stir less or more. Mica adds such a nice sparkle and color to resin.
Color Resin With Makeup
It sounds really weird, but you can actually color resin with makeup. I would recommend something like eyeshadow, blush, or any powdery makeup. You can get some really bright and interesting colors by using makeup.
Liquid makeup typically doesn’t integrate very well with the resin and can actually disrupt curing. Due to its watery base, I wouldn’t recommend it.
Color Your Resin With Glow Powder
Glow powder is so cool! If you want to make some really fun glow-in-the-dark crafts, this is exactly what you need to do. Stir in a little sprinkle of glow powder for a light glow, or add more for a super bright glow!
Glow powder comes in a LOT of colors that you probably didn’t know about. There are a lot of vibrant works of art you can create with this simple powder.
Color Your Resin With Color Shift Powder
Much like regular colored mica powder, a little of this goes a long way. What makes color shift powder so special is that it is formulated to give the appearance of color changing! Color shift powder is very fine and specially formulated to add a pearlescent look to your resin.
Did you know you can paint your resin molds with color shift powder? Yep! Just take a paint brush and dip it into color shift or mica powder and paint the silicone mold. Pour clear or colored resin over top for a dynamic work of art!
Color Your Resin With Foil Flakes
Color your resin with foil flakes – also known as “gilding flakes”. This is not your traditional tin foil for barbeques, but an ultra thin foil especially for crafts like resin. Simply stir a bit of it in to your resin for a nice shiny foil effect. Typically this craft foil comes in gold, silver, and rose gold.
You’ll find that foil like this for art often contains large flakes. I find it best to break the larger flakes up with a popsicle stick while stirring it around in your resin. Many people use these flakes in imitation geode coasters and resin trays.
Color Your Resin With Resin Pigment
Try out specially formulated liquid resin pigment for your coloring needs. This pigment is specially designed to leave a glossy look to your resin all while coloring it brilliantly.
Like other resin colorants, a little goes a long way with this stuff. Start out with a drop at a time until you achieve the desired intensity.
Color Your Resin With Color Shift Chameleon Acrylic Paint
Bring the two worlds of color shift pigment and acrylic paint together with this fun chameleon paint. These colors make for some amazing and mesmerizing art. It is one of my personal favorites.
Chameleon color shifting paint is so unique and the possibilities are endless. Again, only mix a little bit of this with your resin to prevent curing issues.
Color Resin With Sidewalk Chalk
Who knew? You can really color resin with sidewalk chalk. Most chalk used for coloring on sidewalks is made from calcium sulfate. All you have to do is shave off a little of colored dust into your resin mixture to begin coloring.
I recommend scraping the chalk with a butter knife. Its edge is perfect—not too sharp but just rough enough. Of course, supervise kids and young crafters with any sharp objects.
Color Your Resin With Pressed/Dried Flowers
While you won’t be exactly “coloring” your resin with these, you will be adding color in the form of beautiful dried flowers! Why dried? Resin tends to turn fresh flowers a really ugly yellow/brown unappealing color.
Trust me, pressed and dried flowers look so beautiful in resin. When you press and dry flowers they will maintain a great deal of color and beauty. Some people even like to dye the flowers after they have dried and then use them in the resin.
If you want to press and dry your own flowers from your garden or indoor plant, I highly recommend the microfleur. It allows you to dry flowers in the microwave instead of waiting for a week or two for them to dry naturally. Otherwise you can actually order packs of dried flowers on Amazon.
Here are a ton more things you could potentially color resin with!
- Food Coloring
- Tea Leaves
- Coffee Grounds
- Eyeshadow
- Lipstick
- Powdered Pigments
- Embossing Powders
- Dye Powders
- Watercolor Paint
- Liquid Watercolors
- Fabric Dye
- Highlighter Ink
- Spray Paint
- Charcoal Powder
- Crayons
- Tempera Paint
- Glitter Glue
- Sequins
- Beads
- Seed Beads
- Glass Beads
- Metal Shavings
- Aluminum Foil
- Gold Leaf
- Silver Leaf
- Copper Leaf
- Fabric Scraps
- Tissue Paper
- Tinsel
- Ribbon
- Thread
- Yarn
- Wool
- Feathers
- Leaves
- Moss
- Shells
- Sand
- Pebbles
- Glow-in-the-Dark Paint
- Fluorescent Paint
- Confetti
What NOT To Color Resin With
After learning all the things to use, you may wonder what you shouldn’t color resin with. Here are my recommendations.
Do not use:
- Anything Heavily Water Based
- Oil Paint
- Nail Polish
- Fresh Flowers and Leaves (They tend to oxidize and turn unsightly colors) Read this blog post for more info on organic materials and resin.
I hope you enjoyed this list!
Let me know if you found my list helpful and feel free to comment things you like to use for resin coloring! As always you can email any crafts or ideas to [email protected] for a chance to be featured on the website.
If you liked this post, you may like a few of these others!
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