Color Pour Resin: Pressed Flowers!

Spring has sprung! April showers have indeed brought May flowers to us here in Michigan, and what better way to celebrate spring than with a project using pressed flowers!

You might remember last month we did a What's New Wednesday video on Youtube and Facebook introducing the new Color Pour Resin by American Crafts. (Check out the video below!) The range is so versatile, and to show yet another way to use the Color Pour Resin line, we thought you'd like to see more!



Resin pouring has become incredibly popular recently and covers a variety of crafting styles! From jewelry to dishes, fine art and even furniture, resin has proven to be a versatile medium for every kind of crafter and artist.

Our project today uses the Color Pour Resin pressed flowers, molds, tools, and of course the resin/hardener kits! This project uses only a few of the many options this line features but there are many more choices, like opaque dye and additives. (The only item used that is not from this line is dried greenery from my stash.) There are several fun molds from the Color Pour line; the ones used here are the pyramid, the square coaster and round coaster, the square catch-all dish, and the jewelry mold!

 

Lets get started! Here are the items used:

• 622279 - Resin & Hardener 4oz bottles
• 622323 - Dried Pressed Flowers (56/pkg)
• 622291 - Silicone Pouring Cup
• 622293 - Tool Kit (9/pkg)
• 622286 - Jewelry: Necklace & Earrings Silicone Mold
• 622282 - Paper Weight: Cube & Pyramid Silicone Mold
• 622283 - Coaster: Circle, Square, & Hexagon Silicone Mold
• 622284 - Catch-All Dish: Square, Circle & Heart Silicone Mold

Step number one is to protect your work space! Resin cures into a hard plastic, and can be very hard to get off your work surface once it has hardened. The instructions say you can clean it up with soap and water, but I found that I had to use Goo-Gone to get it off of most things. If you're working with limited space, I suggest putting parchment paper or crate paper on a tray or cookie sheet for a mobile workspace. Once you've poured resin into your molds, you wont want to pick them up until they've hardened (the sides are soft and the inside is liquid!) so you'll want to work directly on your tray.



Next, mix your resin and hardener. The ratio is 1:1 resin to hardener. Stir it throughly but slowly, to avoid unnecessary air bubbles in the resin. Pour the resin into the mold and place your flowers. I used the Uchida Jewel Picker to get the flowers off the backing card and onto the resin's surface, then used a toothpick to push them down into the resin. Tip: Be. Gentle. Bruising the flower petals will result in dark spots on them when the resin cures.

 

You have 30 minutes of workability with your resin once it has been mixed. Once the flowers are beneath the surface of the resin, they might drift around a bit before the resin starts to set up. Just keep moving them back to where you want them with your toothpick until it starts to set up too much to do so without creating bubbles. Also, make sure your flowers are bright side down. I had to re-lift these and flip them and ended up with some bubbles. Oops!



After a few hours, the molds should be hardened enough to gently move them if you didn't put them on a tray to start with. The resin won't be completely cured until 24 hours later, so don't remove them from the molds. The resin is still fairly soft and your lines wont be crisp and clean if you remove them now.



After 24 hours, remove them from the silicone molds. Look at how GORGEOUS these turned out!

 
 

If you overfilled the pendants like I did, you may have to drill out the holes to get your jewelry findings through. For an extra touch, add cork to the bottom of your coasters or gold foil to the back of your jewelry!

Did you try this? Show us your projects on Instagram and Twitter with the hashtag #supplyingcreativity!