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This question comes through by Alli:
I have a love and passion for jewellery and have been taking a jewellery course at school now for four years. During this time we have covered resin multiple times and now I wish to start my own jewellery business off with some resin pieces. Although I am having a little trouble with it and would really appreciate if you could take the time out of your busy day to help me out. Im casting the pieces into some silver plated pendant trays and rings, the resin sets and then I put them in some warm water to peel any spillage off the side of the tray then I sand them a little with wet dry sandpaper 400, 800, 1200, careful not to scratch the trays otherwise they come up a orange bronze colour, to finish it all off I use my rotary tool and a polish compound to polish them up. However I am unhappy with the final result because I can still see small scratches and marks when my pieces catch the light and although they are clear and polished they dont have that glossy glass look but more of a dull dry look. If you could suggest something else I could polish it with or maybe something Im doing wrong it would be much appreciated.
Thank you so much for your time 🙂
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Hi Alli,
Glad to hear youre enjoying your time with resin!
The first thing I would ask is why you are sanding them to begin with? If youre trying to have a flat surface, youre going to need to sand them, otherwise, if you want a glossy finish, a domed layer of resin in your bezels should be sufficient.
When I sand resin, I like to start with 400 grit, then make smaller grit jumps when I go up. For example, I go from 400 to 600 to 800 to 1000, then 1500, then 2000. Be sure that before you go on to the next grit that ALL your sanding marks from the previous grit are gone. I also either sand the pieces underwater or at least make sure my sandpaper is wet. That will keep resin dust from melting back into your piece. (That may be whats causing your surface imperfections.)
Even finishing with a 2000 grit sandpaper, you are not going to get a wet to the look finish. It will be glossy, but not the shiny look of wet resin. If you want that look, you will either need to finish with another layer of resin or use a sealer spray. (We have a good gloss sealer spray for that, but it cant ship to you in Australia.)
If you are working with polyester resin, a buffing wheel and compound will work fine. Unfortunately, epoxy resin is too soft and will take on scratches when you use a buffing wheel.
Let me know how it goes for you!
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Here’s a few videos to help you as well:
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