The EASY Way To Turn A Drawing Into Jewelry

My nephew drew a picture of his dog for his school’s art show. My sister asked if there was a way I could turn his drawing into jewelry.

Ya.
YAAAASSS.
You betcha.

💡 Pro tip: This is a perfect DIY Mother’s Day jewelry project.

Step 1:  Prepare the artwork.

You’ll need a digital copy of the art. My sister scanned a copy of the drawing and emailed it to me as a .jpg file. Then, I printed several sizes to see how they would look in a resin mold.

💡 Pro tip: If you’re looking for free options to edit your picture, there is a free version of Canva or other free alternatives to Photoshop

Trim the image away from the paper. Cut out several sizes, then place them in the mold. You want to see which size fits in the mold before you pour epoxy resin.

This resin pendant mold makes a nice size for this project. Plus, it casts with the hole in place for the jump ring finding.

Step 2:  Seal the artwork.

Tear off a piece of clear packing tape and place it onto a hard surface with the sticky side up. Put the printed drawing onto the sticky side of the tape. Place another piece of clear packing tape on the top. (You’re making a tape sandwich.)

Rub the two parts of the tape together to push out any air bubbles. Pay close attention to the area next to the edge of the picture. You don’t want to trap a bubble at the paper’s edge, because you’ll see it through the resin when you turn your drawing into jewelry.

If you don’t have tape, you can seal the image with a couple of layers of glue. You’ll have to wait for the glue to dry, which takes several hours.

⭐️ BONUS: Here’s how to seal papers for resin.

Step 3:  Prepare the mold.

Spray a light mist of Castin’ Craft mold release over the mold and allow it to dry for 30 minutes.

Step 4:  Pour the first resin layer.

Once dry, mix together 1/2 ounce (total) of the Resin Obsession super clear resin.  This resin is perfect to turn this drawing into jewelry because it cures hard and clear.

⭐️ BONUS:  If mixing resin is new to you, you’ll definitely want to check out how to mix resin in five easy steps.

Fill the mold cavity half full with the resin.

Place the sealed paper into the resin mold artwork side down. The surface facing you will be the back of the pendant.

Push it in at an angle to avoid trapping a bubble.

💡 Pro tip: Place the sealed image into your cup of mixed resin, then place it in the mold. By coating the drawing with resin, you break the surface tension and make trapping bubbles less likely.

Let the first layer cure.

Step 5:  Pour the second resin layer.

Mix another 1/2 of super clear resin. Color the super clear resin with Resin Obsession opaque white pigment.

Add to the mold and let cure until hard. That takes 12 to 24 hours.

Step 6:  Demold and finish.

Demold the resin charm by twisting the mold while grabbing a pendant edge.  Then, you need to check the edges before you turn the drawing into wearable jewelry.

If you have sharp edges on your resin pendant, sand them down with wet/dry sandpaper. You don’t have to sand a lot. Only enough that it doesn’t snag a piece of clothing or poke someone.

Step 7:  Make wearable

If you used a jewelry mold with cast-in-place holes, you only need to add a jump ring and necklace to wear the pendant.

If you didn’t, you’ll need to use a glue-on bail finding to make the charm wearable.

Use E6000 to glue the charm and bail together. You’ll put a dab of glue on each piece, then push them together.

This shows how to use E6000 to glue a bail on a resin charm:

Allow the adhesive to dry for 24 hours before wearing.

Hang the finished pendant from a necklace. Or in the case of my nephew, I included a zip tie so he could hang it from his backpack.

So whaddya say? Ready to turn a drawing into jewelry?

Want to do more resin jewelry projects?

Then get your copy of Resin Jewelry Making.  This colorful ebook is instantly downloadable to your favorite device. Buy now and get a email with a download link in minutes.

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