I could not get in-depth help on how to create a bangle bracelet using transparencies, so I decided to learn this process myself. It took time through trial and error to get as far as I am now. I tried different resins until I found one that worked wonderfully, thanks to Resin Obsession’s super clear resin. So here it is for everyone who wants to make a bangle and personalize it with transparencies.
Resin supplies list:
- –Resin Obsession Super Clear Resin
- –Large 10-oz. Reusable Mixing Cups
- –Resin Bangle mold
- -Computer Grafix Pk/50 Clear Ink Jet Film 8.5×11″
- -Wet Dry sandpaper 400-600-800-1500
- –Novus Plastic Polish System
- -Two-Part Epoxy (5 min kind)
- -photo, sketch, painting, or other artwork
- -Toothpicks and or wooden skewers
- –Glitter (optional)
- -Scissors and ruler
- -Teflon sheet (optional)
- -Wax paper
- –Rubber gloves
- -Tape
Bracelet molds for resin casting
I make my molds from forms I make from polymer clay so I can fit my exact wrist measurements. When I make forms, I make them very tall so that way I can make small – medium – tall – or very tall bangles with one mold. I love tall, thin bangles that look almost like a bracer cuff. You can buy resin molds if you do not make your own molds.
After you have decided on a mold, you will have to measure the inside of the mold. You will need to know the measurements for your transparency. Then, you can use paper to make a template and tape the ends together to see if it fits inside your mold.
Create transparency art
You will have to choose a photo – sketch – painting – or artwork you want to use to print onto the transparency. I suggest you use your images, drawings, paintings, or artwork. I would not use anyone else’s artwork to print onto a transparency because of copyright laws. If you plan on selling your pendants, you will need to read up on copyright laws.
Print the transparency
You can use many different types of photo programs to manipulate your photograph or artwork. I took photos or artwork and worked them in two photo programs I got for free online. I intensified the colors, and sometimes I used some cool effects.
See my other tutorial on Resin Obsession called “Make your own resin pendant using transparencies”. I suggest you intensify the colors in your photo to see them better in your bangle.
After you are done with your photo manipulation, you will have to resize it so it will fit into your mold. Make enough photos to fill up a page so you do not waste any of the transparency sheets.
Prepare your transparency for the bracelet
So I can’t talk about how to create a bangle bracelet using transparencies without showing you how to make the transparencies for the bracelet! After I print out my transparencies, I let them sit overnight in a place fuzz and lint cannot get on them. This is probably not necessary, but I take no chances. Measure out your transparency and cut it out.
You will then have to cut out a skinny transparency strip to glue the bangle transparency into a circle.
I use a small Teflon sheet to tape the small transparency strip to. Make sure if you use words, they are face down.
I then take a scrap piece of the transparency and mix up the fine-minute epoxy.
Take a tiny amount onto your toothpick, and spread it across the thin strip you taped down. Just a thin bead down the length of the strip will be okay.
Take the transparencies for your bangle bracelet and grab onto the side of each end with both hands. Form a circle and lay the ends onto the thin strip with the epoxy on it. Hold it where the two ends meet together on the narrow strip. When you get it where you want it, hold it until it dries. With epoxy, it will only be about 5 min or less. You will only see me use one hand, but I had to take the picture with my other hand. LOL
After it dries, you will have to cut off the tabs. Carefully remove the tape from the Teflon sheet, along with the transparency. You will need to cut the tabs off flush.
After I’ve done this, I let it sit overnight. I create different transparencies for another bangle bracelet to have ready while this one sits overnight. It is a different color than the one you just saw me make, with little hearts instead of the words Love. I have my pretty pink superfine glitter ready to go also. I made this pretty pink transparency previously to match one of my shirts.
Mix the resin
The resin itself is the other important part of creating a bangle bracelet using transparencies. I’m not showing the resin measuring and mixing here. If resin jewelry making is new to you, you should read this article on mixing resin in five easy steps.
I take my mold and put wax paper underneath it. This makes for easy cleanup. I also put on rubber gloves for protection.
Make sure it is not too cold in the room when you’re pouring the resin. When I pour resin, I have the temperature around 74 degrees. Mix up the super clear resin as two parts A to one part B. Add glitter if you want. Warning, too much glitter will sometimes prevent the transparency from shining through. After I mix it up, I always let it rest for around 5 minutes.
Pouring and Inserting Transparency
Before you pour, spray your mold with a releasing agent and let it dry. I pour about ½ inch into my mold, then insert my transparency. It should fit in the mold with ease. You should also have a small space inside and outside the transparency.
The transparency tends to stick to the sides of the mold, so I use wooden skewers to keep this from happening. I place them one by one opposite of each other till I have enough of them, so the transparency does not stick to the sides of the mold. You will have to experiment to see what fits your transparency and your mold. You may only need a toothpick. I insert them on the inside and not the outside of my transparency. Be careful not to get it too tight and risk ripping your transparency where you previously glued it together.
When pouring my resin, I pinch the side of the cup to get more control of the pour. Pour a little at a time. As the resin gets to the top, pour slowly on the inside and outside of the transparency. Try not to overfill too much. Just enough to go over the top of the transparency. Then slowly, one by one on the opposite side, remove the wooden skewers. If you want to save the resin on the skewers, try scraping them off into your resin cup with a wooden Popsicle stick or the side of your cup.
After you remove your skewers, take the flat end of one of your skewers and carefully tap the top of your transparency on all sides. This is to make sure it is firmly on the bottom. It also will give you an idea of if you need to pour more resin, so none of the transparency is peeking out.
Let it sit for at least 24 hours before popping it out. Take your time to loosen it on the inside and outside before trying to remove it from your mold. If you find removing it difficult, put it under the faucet and run water in it. Adding dish soap will help too. When it comes out, it may look a bit frosted.
As you can see, I way over-poured my resin. This means a lot of resin sanding is in order.
Finishing your resin bracelet
Sand the bracelet underwater with a dash of Dawn, with wet-dry sandpaper 400-600-800-1500. After you have finished sanding, use the Novus Plastic Polish System. After a lot of sanding and polishing, this is the final look.
In this window shot, you can see the glitter a bit better. I hope now you know how to create a bangle bracelet using transparencies.
*hugz* Rona Phillips
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This tutorial is graciously shared by Rona Phillips.
Unpublished Blog Posts of Resin Obsession, LLC © 2022 Resin Obsession, LLC
Roxy,
Please try again. There was an issue with our hosting server and images this morning. The images have been reloaded and are working fine for us on Firefox and Internet Explorer.
You are so welcome Victoryia & Roxy! Hey Victoria, if you look at the bottom of this page you can see 2 pictures of the final bangle. You can prob see the bangle best on my wrist (the last picture). *hugz*
It makes me very happy that I helped in some small way. *hugz*
Victoria,
My guess would be as follows:
1. Have two mold of the same bracelet, where the only difference is the thickness of the wall of the bracelet. (same inner diameter, same height). The only difference is the outer diameter and wall thickness.
2. Make a resin bracelet with the mold with the skinnier wall thickness of the opaque color of your choice.
3. Place this bracelet in the mold of the larger bracelet and ‘make again’, except with clear resin and the bracelet inclusion.
Thanks for the tutorial! I can’t see the pictures for some reason. I guess my browser doesn’t support them. 🙁
First of all thanks so much for posting this, I have been wanting to make one for some time, do you have a pic of your final bracelet ? I’ve also noticed they are making bracelets with opaque white on the inside of the bracelet with clear /and transparencies on outside of bracelet , any ideas?
Katherine, thanks so much for the info , makes sense on the opaque/ clear resin, now to figure out how to make the different wall thickness , also have you ever used the waterslide paper by Lazertran ‘ ? Wonder how that would work, Regards Victoria
Victoria, I don’t know about waterslide paper. I’ll have to look into that.
THANK YOU! I have been experimenting with transparencies with little luck thus far, but now I have something new to try!
I really appreciate the generosity of knowledge sharing, so many people are so so secretive.
If you know how to make your own forms, here is an idea for you Victoria. I have not tried this, but it might just work. You will have to make 2 forms and 2 different molds. I make my forms from polymer clay and for this to work, you would have to use it also. I have to have 2 different layers of polymer clay to make it as thick as I want the bangle to be. But my layers are bonded together to make one form and one mold. So in your case you would make the 1st layer and put it in the over to harden it. I call that layer the bones. LOL After it is cooled you would put on the outside of the polymer clay form a layer of release agent, then add the 2nd layer of polymer clay on top of the 1st layer and then bake. The release agent will keep the 2nd layer from bonding to the 1st layer. After baked and cooled you would then make a mold of that form before you separate them. After you separate the forms, you can then make a 2nd mold, of the inside form. That way you could make opaque white for the inside mold and insert it into the big mold. Just and idea Victoria! *hugz*
Thanks for the tips and tricks. I love these bracelets and have been asking around how to make them. I also would like to know how the white is put on the inside of the bracelet. (maybe a skinny bracelet on the inside of a larger one?) This is great and I will be working on one today with your tips.
You are so welcome Danella & Diana. I am thinking about putting together a tutorial on how to make your own bangle forms. But not sure any one is interested. *hugz*
Are you kidding Rona? You make awesome tutorials!!
Count me in Rona, I’m interested.
Rona thank you so much for all the great info! Regards Victoria
Thank you so much Katherine, for the nice compliments! And victoria you are welcome! Ok I guess I need to get started on making a tut for how to create your own bangle form in polymer clay. whoooopeeeee LOL
Wow thank you so much Niki! Let the flood gates open Niki. It is soooooo much fun!
I just learned about resin bangles a couple days ago…haven’t even tried it yet…but am in love!! And now this tutorial blew my mind!! Excellent instruction and I’m so excited to try. Many, many different ideas in my head!
Thank you!
Is there a way to cast this bracelet with WHITE (or other color on the inside and clear on the outside? I cannot find a way to do this ANYWHERE? I see bracelets like this with a different color on the inside, but cannot figure out how to do this. I would love a book, or DVD to learn this (or someont giving class online or video?.
So cute and would love take it a stepfurther.
Thank you
Maureen, we talk about how to do this in the first few comments on this blog post. Perhaps we should try that for a future tutorial!
Thanks a bunch Rona. I had this idea in my head but not sure if this was the way to do it or not. You will not believe how much I had to google to even come close. Thanks again.
You are so welcome Fefe and Maureen! I love to share what little I do know. Lol
Thanks a bunch Rona. I had this idea in my head but not sure if this was the way to do it or not. You will not believe how much I had to google to even come close. Thanks again.
WOW déjà vu Fefe lol
I have ordered a good bangle silicone mold (I live in Mexico and have not been able to find plain bangles to make my own molds…will do that as I go).
With hard plastic molds (which I do not loe): I tried to make white (or other color) inside with clear outside using 2 molds different molds (one thinner than the other). It was not ideal for a couple reasons: the second pour, the resin seeps under a bit: there is no good seal on the second pour.
Required a LOT of finishing to remove the 1/4 inch white resin on the bottom.
I can see lots of people using transparencies as a “divider” (what it looks like).
Here is what I think: add/paint a small layer of clear to the bottom of your mold and place the acetate/transparency (I also use resin paper) the way the photos show above. LET THAT DRY!
I would pour the clear first and let it cure 24 hours. THEN pour the inside color. The clear can be contaminated by the color pour.
I suspect with good practice you can pour both clear and color before either are cured.
I will try soon, and if anyone else makes it work, let us know. Putting white behind a transparency makes the image show great.
WOW Maureen! Good Job! Thank you so much for all the info and your hard work. I am putting together a tut on how to make your own forms to create your own molds. This might help with your future creations.
*hugz*
Thank you to Rona for your initiative and clarity! Thank you to Katherine for publishing this. Maureen from Mexico, could you add some photos to your two-chamber method? I’m having a tough time imagining it.
If you creative and super-pros can figure out the dual-color technique, I know it will be as big a hit as this tutorial of Rona’s!!’
/b
You are very welcome Betsy. Thank you for the nice comment!
Thank you for the tutorial! Excellent, I had just bought stuff yesterday to try to figure all this out! Now back to shopping as I didn’t get enough! Thanks again!
I made a Bangle bracelet a few weeks ago and I poured the clear only a small amount just enough to cover what I had put inside the Braclet which was red ,black, & white teeny tiny dice . after 24 hrs of curing I went back and added a layer of Black resin behind the clear and after it dried completely it turned out wonderful it just made the dice POP! I am sure adding white or any other matching colors would be just as amazing !! and @ RONA please post all the tutorials that you can ….I am on board for sure!
Rona, your tutorials are amazing!! Thank you. How did you get your name on the mold?
You are so very welcome Sally, Kathy, and Helen. Sorry I did not comment sooner. I took a trip to Destin Florida with my sisters. Then I had my gallbladder removed. I was laid off for 1 week then call back to work the following week. I have just been laid off again. With my job I usually get laid off around every 3 years and then call back. So it has been really crazy. Maybe now I will have time to get back to my art. I work in all kinds of different materials. I have been trying my hand with air dry clay and making my sister a fairy doll. But I will get back to my resin projects. Love love love resin!
*hugz*
Rona
Hellen I put my name on my form I made with polymer clay. Which trasfered to my mold I made from it. I bought a stamp on line and special ordered my name and imprinted it on my polymer clay form.
*hugz*
Rona
Any ideas on how to add transparencies to cuff bracelets rather than bangles?
I agree with Katherine, Amy. You could make your own form and use that to make your own mold. You could adapt the tut on “Make your own bangle bracelet template for silicone molds” to a cuff type. *hugz* Rona
Amy, I would attempt it the same way, you would just need a mold of a cuff bracelet to start with.
I agree with Katherine. You can adjust your needs to my other tut on How to make your own personalized Bangle Bracelet Forms for you to create your own silicone molds for resin.
*hug*
Rona
Hello! I have a question for this group of resin experts. I bought a beautiful resin cuff bracelet but I have small wrists and wish it were smaller.
Is it possible to reheat resin so that it can be reshaped, and in this case made smaller, or is this a fool’s errand?
Thanks in advance for whatever insights or ideas you can provide!
Kathleen
Kathleen,
I’m afraid there is no good way to size down a resin bracelet. Yes, you can heat them up, but it will distort the shape.
Thanks, I’ve recently been looking for information about this topic for ages and yours is the greatest I have came upon so far. However, what concerning the bottom line? Are you positive about the source?
Thanks beads suppliers. Botton line? You mean do I sell these? I will say it one again.
(I do not sell any of my resin creations on line or anywhere else. I do it for the pure pleasure of doing it)!
What does that mean (are you positive about the source?).
It took me a long time and alot of work to create this tut for people that wanted to know how to do this FOR FREE. I let this wonderful resin website use it and I also have it on my facebooks page. It is not to be published or put in a book or any other website without my permision to do so.
Rona Phillips
Georgous tutorial , Thank you very much!! and congratulations for your work!
Thank you Jade!
*hugz*
I love your tutorials. I am just starting to make resin jewelry and your help is appreciated. Do you know how to make small resin balls to set in bangles?
Thank you.
@Barbara,
You could either try casting your own, or quite frankly, I think it would be easier to find something you like (marbles, small buttons, etc.) and include them in the resin when you’re making your bangle.
Great information – I remember in the ” 1970’s” I saw some really terrific resin bracelets at a Arts & Craft Show – not much after that time – and now Resin is back!! The resin was tinted various beautiful colours as I remember and dulled by sanding I would assume.