To try it out, I had to buy a UV light and resin ($100). You know I had to buy a really nice 54W UV light (with a large stage for multiple items) along with two large bottles of resin. Because why? I must own tools and things for my crafts-loving heart! I bought mine at epoxyjewelry.com. A word of warning though, I did NOT shop around, like a dummy, and paid $75 for the light. I found the exact same light for $36 with free shipping on ebay...I am my own worst enemy! I would also like to add that the only shipping choice at epoxyjewelry was 3-day priority at $21. I received my items ONE WEEK LATER... Yes. I bought it early on a Thursday, it did not ship to me until the following Monday, which is absolutely UNACCEPTABLE for an item purchased at a priority shipping rate (as I said, they offered no other shipping options). As a seller, holding an item for days when a customer has paid for priority/express shipping is essentially theft (of time). Plain and simple. Okay, rant over.
The resin seems to be pretty good. I paid $12.50/2oz bottle and I bought 2. They also offer an 8 oz bottle for $33 which is a really good price and comparable to the 2-part epoxy resin. There are other brands of UV resin out there and I will list them below.
I specialize in shrink plastic jewelry www.fauxshowart.etsy.com check me out! So my items are printed using a standard inkjet printer. Nothing fancy. I have read where the resin does not work well on inkjet ink and some sellers offer a sealer of sorts that you apply before applying the resin. I thought 'no thanks' to that. But the tales of troublesome inkjet/UV resin combining may be somewhat true. I was so excited to try this on some Christmas themed items I had recently made. My first try was a cool retro-inspired candle. I squeezed out some resin, moved it to the edges of the candle using a toothpick and placed it into the UV oven. The top hardened, but the resin sitting on the surface of the candle stayed liquid. It NEVER hardened, even after 30 minutes under the lights and after so long, even the ink started to get slimy :( So the hardened shell would slide around across the top of the shrinky dink. I was so utterly disappointed, the 'dink was ruined as the surface was permanently sticky and gross (after I took the hardened shell off). I then did a test on a clear (semi-translucent) shrinky dink and it hardened in less than 3 minutes. My conclusion was well, it doesn't work on the opaque shrinky dinks. Also, I put the shrinky dink back under the light to see if the remaining slick of resin would harden up. It never did, it stayed gross. This may have something to do with the ink after all.
Here is my blonde moment: The UV light has mirrored panels throughout the inside of it for maximum reflection of the UV light. The idea being that the more reflected UV light, the faster the cure, be it gel nails, or UV resin. The surfaces of the oven/light were all covered in that clear blue protective plastic and I did NOT remove it first. Duh, gurl! Yeah, pretty bad! In my defense, there were absolutely NO instructions or set up information that came with the light (another negative ding to epoxyjewelry.com). To remove the plastic covering, I had to remove all six of the UV bulbs (easy pop outs/ins) and then wedge my fat little hand in and try to using my nails to scrape at the edges of the mirrored panels in order to get a bit of the edge loose in order to pull it off. This task was daunting. There were no pull tabs to make removal simple. I cannot help but feel there should have been some sort of info that came with the UV light, but I received none from epoxyjewelry.com which I think is pretty shabby.
I decided to give it another go. This time, I applied the UV resin to an item that was first 'sealed' using clear acrylic spray paint (this is how I seal/protect all of my shrinky dink jewelry). In 5 minutes, the resin was hard, it was prefect. Winner! I have not had many more chances to use the resin as I am crazy-busy prepping items for the Christmas season. I hope to soon add some more information with regards to the resin.
In addition I bought, for $14 from Amazon, a pair of the UV light protective goggles that came bundled with a TaoTronics TT-FL002 UV flashlight (it has a big light area). You can use these to quickly harden the resin with your flashlight. This does work! I put the goggles/glasses on whenever I look at the UV light. Protect your eyes!
Oh, and also, I have two big, hairy dogs. Hair and resin DO NOT WORK WELL TOGETHER. This UV resin is nice in that you can use a heat source to heat out the bubbles like you would regular resin, but do NOT use any type of fan and stay out of a drafty area if you have animals. I ruined a couple of other pieces because lint/animal fuzz found it's way onto the surface of a couple of my other items and in a very short time.
Some other brands of UV resin are as follows:
Solarez on Amazon -- It says it is UV curable resin and the price is amazing good.
"UV Resin" in a bottle with a green leaf covered label, there is no brand name listed, but I see it everywhere. This
particular sample was listed on Etsy
10g $5.28
15g
25g
60g
100g
200g $30.36
Lisa Pavelka--found in most crafts stores. Very expensive but quickly accessible.
1oz=$9.74
And others. The Solarez seems like such an amazing deal. a quart for $35.05 seems crazy. I'd have to start with
the smallest size and try it to see if it is as good.
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