Flowers in epoxy resin.

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Flowers are one of the most beautiful decorations on our planet, each of them is unique. The epoxy resin helps to preserve the solidified beauty of flowers for an unlimited amount of time. A flower under a transparent coating can become jewelry, a souvenir, an interior decoration or simply an original gift to a loved one. In this article, you will learn how to make flowers in epoxy resin with your own hands.

Table of Contents

What will we need?

To make the work process smooth and the result amazing, you should prepare everything in advance. First of all, you should gather all the necessary tools and materials.

For work you will need:

protective polyethylene, to protect the workplace from contamination;
epoxy resin (it is better to use a special jewelry resin) and a catalyst (hardener);
dried flowers – rose, dandelion, cornflowers, marigolds, daisies;
silicone mold, in which epoxy resin will be poured;
containers for the mixture and sticks for stirring;
syringe;
a tool for polishing the cured product.

Flowers in epoxy resin. How do you pour the epoxy resin into a mold?

To ensure that you won’t need to clean everything up after the work is done, the workplace should be covered with polyethylene. After that, arrange all the necessary tools and materials as conveniently as possible. When everything is ready, you can get to work.

First, we will need to prepare the epoxy resin solution from the epoxy compound. To do this, the liquid resin is mixed with a catalyst. For 10 parts of the resin, you may need from 1 to 6 parts of the hardener – each manufacturer specifies its own proportions in the instructions, and they must be followed. Mixing should be done in a separately prepared container. Everything should be dosed with a syringe, but for more accurate results, you can use a scale. The amount of mixture will depend on the volume of the silicone mold. If it is necessary to color the resin, the dye should be added when you mix the epoxy resin and hardener.

Mixing should be done slowly. It must take from 4 to 10 minutes, don’t rush. To do this, use a wooden stick. Use it slowly, so as not to make air bubbles. Thoroughly mix the composition into a homogeneous mass.

It is better to pour the prepared solution into another clean container – this will remove the poorly stirred clots that are left on the walls of the container.

To finally get rid of the bubbles, the container with the ready mixture should be placed for 10 minutes in warm water (about 40 degrees).

Next, the silicone mold should be dipped in cold water and wiped dry. The surface of the mold must be completely clean.

First, a little bit of resin should be poured on the bottom of the mold. All actions should be done slowly and carefully, so as not to create air bubbles inside the composition.

Flowers in epoxy resin. Stacking the dried flowers.

Now it’s time to place the dried flowers. They should be placed on a thin layer of resin, spreading each petal with a sharpened wooden stick. Then the flowers should be poured with resin, but only by half, giving the plants a chance to be fixed. If the mold is fully poured right away, the light flowers will float to the surface.

Then the work will have to be postponed until the complete curing of the epoxy resin (10 to 24 hours). Each manufacturer’s polymerization process is different so it has different timing.

After about a day, the mold should be completely filled with freshly prepared composition and again left for the same time to cure.

Take the product with flowers from the mold.

Then the finished product should be removed from the silicone mold and carefully examined. On one of the sides, there may be irregularities, stains, grooves. Serious defects should be sanded down and covered with another layer of epoxy resin. If the defects are small, coating with resin is not needed anymore – sanding and polishing are enough. You can grind the workpiece using different methods: a nail file or fine-grained sandpaper will be a great choice.

Polishing of the epoxy resin.

Then proceed to polish the product to give it maximum transparency. Polishing pastes for cars can be used for this. Take a piece of cloth, apply the paste and polish the workpiece in a circular motion.

In the final step, the product is coated with a technical varnish that protects it from UV rays and prevents it from yellowing. The surface will become perfectly shiny and smooth after that.

A beautiful transparent item with a natural flower inside can become a souvenir, decoration, pendant, brooch, or magnet – it all depends on the desire of the master. To make the pendant, you will need a drill and a drill bit with a diameter of 0.5 mm. If you need any fittings, they can be purchased in specialized stores.

How do you dry flowers and leaves?

To make a perfect decoration, getting the pouring done flawlessly is half the battle. The second half depends on the quality of the dried flowers. They need to be properly collected and dried.

When should the flowers be collected.

Each flower blooms at a certain time. We need to collect it when it is fully bloomed but has not yet started to wither. At this moment, the flower should be cut off and carefully transported to a drying place.

To collect small flowers with thin petals (carnation, violet tricolor), prepare a thick book with old porous pages.

Each flower should be carefully spread out between the pages, as the delicate flowers wither quickly so you won’t have time to take them home.

Large flowers (roses, peonies) can be collected during the budding period. For jewelry, small buds are fine. For larger items (souvenirs, table tops) choose a freshly opened flower, and pay attention that petals are still firmly held in the flowerpod. These floweres have its own methods of drying.

Plants intended to be dried should not be collected in rain, dew, or after rain. They should be collected in dry, sunny weather when there is a minimum amount of moisture in the petals. When collected on time, drying is quick and does not lead to rotting. It will help us to make beautiful flowers in epoxy resin.

Drying flowers

A delicate flower and a big bud should be dried differently, but there is one rule for drying and storing dried flowers – avoid ultraviolet rays, as they “weaken” the color of the plants, making them look faded. In any case, the natural color during drying will be slightly lost. Remember, the faster the flower dries, the more colors it will retain.

These were general rules, but now I will tell you how to dry each particular plant.

Dandelion.

A fluffy ball in epoxy resin is an incredible sight. To collect such material, you need to choose the most beautiful specimens in the glade. Carefully cut them off and spray each ball with hairspray from a distance of 20-30 cm. After a few seconds, when the hairspray fixes the fluff, the dandelions can be put into boxes. In this form, they are taken home and dried for 2 weeks. This is enough time for the material to become strong enough to withstand the pouring so that the dandelions can save their form.

Rose

Rose is the queen of flowers. It remains magnificent in an epoxy ball as well. Because the petals are gathered very close to each other, the plant needs to be dried for a long time. It should take at least 15 days, but the process itself is not difficult. It is enough to hang the roses in a dark ventilated place. Tie them to a rope in the barn or attic by their stems.

After a while check if the material is ready. If the petals break off easily, the roses are completely dry and ready to be used.

Hydrangea

The flower retains its volume well if it is dried in semolina. Pour some semolina into a container, lower the hydrangea and gently fill it completely with grits. In a week, the dried flower will be ready.

Beautiful examples of flowers in epoxy resin.

Products with flowers in epoxy resin are unique and can never be duplicated. It is impossible to find two absolutely identical flowers. All of them are delightfully beautiful – you can make sure of that by looking at photos of unusual, amazing items. All of them were made using flowers in epoxy resin.

Helichrysum pendant in epoxy resin.