DOES DOLLAR TREE RESIN WORK?

MIXING DOLLAR STORE RESIN

The Resin Kit I purchased at Dollar Tree cost $5 for a 3 oz. bottle of resin and a 3 oz. bottle of hardener. When mixed, this would give you 6 ounces of resin at a cost of about $0.83/ounce.

The Dollar Tree resin comes with almost no safety information whatsoever, which is very uncommon. Usually, resin comes with a huge insert full of instructions and safety information. The dollar store resin just has a small paragraph warning on the back of the package. Resin can be dangerous if not handled properly, so it is a little crazy to me that there was so little information given in the packaging.

This resin seems to be a standard two-part epoxy resin, so you should follow the same precautions that you would with other resin varieties:

• Work in a well-ventilated work area.
• Protect your work surface with a silicone mat or newspaper.
• Wear disposable gloves!
• Discard unused resin by letting it fully cure in a mold or mixing cup before throwing it away.

Some resins require you to mix the resin for a certain amount of time in one cup and then transfer the mixture to a second cup and mix for a bit longer. This is to ensure that the resin and hardener are fully incorporated. Since there were no instructions other than to mix equal amounts of resin and hardener for 3-5 minutes, I did not use this two-cup method for mixing the resin.

The package called for mixing together a one-to-one ratio of resin and hardener. I mixed equal parts resin and hardener in a small resin cup that I bought at Dollar Tree as well. The package of Resin Mixing Cups contained twelve 2 fluid-ounce cups and cost $3 ($0.25 each). The cups were a little flimsy, but the markings on the cups were easy to read. I could have also bought a resin stir stick at the dollar store, but I have a huge stash of them at home already.

I poured the resin directly from the mixing cup into the silicone bookmark mold. I was pleasantly surprised with how few bubbles were in the resin after pouring it into the mold.

ADDING DOLLAR STORE MIX-INS TO RESIN

Once the resin was in the molds, I added in some Dollar Tree resin mix-ins. The Mini Diamond Filler package contained 9 twist-top containers of loose embellishments. Each small container held 2 grams of embellishments and cost $3 ($0.17/gram). The Crushed Glass Filler package also contained 9 twist-top containers. These containers held 9 grams of crushed glass. It also costs $3 which works out to $0.06/gram.

Both filler options worked well with the resin. Often glitter or embellishments will sink to the bottom of the resin in the mold leaving the resin unevenly decorated. These embellishments did not sink. Some of that may have had to do with the fact that the bookmark mold holds very little, so there wasn’t very far for the embellishments to go. Even so, I was pleased with the even distribution of the Dollar Tree glitter and gems in the resin.

After I added the embellishments, I used a long-arm lighter to pop any bubbles visible on the surface of the resin. There weren’t many! Then I left the resin to cure overnight.

UNMOLDING DOLLAR STORE RESIN FROM SILICONE MOLDS

The dollar store resin cured very well and the final product unmolded from the silicone perfectly. The bookmarks were still slightly malleable after unmolding, but that is common after just one day of curing. The resin bookmarks cured solidly after another day.

SO, IS DOLLAR STORE RESIN WORTH BUYING?

DOLLAR STORE RESIN POSITIVES

I have no complaints about the actual performance of the dollar store resin. Some resins produce a lot of bubbles when you mix the two parts together, and this Dollar Tree resin did not. That is a definite plus. The embellishments worked well, and the resin unmolded from the silicone molds perfectly.

DOLLAR STORE RESIN NEGATIVES

The lack of information included with the dollar store resin makes me super nervous, honestly. If you don’t know what you are doing with resin before buying this product, the packaging is almost no help.

IS THE DOLLAR TREE RESIN CHEAPER THAN OTHER RESINS?

Let’s take a look at how the cost of the dollar store resin breaks down in comparison to other brands of resin. These are all varieties I have personally used and would recommend.

• Dollar Tree resin $5 for 6 total ounces ($0.83/ounce)
• Let’s Resin Crystal Clear Epoxy Resin $27 for 36 total ounces ($0.75/oz)
• Mod Podge Resin $16 for 16 total ounces ($1.00/ounce)
• Envirotex Lite $25 for 16 total ounces ($1.56/ounce)

The dollar store resin is not the cheapest resin per ounce. That prize goes to Let’s Resin (which happens to be my current favorite epoxy resin). If you think you might like to make multiple resin projects, buying larger containers of resin will save you money in the long run.

However, $5 is indisputably less than $27. If you are creating a small project where you only need a little bit of resin, it would be less money to buy the small dollar store bottles and not have much resin leftover. If you are just getting started with resin crafts and you aren’t quite ready to invest in nearly $30 worth of resin, the dollar store resin would be a great way to try out a new craft medium.

What do you think? Will you try out Dollar Tree resin?