Is your bulletin board looking a little boring? You can make your own gummy bear thumbtacks with a silicone mold and colorful resin! This is a great started resin project if you have been too scared to try working with resin. Keep reading to learn how to make a set for yourself.
GUMMY BEAR THUMBTACKS
WHAT YOU NEED TO MAKE GUMMY BEAR THUMBTACKS
I found the gummy bear mold at Michael’s, but you can also find them online. You can find the resin from a variety of retailers.
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- EnviroTex Lite
- Mixing Cups
- Stir Sticks
- Disposable Gloves
- Transparent Resin Dye
- Silicone Gummy Bear Mold
- Thumbtacks
HOW TO MAKE COLORED RESIN
Start by filling the mold with water and emptying the water into a measuring cup to determine how much liquid your mold holds. Mix up this same measurement of resin according to the directions inside the package. When I am creating multiple colors of resin, I like to do the two-part mixing process in the large mixing cups, then I divide the resin among multiple smaller cups.
Add a drop or two of transparent resin dye into all but one of the small cups (so you have clear gummy bears) and mix thoroughly. I created a rainbow of colors and then realized there are definitely neither blue nor purple gummy bears.
USING A SILICONE MOLD WITH RESIN
Silicone molds are great for resin projects because it is so easy to remove the finished project once the resin has cured. Make that process even easiery by giving the silicone mold a spray with the mold release. Then let the mold release fully dry. Carefully pour the dyed resin into the cavities of the mold.
MAKING RESIN THUMBTACKS
Next, create a rig for your thumbtacks. I measured the center-to-center distance between the mold cavities and marked it on a wood stir stick. I then pressed the thumbtacks partially into the stir stick at those marks.
Lay the stir stick across the mold so that the backs of the thumbtacks rest in the resin. This will keep the tacks from sinking into the resin as it cures. Cover the mold and let it cure overnight.
Give the silicone mold a tug in a few directions to loosen the thumbtacks from the mold.
Look at how sweet these little gummy bear thumbtacks are!
They totally look like real gummy bears, but they are completely functional thumbtacks for your bulletin board.
You might like these other resin projects:
COLORFUL PINEAPPLE STRING LIGHTS
PAPER AND RESIN SUCCULENT FRAME
