Indoor Resin Sun Mobile

12 Materials
$15
2 Days
Easy

Hello everyone! Here again with another resiny tutorial so hopefully if you follow my projects on hometalk or YouTube you’ll be all tooled up and ready to go.


If not, don’t worry, everything you need will be listed below along with my DISCOUNT CODE for resin products with a company that also offer FREE SHIPPING!


I also have an Etsy store if you don’t already know and I’ve added the link below where you can buy this piece and many other handmade items.


This mobile is designed with the indoors in mind as I live in an apartment and the idea is to hang it by a window, but you can tweak the idea to have this hang in a garden or porch too.


I wanted to bring the beautiful colours of summer into my living room using the sun and a little arts & crafts!


MY YOUTUBE!


icon icon Click above for the video of this project icon icon


If you prefer to watch tutorials than to read them then simply click the play button on the video link above to watch my YouTube tutorial of this exact project.


Please check out my other videos and subscribe to my channel for future crafty projects too icon


WHAT YOU’LL NEED


  • Resin - I have used Rockstar Resin’s 5 Star Coating resin for this project for it’s quick curing and crystal clear consistency, their 4 Star Coating Resin would also work great! Use the link above and my code HANNAH at checkout for 10% off your order. Rockstar also do FREE SHIPPING!!
  • Colourants (I used liquid and mica pigments as well as glitters, food colouring and alcohol inks)
  • Silicone molds (mind are round 4” molds)
  • Plastic/silicone measuring jug
  • Plastic/silicone mixing containers
  • Mixing sticks
  • Drill and small drill bit
  • String/wire/elastic
  • Wooden dowel
  • Sand paper
  • Gloves
  • Heat gun
  • Blow torch
  • Respirator (or well ventilated work space - please do research into what this would be for your own personal set-up)


Always invest in reusable supplies to save money and the environment where possible icon


MIXING YOUR RESIN


A little overview of my favourite resins and what to expect:


So I’ve chosen to use Rockstar’s 5 Star Coating resin for this project out of all their awesome products because it cures crystal clear and in half the time of their 4 Star Coating Resin.


Curing time isn’t really an issue for me usually but because I only have 8 round silicone molds and want about 15 discs, I want my resin to cure quickly so that I can whip the cured discs out and do another batch to hurry my project along. If you have enough molds or don’t really care about waiting a bit longer, maybe go for the 4 Star Coating Resin. It has all the clarity but with about a 12 hour cure.


The 4 Star Coating Resin will give you a work-time of about 30-45 mins once fully mixed. A very generous work-time for someone who wants to make it up as they go along.


The 5 Star Coating Resin will give you about 20-25 mins work-time once fully mixed so I’d say make sure you have a plan for your colours and feel confident with your steps or some or your resin may start to stiffen quicker than you’d like. The full cure time with this product is about 6 hours.


I knew exactly what I wanted to do with this project and wanted to save on time so again, that’s why I chose the 5 Star Coating Resin.


If you’re looking for a great, inexpensive, reliable brand to start you off, I highly HIGHLY recommend these guys. Especially considering their free shipping and a further 10% off icon


Mixing:


For my first batch of 8 discs (I made 15 in total but only had 8 molds) I mix up 1 cup of resin:


To do this, 1/2 a cup of hardener is added to my measuring jug first, followed by 1/2 a cup of resin. Mix the 2 together thoroughly for at least 5 mins. I usually mix a lot longer just to make sure I get a rock hard cure. Make sure you regularly scrape the sides of your jug when mixing to combine both parts completely.


With my now fully-mixed 1 cup of resin, I pour this into lots of different plastic and silicone containers ready for colouring.


COLOURING


Using any colourants you have and love, mix these into your small containers of resin. I also leave about 100mls of clear resin free.


I use mainly mica pigments to colour my resin as I love the shimmer this gives especially as this is a sun mobile that we’re making but it really depends on the look you want. A whole mobile of just glitters would be beautiful or just slightly tinted clear resin using food colouring. It’s completely up to you!


ADD YOUR COLOURS


First I start by dividing the 100mls of clear resin I kept free to each of the molds. As you can see in the picture, the idea isn’t to cover the whole mold but to use the clear resin as a ‘carrier’ for the other colours and to add transparent-ish patches throughout the discs. You might want the whole of your discs to be bold and vibrant and therefore colour all of your resin leaving none of it clear, but if you want the same affect I get, then this is what I did.


After this, I add each of my coloured resins, one by one, into different molds. I don’t add every single colour into every mold. I split them up and mix and match them to get different effects and so that none of them look the same or contain the same combination of colours. However, you might want matching ones or for them all to look the same, it’s whatever makes you happy!


Be sure to use your heat gun at intervals to pop any little bubbles that try to join the party. Then at the end after you’ve added all your colours, use the heat gun to blend everything together so that the colours don’t look so disjointed. You can see this best in my video that I’ve linked above as it was very hard to capture in a picture!


I use my blow torch intermittently to help with the popping of bubbles too but you could probably get away without needing one if you don’t already have one.


ALLOW TO CURE


As you can see, even though I added clear resin to my molds at the start, my discs are still looking nice and vibrant so it’s worth baring this in mind if you were thinking about skipping the 100mls clear resin part.


Allow your resin to cure and repeat the process if you need more discs making-up (like i did).


My next batch of discs were more subtle than these as I wanted my sun mobile to have both understated discs and bright, cheery ones.


PREPPING


After de-molding all your discs, give the outside edges a quick sand as some may have rough or sharp lips.


Then drill a small hole at the top of each disc with your drill. The ‘top’ is obviously subjective but pick this based on the balance of colours and as though you were going to mount it on a wall. Which end would look more ‘right’ being the top?


STRING ‘EM UP


Cut the same number of roughly equal length pieces of sting/elastic/wire (whatever you chose to use) as you have discs. It’s ok if some are longer or shorter than others, you will ultimately be choosing how long the ‘dangle/drop’ is later on when attaching the discs to your dowel.


I cut my elastic to about 14” in length which sounds long but it’s tricky to tie the elastic I have so I wanted a little extra in length to make the tying part at each end easier.


Tie each piece of string to each of your discs using the holes you drilled earlier.


Cut one more piece of string that you will attach at the end to hang your mobile from. Make sure this is long enough to reach both ends of your dowel with plenty of slack in the middle.


ATTACH TO THE DOWEL


Once you’ve tied each of your pieces of string to your discs, snip any excess pieces off string off to neaten things up.


Then one by one, tie the other ends of the string to the dowel as shown below. For now, don’t worry about the string moving up and down the dowel if it’s pushed, this will be helpful for when you want to balance the weight of your discs out evenly when it’s hung up. For now, just work on your dangles!


Tie your discs at different lengths along your dowel so that when it’s hung up you get an interesting but balanced look. Keep holding up your dowel at arms length to get a feel of how it’s looking and where to position your next disc.


once all your discs are securely attached, snip off any excess string to neaten the whole piece up.


HANGING


Lastly you want to tie the longer piece of string that you cut earlier, to each end, to make a hook/handle to hang your mobile up by.


Now hang it on a hook or nail somewhere in the sun and you’re good to go!


ONE MORE THING


As I mentioned before, I have an Etsy store with this and all my other handmade pieces for sale. Please click this link and take a look icon


The pictures really don’t do this one justice, the colours are so vibrant and add a gorgeous burst of summer right into your home.


Thanks so much for watching/reading and I really hope you give this a try.


Happy crafting x


icon


Resources for this project:
See all materials
Any price and availability information displayed on [relevant Amazon Site(s), as applicable] at the time of purchase will apply to the purchase of this product.
Hometalk may collect a small share of sales from the links on this page.More info
Frequently asked questions
Have a question about this project?
3 of 5 questions
  • Julie Ann Julie Ann on Sep 09, 2020

    i have never heard of a jug of liquid resin, is it expensive and would it dry out if left opened........is it dangerous (the vapors), is it actually liquid "plastic like"?

  • Kathy Kathy on Aug 21, 2022

    Wouldn’t it work, if you put like a sucker stick where the hole should be before it dries? Instead of having to drill one.😁

  • Elena Elena on Aug 20, 2023

    Is there a time restraint for mixing, pouring etc? Should small batches be made for the 1st part of this project, the "clear" pouring and do all of that part first and then continue? I have never worked with resin at all so worried I could be too slow in the mixing and pouring.....who am I kidding ......I'm nervous about the whole project. I do have a suggestion regarding the dowel. Since you have the drill out, why not drill holes in the dowel and insert your lines, it would be easier to adjust the lengths and tie them off with little knots rather than trying to gauge the lengths with loops of string.....just a thought. Great idea, this will make a very nice mobile.

Comments
Join the conversation
3 of 9 comments
Next