Paper and Resin Rings

This is a good project to use up pretty scraps of paper or washi tape. You could also colour the paper yourself/get your kids to colour it, and use the rings as children's party favours.

1. UV resin
2. Gloss UV coating resin
3. Transparent silicone ring mould
4. UV lamp
5. UV resin pigment
6. Black squeezy bottle (optional)
7. Stirring stick
8. Origami/decorative paper
9. Washi tape
10. Glue (I used E6000, but anything that will stick the paper to the rings should do)
11. Paper guillotine, or craft knife and ruler
12. Sandpaper
13. PPE: dust mask and latex gloves

I like to mix up batches of UV resin and pigment in black squeezy bottles, which I label and store for future use. If you prefer, you can just mix the resin and pigment in a cup for one-time use.

I added a batch of resin to the bottle, then squirted in some silver pigment, and mixed.

UV resin needs to be cast in thin layers. I squeezed some resin from the bottle into the mould, and tilted it until I had a base layer of about 1.5mm. My UV lamp has a timer setting for two and a half minutes, so I set that off, waited, then repeated adding resin and curing, until the mould was filled. I then flipped the mould and did an extra cure on the bottom side, in case the light hadn't got all the way through. I then left the rings in the mould for five minutes, to make sure they were completely cooled before removing.

I had some washi tape I felt like playing with, so I stuck horizontal strips onto one sheet of origami paper to make stripes. I also picked out a couple of sheets of the origami paper to use as they were.

Once I'd demoulded the rings, I used one to measure the width of strips needed to cover the rings. I then used my guillotine to cut out the strips (I did some spare, and picked out the best ones).

It's very important to wear a dust mask for this stage! I used an emery board, but any type of medium to fine sandpaper will do. I sanded the rings on all sides except the inside, paying extra attention to what had been the top surface of the mould, as that needed a bit of levelling off.

Before taking the mask off, I wiped down the surface with a damp paper towel (vacuuming the surface would also do), to get rid of the resin dust.

After I'd picked out my favourite paper strips, I added a layer of glue to one of the rings, wrapped the paper around, cut the paper short, and added a bit more glue to the hanging end, before sticking it down. You can either overlap the paper, or cut it exactly to size (I was lazy and overlapped, but if you're more precise it should give you a better finish).

I repeated the step for each ring.

I first applied the coating resin to the top surface, cured, did the bottom surface, cured, and finally did three layers on the paper-covered surface. Less is more here - I got my best results doing multiple thin layers, rather than fewer thicker ones.

In order to fully cure the paper covered surface I moved the rings and flipped them several times between each curing, so the light reached everywhere.

I did too thick a coating on one ring, and got a bit of excess resin on the bottom. So I sanded it off with the emery board, added another thin coat of resin, and cured.

This was a fun mini project and I'm pleased with the results. If I were to make it again, I'd consider doing a single pour of epoxy casting resin for the base rings, rather than several layers of UV resin (there would be no particular change to the end result, but it would be less time consuming to do as a quick add on to a batch of epoxy). I also found that the metallic finish on some of the washi tape slightly repelled the UV resin, so I'd consider using a metallic paint pen next time to see if that worked better.

I'd also like to play with colouring the paper myself, possibly with a gradient watercolour or alcohol marker effect. Another thing I might try is to incorporate the paper into the original ring casting, and eliminate the gluing stage. This might make for a more durable ring. But overall, not bad for a first attempt!