Inside My Workshop: How I Make My Epoxy Resin Pendants

I remember the first time I poured resin.

I watched it settle into the mold — slow, liquid, almost alive — and I thought: this is it. There's something almost magical about taking a material that starts as nothing and watching it transform into something you can hold, wear, carry with you.

Epoxy resin pendants have become one of my favorite things to make. And I want to take you inside the process.

What Even Is Epoxy Resin?

If you've never worked with resin, here's the short version: epoxy resin is a two-part liquid that, when mixed together, hardens into a clear, glass-like solid. It's durable, it's beautiful, and it lets me do things with color and texture that no other material can.

I can suspend gemstone chips inside it. Swirl in pigments. Capture a moment — a color, a feeling — and freeze it in time.

That's what drew me to it. As someone who's spent a lot of time learning to be present, there's something deeply meaningful about a material that literally preserves a moment forever.

The Process, Step by Step

1. Choosing the Colors and Materials

Every pendant starts with a vision. Sometimes it's a specific gemstone — tiger's eye, turquoise, blue agate, ruby — that I want to feature. Sometimes it's a color palette that's been living in my head. I think about who might wear it, what they might need, what feeling I want the piece to carry.

2. Mixing the Resin

This part requires patience. The two parts have to be mixed slowly and carefully — too fast and you get bubbles, too uneven and it won't cure properly. I've learned to slow down in this step. (Jewelry has taught me a lot about slowing down.)

3. Pouring and Setting

Once the resin is mixed, I pour it into the mold and add my elements — gemstone chips, pigment swirls, flecks of color. This is where the magic happens. You can guide it a little, but ultimately the resin does what it wants. Every piece ends up slightly different. I love that.

Then it rests. Resin needs time to cure — usually 24 to 48 hours — and I've learned not to rush it.

4. Demolding

Pulling a finished pendant out of the mold for the first time is one of my favorite moments in the whole process. It's like unwrapping a gift you made yourself. Sometimes it's exactly what I pictured. Sometimes it surprises me completely. Both are good.

5. Finishing and Setting

Once the resin piece is cured and polished, I set it in sterling silver. The silver gives it structure, weight, and that finished jewelry feel. I attach the bail, check the clasp, and hold it up to the light one last time.

That's when I know it's ready.

No Two Are the Same

This is the thing I want people to understand about handmade resin pendants: the variation isn't a mistake. The slight differences in color flow, the unique placement of each gemstone chip — that's the handmade part. That's what you're getting when you buy from a maker instead of a manufacturer.

Your pendant is yours. Only yours.

Made With More Than Just Materials

I started making jewelry during one of the hardest seasons of my life. I'm a recovering addict, and creating things with my hands gave me something to hold onto — literally and figuratively. Every piece I make carries that history. That intention.

A portion of every sale also goes to support local mission and nonprofit causes, because healing doesn't happen alone, and I believe in paying that forward.

Take One Home

If you've been curious about my epoxy resin pendants — the colors, the gemstones, the way they catch light — I'd love for you to have one.

More workshop photos and process videos coming soon — stay tuned!

Friends Without 3nd's — handmade with love, cured with patience, worn with intention.