What is the difference between resin and epoxy jewelry?
I know there is epoxy resin jewelry, but is there pure resin jewelry that you pour into models? And for epoxy jewelry, do you use only epoxy or do you have to mix stuff with it?
First, I think you meant to pour resin into *molds* –not models in your second option, right?
People tend to throw the word "resin" around a lot without really explaining *which* resin they’re using, and not realizing there’s a lot of difference in them.
For example, there are clear resins and colored resins, there are epoxy resins and polyester resins (both used for crafts, or somewhat lower quality ones used for fiberglass, etc), and there are even soft-setting epoxy resins called "floral setting resins" or sometimes "artificial water" to use inside glass vases, etc.
If you’re looking for a clear resin for making jewelry, you’re probably wanting either a craft-type epoxy resin (like Envirotex Lite) or a craft-type polyester resin (like Castin Craft’s Clear Polyester Casting Resin).
Both come as two parts which have to be mixed together just before use, but epoxy resins will be mixed in equal parts whereas polyester resins will be mixed using a few drops of one part to a lot of the other part .
In general, polyester resins are used when one wants to pour resin into a fairly "deep" mold (over 1/2" deep perhaps), then remove the cured resin later and turn it upside down for use (the back side of the molded object will often stay a little sticky because polyester resins won’t cure thoroughly in the presence of air without an extra step or two, and may be a little cloudy or uneven).
Epoxy resins are used either for coating things thickly (they’re also called "bartop resin" if purchased in a hardware store) or for pouring into shallow cells and left there (like into metal bezels or even bottle caps, or into anything that will hold it).
There are also other kinds of "resin" that are not clear which can be poured into molds (they’re colored, and may also have other materials in them), which are used for commercial figurines, etc.
You can read a lot about the various kinds of resin (especially those used for crafts and for jewelry), get lessons, etc., on this page at my site if you’re interested:
http://glassattic.com/polymer/other_materials.htm
And there are some summaries of a lot of the info in these previous answers by me:
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AqRoGzjtN95Is41Kmm_SHHfsy6IX;_ylv=3?qid=20091011042033AAytK0x
(and a Google search for most all my resin answers at YahooAnswers:)
http://www.google.com/search?q=YahooAnswers+"Diane+B."+resin+epoxy+polyester
HTH,
Diane B.