DIY Resin & Wood Ring Tutorial – Beginner Friendly!

What if your very first resin ring didn’t just look amazing… but actually stopped people in their tracks, earned you compliments and maybe even became your first product to sell?

This is hands-down the most beginner-friendly resin ring tutorial you’ll ever try. This tutorial shows you how to craft a stunning resin ring that looks like it belongs in a fantasy boutique.

Whether you wear it, gift it, or sell it, you’ll finish this with a piece of jewelry that looks professional AND feels magical.

Wood, UV resin, colorshift pigments

Choose wood with a striking, textured surface – smooth yet unique. This is key for epic color effects!

I personally used Briar wood (famous for high-end tobacco pipes, here's more about it), but don’t stress about finding this specific type! I just happened to have leftovers lying around.

Maple Burl wood is a fantastic alternative. Just Google "burl maple wood" or "burl wood" and you're all set. You can buy it on Amazon or elsewhere on the internet.

Want to get creative? Carve your own texture with a micro grinder or simply snap thin wood pieces for unique, cool patterns. Trust me, tons of makers do exactly this, and it looks amazing! 👇

Want colors that seriously stand out? Start by coloring your wood. This makes pigments shine brighter and stick better!

For colorshift pigments or ghost pigments (also called iridescent), it is usually black. If you have a very light pigment, it may sometimes require a white base, but this is rare. Colorshift pigments stand out most on a dark background – on light brown or even dark brown, the effect would not match the color of the pigment. But of course, you can experiment with this as well.

You can use:

1. Black alcohol markers
2. Acrylic markers
3. Black spray paint (for larger projects)

If you choose to apply pigments straight to raw wood, at least dampen the surface first with water or rubbing alcohol, so pigments grip better.

I absolutely love colorshift pigments. They magically change shades depending on how the light hits them. And that is precisely why we need the surface of the wood to be uneven, creating a beautiful color pattern that is unique to each ring you create.

1. Find these pigments on Amazon, AliExpress, or specialized shops. Test quality first, trust me! They come in different qualities, and it's worth paying extra.
2. My go-to: KP Pigments (pricey, but the best quality!)
3. Start small (0.5g packs). Don’t blow your budget right away! Definitely don't buy 10g right at the start if it costs $300.
4. Brush pigments onto your black-coated wood. Work it into every tiny groove, then blow away extra powder.
5. Cool hack: Got no fancy pigments? Layer basic colors like yellow and green for a similar, awesome effect!

Now let's give it some shape!

If you haven’t yet, cut your wood to ring-size. (I coat pigment layers with UV resin first to protect them when cutting.)

Next, drill the ring hole: I do around 16mm diameter for women's rings.

1. Forstner Drill Bits are the best tool for this. If necessary, you can then grind the hole down with a grinder.
2. Of course, you can also use a hand drill or create the hole using a manual micro grinder.

Now most of it is done. All that remains is to apply a transparent resin to the colored part of the wood surface. The upper part, of course! 😊

First, choose which type of resin you want to use.

Why do I prefer UV Resin? It cures instantly under UV light, allowing you to create the entire ring in one go.

1. My fave: VIDA ROSA UV resin (Amazon link). Any UV resin is good though.
2. Epoxy resin works too, but requires molds and takes 1+ days to fully cure. In addition, UV resin can be easily applied only to the necessary areas, thus using far less resin than when making a mold for epoxy resin.
3. The only difference between UV and epoxy resin is in the procedure and its speed. The end result is the same and indistinguishable.

How to Apply UV Resin:

1. Drizzle resin directly onto your colored wood.
2. Immediately cure with a UV flashlight. Smaller and stronger flashlights are best!
3. This is the flashlight I use: UV Beast Mini.
4. With constant curing of thin layers, you will reach a thickness of 1–1.5 cm, and then let the whole piece cure for an additional 5–10 minutes to finish.

How to Apply Epoxy Resin:

1. Make a mold around the wood, preferably using adhesive tape.
2. Here’s the tape I use: stiff edges, heat-resistant, and great stick so resin doesn’t leak. Just make sure it’s this exact brand, others might not work the same. I use it all the time and always keep it in stock!
3. Seal it very well around all edges, e.g., with a hot glue gun.
4. Then pour the resin into the mold and let it harden for the number of days specified in the resin instructions.

Bubbles tip: Small bubbles are normal at first. If they bug you, you’ll need a vacuum chamber (for both epoxy and UV resin). However, that's advanced stuff, totally unnecessary for beginners!

This step is all about sanding the piece down from a rough chunk into something that actually looks like a ring.

Here’s how I do it:

1. I use a mini grinder from PROXXON to quickly sand the ring into a rough base shape.
2. Then I move on to a handheld rotary tool (DREMEL) to refine the shape.
3. It doesn’t matter what type of grinder you use. That’s totally up to you.
4. Before I bought these grinders, I used to sand the rings using a cordless drill mounted in a vise. And that worked too. 🙂

Now let’s hand sand the ring to a smooth surface:

1. I usually use sandpapers starting at grit 240 and going up to 2000/3000.
2. It's important to place the sandpaper on a flat and hard surface so that all uneven areas from previous sanding are leveled out.
3. If you sand the ring up to 3000 grit, you can go ahead and polish it afterward.

Polishing is simple and there is practically nothing that can go wrong. There are one-step or two-step polishing compounds, I prefer two-step for that ultra-shiny finish.

1. You can polish by hand with a microfiber cloth, using a small straight grinder such as a DREMEL, or with a small polisher, which is what I use.
2. The polisher has two discs, one for polishing with a coarser paste and the other for finishing with a finer paste.

⚠️ Just one thing to watch out for: don’t let the ring overheat at high speeds. Use lower speeds instead. Resin softens when it gets hot, and if you overheat it while polishing, it will deform and you’ll need to sand that area again.

Final Details:

1. Wash the ring in warm water to remove the polishing paste and let it dry completely.
2. Once dry, soak the ring in oil so it absorbs it and protects the wood from moisture.
3. You can use almost any oil to treat the wood. Even specialty waxes work.
4. I use a mix of tung oil and orange oil. Tung oil brings out the grain in lighter wood, and orange oil thins it down for better absorption. I let the ring soak in the oil for a whole day.
5. But if you're just starting out, regular coconut oil from a drugstore or even kitchen olive oil will do the job just fine!

⚠️ Why is soaking necessary? Moisture makes the wood swell, but resin stays the same size. This causes tension between them, which can lead to the wood cracking or the resin separating.

Sealing the wood with oil helps protect it from moisture and prevents this.

⭐⭐⭐

Congrats! You've crafted your very own incredible resin and wood ring! 🎉

And that’s the whole tutorial!

I’ve filmed detailed videos for each step of the process, plus one full timelapse showing the entire ring-making journey in just a few minutes — you can find it here.

Everything is completely free, and I’d be thrilled if you shared it!

I’m planning to publish 9 more tutorials for other ring designs if there’s interest.