How to Make a Fingerprint Resin Charm

One of my absolute favorite gifts to craft are Mother’s Day gifts, especially those that involve my children in some form or another.  The older they get the more help I receive but then the challenge is to come up with a new and original idea every year.  This particular idea came to me in a dream and I’m excited it turned out!  

Fair warning, this is not a quick project.  Give yourself a solid week for all of the components to cure correctly.

Supply List:

• Resin Kit
• EasyMold Putty
• Metallic Resin Coloring Powder (mine is by color pour)
• Paint Brush
• Metal Charms (that can be etched)
• Electronic Cutting Machine with Etching Tool (I used my Cricut Maker)
• Jewelry making supplies (jump rings, necklace chain, etc.)

Make the resin mold:

I did a ton of research on this and decided this EasyMold product would be the best one to use for this project.  Luckily my local craft store had it and I was able to use my coupon to buy it.

All you need to do is mix equal parts of the 2 putties together to activate it to create a perfect flexible mold.

I used my scale to make sure they were in fact equal to one another and would highly recommend you do the same.

You take the two colors and mix them together until they are fully blended.

Once it’s combined I formed it into a flat disc and had my son (with my help) press his index finger from each hand into the clay to create a heart shape.  I did this twice, one for each kid.  I might make another mold using both of their fingers to make one heart too, just a thought if you have more than one kid.

You can push the edges of the mold to help form in more into a heart shape too.

Now let that sit and cure for at least 24 hours.

Add the resin to the mold:

If you’ve ever used epoxy glue before you are familiar with this process.  You need to mix equal parts of the A and B bottles to activate the hardening compounds.  I used old liquid medicine cups so I could measure them out and be able to toss the cup out once I was done.  This brand recommends stirring for 5 minutes until you don’t see any streaks or swirls.  I set a timer for myself to make sure I mixed long enough.

I experimented a lot with this process too!  At first I mixed some of my metallic powder into the resin itself and poured it into the mold.   I didn’t like the color and it was hard to see the fingerprint ridges so that idea was scraped.

Next, I decided to take a paint brush and dusted a layer of the metallic powder into the mold first making sure it was a light thin layer in the ridges.  Then I carefully poured the resin into the mold on top of the powder and let that set.  This was the solution!!  You could see the ridges perfectly.

This step takes another solid 24 hours for the resin to cure.  If it isn’t cured by then it might not have mixed properly. 

I found the bottom of the heart wasn’t quite perfect so I used my craft knife to trim the bottom and clean up the shape.

Etch the metal charm:

I used a thin round metal charm I had bought at the craft store that’s meant for engraving/etching.  I wanted to label the finger print hearts with each kids name so we could look back and see how tiny those fingers were in 10 years and actually remember whose were whose and when these were made.  (You always think you will remember, trust me, you won’t-label them now). 

I went into my Cricut Design Space software and typed out their names (I did one at a time to make sure it worked correctly) and the date using this Modern Deluxe font.  My charm is 1” in diameter so I made the name .6” wide and the date .25” wide and centered them together.

Make sure you select that you select engrave from the drop down menu for the type of cut before hitting the “make it” button.

The one part of Cricut that I personally get frustrated with is that it doesn’t keep things in the same location on the cutting mat.  You’ll need to move your words to match up where you’re going to tape the metal charm on your mat and try to eyeball it to the right spot as best as possible.  I said the material was stainless steel and used the automatic settings and it engraved perfectly.

Now, attach the charm to your cutting mat and add washi tape all around to make sure it’s completely secure on the mat.  You don’t want it shifting while the machine is engraving it.

Once you’re ready hit the flashing button and send it to be cut!  Mine was shockingly fast!

Assemble it all together:

Now you have your etched charm and fully cured heart charm!  I used a dab of super glue to adhere the heart to the other side of the charm and then added a jump ring to the top and attached it to a necklace chain.

You could also make them into earrings or a keychain tag!  Really, the possibilities are endless.

I think I’m going to make some more fingerprint hearts and drill a small hole in them to attach to a necklace with a smaller metal etched charm too.  You could even make them small enough for a charm bracelet if you have one.

The beauty of this project is you can make as many charms as you need with the one mold.  Try experimenting to see what methods you like best!  There are tons of resin making supplies available at the craft stores right now. 

If you make these please tag me on Instagram @designedtobecrafty!!

Thank you so much for following along!!  

Carrie