The Best Pigment Options for Different Resin Projects

Resin is an open medium that allows all kinds of artists to make anything they can imagine. While this freedom is great for those with creative minds, it also means they have lots of decisions to make, including what colors they want to use in their projects. If you’re one of those creative minds trying to decide which color is best for your next project, we can help. Keep reading to learn about the best pigment options for different resin projects.

Pigments for Woodworking

Using pigmented resin in your woodworking project allows you to create something colorful and unique, but choosing which pigment to use can be difficult. The biggest influence on your pigment color choice is the shade of wood you’re working with. You want the resin to stand apart from the wood, as that’s why you’re using it and not just carving the wood by itself, so you need to choose a bright, contrasting color. If the wood you’re using is dark, consider bright colors like red, gold, white, and light blue. If the wood you’re using is light, consider more dramatic colors like black, forest green, purple, and dark blue. Medium-toned wood works well with a variety of colors, so you can consider choosing the brighter or the more dramatic shades that we listed.

Pigments for Jewelry

Using resin to make your own jewelry is a great way to create affordable custom pieces. All you need is a pendant mold, and you can make earrings, necklaces, bracelets, and more. Choosing the color of that pendant can be difficult, but you can narrow down your options by considering how you’ll wear the pendant. For example, if you’re making two matching pendants into earrings that will be held in silver clasps, then you’ll want to choose a pigment color that complements the silver. Pastels and jewel tones look great with silver, so you can choose almost any medium to light shade of pink, purple, green, and blue. Since yellow may look like gold, especially when mixed with resin, you’ll want to stay away from yellow if you plan to use silver in the jewelry.

If you’re planning to use gold in the jewelry, such as a gold chain for the necklace your resin pendant will hang from, you can use almost any color you want. Neutral colors like black and white look great with gold, as well as natural colors like blue and green. Purples, pinks, and reds also look beautiful with gold. The only color you’ll want to avoid when pairing a resin pendant with gold is gray, for the same reason you want to avoid pairing yellow with silver. Gray pigment powder can often look silver once mixed in with resin, and these two metals are seldom paired together since they distract from each other. Avoid gray but embrace other color options.

Pigments for Decorative Items

If you don’t want to pair your resin art with another medium like wood or jewelry, you can make decorative items with resin alone. These decorative items can be small, like coasters, or large, like breakfast trays. As long as you have the right mold and the right amount of resin, you can make almost anything you want.

Since you’re not combining this resin with another medium, you also have more freedom in color selection. You can choose any color you want for your coasters or breakfast tray. If this gives you too much freedom, then consider the setting where you’ll use the decorative item the most and how you want it to look within that setting.

If your coasters are going to sit on a dark table, do you want them to blend into the table or stand out? Choose your colors accordingly. The same rule applies to a light surface. You can mix custom pigments together if you’re trying to match the surface exactly or you can choose something that will pop. If you’re not sure whether you want the coasters to blend or stand out, consider complementary colors in similar shades. For example, if you’re placing your coasters on a black table, consider making your coasters dark purple, blue, or green. The color will stand out against the black table, but not glaringly so.

You’ll primarily use a breakfast tray in the kitchen and possibly a bedroom if you’re hoping for breakfast in bed. Choose the colors for your breakfast tray based on these locations. Do you want the tray to stand out from the rest of the kitchen or blend in? Likewise, do you want it to stand out from the bedroom or blend in? Neutral colors like grays and coppers can blend into almost any setting if you want the tray to fit well in both locations.

And if you want it to stand out, then consider the most prominent colors in both rooms and select a color that complements both while holding its own. For example, if the most prominent color in your kitchen is white and the most prominent color in your bedroom is light blue, consider metallic colors like copper and gold, colored neutrals like peach and light green, and bold jewel tones like dark blue and red.

Pigments for Wall Art

Since resin starts as a liquid, you can use it to create wall art almost in the same way you could paint a canvas. All you have to do is mix the resin, choose your colors, and pour it on top of a canvas or into a mold that you eventually hang on a wall. Choosing your colors for this wall art is important, since many people want wall art to hang in their homes for a long time.

To choose the right color, you need to follow the same rule we’ve mentioned above. What is the setting of the art, and how do you want it to interact with your setting? If you want your art to stand out from its surroundings, you need to pick colors that complement each other from the opposite side of the color wheel. If you want something that uses the colors from the surrounding in a unique way, you need to pick analogous colors from the color wheel. For example, if the wall your art will hang on is blue and you want it to stand out, use orange in your art. If you want people to notice the art, but you don’t want it to stand out too much, use purple or green.

The best pigment options for different resin projects depend on what aesthetic you’re hoping to create within your project. Choosing between complementary and analogous colors based on how you want the finished resin project to look and interact with its surrounding is necessary. If you need pigment powder for epoxy resin, Eye Candy Pigments has a wide variety of color options available. We also have different kinds of pigments, such as glow-in-the-dark and color shift, so you can create a specific effect. The only limit in your next resin project will be your imagination.