DIY BIG Resin Carrot with Alcohol Inks!

Ready for another fun alcohol ink project? There are so many fun ways to use alcohol ink in resin (like the dropper effect I used for this jewelry tray) but today I’m excited to work on this large carrot! We’ll give the alcohol ink a bit more space to mix and hopefully get a crystal clear orange carrot with a leafy green top.

Working with resin the number one lesson I’ve learned is that you can only control so much of how it reacts… sometimes you just have to let the resin tell you what it wants to be.

So let’s get started so we can see what this little carrot wants to look like!

Supplies:

Just getting started with resin? Download my free resin supply list and make your first project today!

Step 1: Mix your Resin

Ready to get this party started? I’m using MakerPoxy for this little carrot since it’s easy to work with and can be poured deep enough for this big carrot mold without needing to get out the thickset resin.

Since my carrot will be going on a sign for Easter I don’t need to fill the mold all the way to the top (thank goodness since this carrot is a cake mold and it would be quite the chonky piece of resin!). But we still need to pour enough resin to have a flat, solid carrot.

No thin carrots for me!

Makerpoxy easy to use… it’s a 1:1 ratio resin which means you’ll use 1 part a to 1 part b… for this project we need about 100ml so we’ll put 50ml of a and 50ml of b into a mixing cup. Then slowly stir your resin for 3 minutes… make sure you’re scraping the sides and bottom of your container to thoroughly mix all parts of the mixture together. Then let it sit for a couple of minutes so that as many bubbles as possible can rise to the surface.

We’re using clear resin today since our alcohol ink is adding all the color… so once your resin is clear we can add it to our bubble removing machine and let all the bubbles pop while we prep our mold.

Score!

Bonus Tip: If you’ve never mixed resin before it’s not nearly as intimidating as you’d think! I’ll walk you through all the steps here in my How to Mix Resin for Beginners Tutorial.

Step 2: Add your Alcohol Ink

While the bubbles are popping let’s color our mold… starting with orange alcohol ink along the main portion of the carrot and green at the top.

If you have multiple oranges that would be great but I only have one… likewise I picked two greens so our leafy top willl have a bit more dimension.

I simply added drops about an inch apart along the entire mold… trying to get them over the ridges in the silicone when possible so that they’ll spread out and give us more color as we pour our resin. Once you’re happy with your ink drops we’ll move on.

To the resin pour!

Step 3: Pour your Resin

Let’s pour!

Now that we’ve removed allllll the bubbles we need to pour carefully so we don’t get new ones! Make sure your cup is up higher than your mold and then pour your resin in a thin stream down into your mold.

Start on the carrot side and fill the entire space before moving over to the leafy green top… that way your green will have less opportunities to mingle with the orange.

Once you’ve filled about 3/4 of an inch of the mold with resin you’re good to go. You can use your heat gun to pop any bubbles that were created by pouring and then take a look at your piece. If you’re happy with the color go ahead and set the entire mold aside (under a cover) to cure for 24 hours.

Don’t forget the cover! Even if you use a cardboard box it’s worth it to keep the flies and dog hair from settling in your resin. Don’t ask me how I know.

But if you need help removing hair from resin you can find that tutorial here.

If you’d like more color now’s the time (before it cures!) to add more drops… I added a few more orange and a few more green. Then I layered a few white drops of alcohol ink into the orange and green to help push the color down to the front of the mold. White ink is more dense than the colors so it doesn’t even appear white when added to the center of your orange or green… it’s an odd effect but definitely useful.

Without the drops of white the orange and green would stay floating at the top of the mold, which will eventually be the back of the carrot! Once you’re done adding color make sure everything is covered.

Step 4: Un-Mold your Carrot

This is usually my favorite part but that bubble machine was a lot of fun! Let’s crack this baby open!

Start by pulling the silicone away from the resin on the very edge… then slowly pull it down the sides and off the carrot completely. If your mold is like mine the carrot will release pretty easily.

Then you’ll get a look at how the alcohol ink mixed together! It’s so much fun… I love how the greens mixed!

Next time I’ll definitely have to add a second orange.

At this point you can add a glossy topcoat of resin (since this is a baking mold the entire carrot is a bit more matte than I’d usually like) but in this case I think a matte carrot works perfect!

Resin molds have a glossy finish and leave your resin super shiny. Baking molds are completely useable for resin but you’ll need to topcoat them to add back in that shine… a bit more shine on this carrot would make it clearer but I like the smokey effect.

Step 5: Enjoy!

Now we’re done! I’m adding my big carrot to this super cute Cricut sign I made for Easter. Cottontail’s Grain Co. sounds like a place that would have lots of carrots!

Peter Cottontail at the very least would vote for lots of carrots.

And while I could have added a vinyl carrot I just love added a 3d resin element to my signs. I think it’s so cute!

I added my carrot with a bit of hot glue and it’s super secure. I think it just makes the entire sign.