How to Start a Resin Business – Resin Casting for Beginners

Have you ever wanted to sell your resin crafts but wasn’t sure where to start? Resin casting is one of many side hustles that you can start to make some side income. You can make everything from keychains, wall decor, chess sets, coasters, Gamecube controller buttons, and more! Keep reading to learn about how we started a profitable resin casting business. This complete guide on how to start a resin business will give you a resin business plan to help you get started.

What Is Resin Casting?

Resin casting is a method of creating a sort of plastic by mixing liquid synthetic resin with a curing agent. When the synthetic resin and curing agent are mixed together, they start hardening into the final product. Before the mixture cures, you can mold it into any shape you can possibly imagine.

What Can I Make With Resin Casting?

You can make almost everything with resin casting! Molding the resin mixture into shape is usually done via a silicone mold. While there are are pre-made silicone molds out there for sale on Amazon and Etsy, you can create your own silicone molds off of various items you already have (more details on this below).

When we started resin casting, we were interested in casting custom buttons for the Nintendo Gamecube controller. We took apart the Gamecube controller, made two part molds with the buttons, and used the molds to cast! Here’s an example of those Gamecube controller buttons.

We also made some keychains from the alphabet molds I mentioned earlier with gold flakes and rose petals!

What Do I Need to Start a Resin Business?

Starting a resin business may seem daunting but it actually requires pretty low capital to start. At the bare minimum, you will need a couple materials, which I detail below.

What Materials Will I Need to Start Resin Casting?

In order to start resin casting, you’ll need a couple of basic materials. Some materials are necessary and some are nice to have. The list of required materials is as follows:

• Epoxy resin (we used Epoxacast 690)
• Stir sticks (we used Smooth-On OOMOO 25)
• Silicone molds. You can get these from Amazon depending on what you like. These are the letter molds for keychains that we used but you can also get molds for other items such as these coasters here.
• Vinyl, powder-free gloves
• Decorative mixes such as mica powder, dried flowers, gold and silver flakes, etc.

The following equipment is nice to have to create quality products but are definitely not required if you have a tighter budget to start off with:

• Pressure pot
• Vacuum chamber
• Silicone mix

A pressure pot for resin casting is used to eliminate bubbles in the curing process. This should be the first thing you buy if you want to up your resin casting game.

A vacuum chamber is used to remove bubbles in your final product as well as your silicone molds.

Silicone mix can be used to make your own custom resin casting molds. If you have an item that you want to make a resin replica of, you can use silicone to get every last detail in that item.

These materials are all you need to start resin casting for beginners!

How to Start a Resin Business

After you learn how to create resin products and perfect your craft, you’re ready to open your resin shop. You can sell your crafts easily by opening an Etsy shop or you can go the long-term route and create your own website. Starting a resin business is not an easy task but it’s worth it if you love the craft!

Resin Business Ideas

You can create so many things with resin! There are endless resin business ideas such as selling keychains, wall art, toys, and more.

We focused on making resin casted buttons for the Gamecube controller but you can make anything you want. If you are not planning to buy silicone and make your own molds, you should stick to items that you can easily find pre-made silicone molds for.

Resin Business Names

You can be creative with your resin business name. Your resin business name will be the first thing people see and it should showcase what you’re selling as well as the vibe you want to give off. The first thing you should ask yourself is what are you selling? For our particular business name, we were selling custom controllers so we put “customs” in our name. Are you selling wall decor? Consider adding “wall decor” to your name.

One thing good to note when choosing your resin business name is to not make it so that your name restricts your products. Our business name had “customs” in it so we could potentially sell anything that is customized. If you put something like “keychains” in your name, you’ll be stuck selling keychains or confusing your customers!

Where Can I Sell My Resin Crafts?

You can sell your resin crafts on various platforms such as Etsy, OfferUp, Facebook Marketplace, or even create your own website. Each platform comes with its pros and cons which I’ll detail below.

Selling Resin Crafts on Etsy

When you start a resin business on Etsy, you have to be prepared to pay for advertisement fees. Etsy has tons of resin art creators and you’ll need to advertisement to initially beat out the competitors. Etsy fees are as follows (effective December 1, 2022):

• $0.20 per listing on the platform.
• 6.5% of the total price of the item plus any shipping or gift wrapping fees.

Advertisement fees also apply if you choose to utilize them. You can read more about those here.

Selling Resin Crafts on OfferUp

Selling resin crafts on OfferUp can be a great way to get started if you want to test your products out. Listings on OfferUp never expire so people will continually see your listing as long as you don’t take it down. You also won’t have to pay any fees to OfferUp as long as you take cash in person.

If you sell remotely on OfferUp, you will have to pay a minimum of $1.99 or 12.9% fee on the sale price, whichever is greater. The buyer pays the full shipping price. Selling on OfferUp is an easy way to start a resin business without any upfront cost.

Note: Here are the 10 best things to sell on OfferUp!

Selling Resin Crafts on Facebook Marketplace

Selling resin crafts on Facebook Marketplace is similar to selling on OfferUp. You won’t have to pay any fees if you sell in person but you will have to pay 5% per shipment or a flat fee of $0.40 for shipments that are $4.00 or less.

Selling Resin Crafts on Your Own Website

This the option that we chose to go with and the one that will leave you with the most profit and control. It will also take some extra time to set up. We created a website with WordPress and integrated a WooCommerce plugin in order to pay minimal fees and have maximum reach and control over our inventory and sales.

You can learn how to create your own website/blog here. This is the exact method that I used to create a resin business website.

Is Starting a Resin Business Worth It?

Starting an epoxy resin business can be a lot of startup cost and effort. From the materials you need to purchase to the platform you’re gonna sell your resin crafts on to the work you need to put in advertising, you may think that starting a resin business might not be worth it.

Is A Resin Casting Side Hustle Profitable?

Yes! Having a resin casting business as a side hustle can be profitable. While the initial cost of your materials may require some cash upfront, a resin business can easily profit with the minimal amount of epoxy resin mix that goes into each craft.

Start a Resin Business – Summary

Selling resin casting crafts was a fun side hustle that I got into during the pandemic and if you love arts and crafts, I encourage you to try it too. Through this, I learned how to start a resin business, how to start up my own e-commerce shop, and much more. Let me know in the comments below if you plan to start your own resin business!

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