Making jewelry with a lock of hair
You can process a lock of hair in transparent epoxy resin into a beautiful piece of jewelry. Hair lock jewelry can be easily made in this way into a necklace, bracelet or ring.
Making your own pendants with epoxy and a lock of hair is a creative and unique way to create personalized jewelry. How special is it to incorporate a lock of hair in epoxy that is very dear to you, such as someone who has passed away or the hair of a pet. 
We would like to take you through this manual on how to make your own pendants with a personal meaning.
Supplies to make a hair ornament
- UV Resin
- UV Epoxy lamp
- Jewelry tape
- Open charms (choose your favorite)
- Disposable cups , stirrers , gloves
- Decorations and pigments
- Lock of hair
- Decorations of your choice such as real dried flowers, glitter or gold foil.
NB: it is always important that when working with epoxy you have a clean work area and wear protective clothing such as gloves. Make sure you work in a well ventilated area (open a window).
Step 1: Prepare the pendant
Make sure you have all the supplies you need within reach before you get started. Working with UV Resin is a quick way to create beautiful jewelry because of its fast curing, so it is important to work carefully. Roll out the tape for open charms and stick the open charm on the sticky side. Press the charm firmly to prevent epoxy from leaking underneath.
We work in this process with 3 layers. We start with the first layer of casting. We do this with the UV Resin. This dries within a few minutes under the UV lamp. Super handy! 
Pour a thin transparent layer of epoxy resin. Spread it well with a stirring stick or skewer. Check very carefully whether the charm is completely filled with epoxy. If this is the case, place the lamp on top. The UV epoxy lamp 6 watts from itsOkay shines for 30 seconds each time you turn it on. This is just enough for the first thin layer.
Step 2: Adding the Hair Strand (and Decorations)
If you are going to add the lock of hair into the open charm, I recommend you to move it a little damp to make. This makes it easier to get the lock in the right shape as you have in mind. For example, use tweezers and place the lock of hair in the charm. As an extra touch, I choose to add some glitter. 
When you are satisfied you will start working on it second layer . Again the second layer is thin and transparent and here too you pay close attention to whether the epoxy is completely distributed over the charm. Place the lamp above it and again we press it only once.
Step 3: Determining the background
You can cast the hair lock ornament transparently, but you can also add color. It is entirely personal which type of color pigments you choose. In this example we have chosen Pinata blanco blanco (white). This seems to us the perfect color to make the lock of hair stand out. You take a disposable cup and add a maximum of 2 drops of this color pigment and a few drops of UV Resin resin. Make sure you mix this quickly and well with a stirring stick and pour it into the charm. And just like with the previous steps: make sure the epoxy resin is well distributed.
Satisfied? Then put the UV Epoxy Resin LED lamp back on to let the epoxy harden. Repeat this process a few times, so that the epoxy is certainly hardened properly.
Step 4: Final touch
We're going to remove the charm from the tape. Pull the charm all the way carefully off the tape. 
To finish the pendant completely, we give it a beautiful shine. We achieve this by adding 1 extra layer of epoxy to the front. We personally think it is very nice when the pendant gets a little bulge, which gives you a 3D effect. With a few drops of the UV resin you ensure that you get a bulge and voilá, time to grab the lamp for the last time. You can turn it on once, but to be sure, you can also turn it on a second time.
Now that your homemade hair lock jewelry pendant is completely finished, all you have to do is hang it on a chain. And you can wear it with pride after this. This is of course also a very cool idea to give this as a gift!
More information?
Do you have questions about making art, jewelry or casting/coating floors or other objects? At itsOkay we have several epoxy experts each with their own expertise. We are happy to help you.
Contact the itsOkay customer service or take a look at the Epoxy knowledge center .
