DIY Resin Christmas Ornaments: A Beginner’s Step-by-Step Guide

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Introduction

Want to make your own resin Christmas ornaments this year? You’re in the right place.

Resin ornaments are one of the friendliest holiday projects you can pour: the molds are tiny, a single bottle of resin makes a whole batch of gifts, and — unlike a serving tray or a floor — a mistake here costs you a few grams of resin, not a weekend. If you’ve already made coasters or a serving tray, you already have every skill this project needs, just applied at ornament scale.

This guide walks you through everything you need to make resin Christmas ornaments from scratch: the supplies, whether to use UV or epoxy resin, a full step-by-step pour, a handful of design ideas, and the mistakes that trip up almost everyone’s first batch.

Best of all, this is a genuinely easy project — no heavy PPE, no all-day pours, just a relaxed afternoon and a tray of ornaments to show for it by evening.

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What You’ll Need for Resin Christmas Ornaments

Ornaments have one of the shortest supply lists of any project on this site. If you’ve read our Essential Resin Tools guide, you likely already own most of the base kit — this list only covers what’s specific to ornaments.

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💧 The Resin

Our Pick: LET’S RESIN UV Resin — a fast-curing, crystal-clear formula that’s ideal for small, thin pours like ornaments. It sets under a UV lamp in minutes instead of days, which matters a lot when you’re trying to finish a whole batch of gifts before the holidays.

Standard 2-part epoxy works too, and it’s the better choice for a chunkier ornament (more on that below) — see our full resin comparison guide if you want to weigh every option.

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✨ Mica Powder & Color

This mica powder set covers reds, greens, golds, and whites in one purchase — everything you need for a full range of holiday color palettes, from a classic red-and-gold bauble to a frosty white-and-silver snowflake.

If you want a more transparent, stained-glass look instead of an opaque one, alcohol inks give you that translucent, watercolor-swirl effect that works beautifully in a snowflake or geode-style ornament.

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❄️ Molds & Inclusions

Silicone ornament molds — snowflakes, baubles, trees, and stars are all widely available — are the one ornament-specific purchase you’ll need to make; look for a multi-cavity tray so you can pour a full batch at once. (We don’t have a specific ornament-mold pick verified yet, so shop your preferred craft retailer for shape and size — we’ll update this section with a tested recommendation soon.)

For inclusions, fine glitter, dried flowers, tiny pinecones, or small metallic flakes all suspend well in a thin ornament pour — press them in gently once the resin starts to gel so they don’t sink straight to the bottom.

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🔩 Findings & Tools

A few small parts turn a resin shape into a hangable ornament:

• Jump rings or eye pins, for hanging (inexpensive assorted packs cover every ornament you’ll make this season)
• Ribbon, twine, or thin ornament hooks
• A pin vise or a fine sewing pin, for placing your hanging hole (more on timing below)
• Silicone craft mat, to protect your work surface
• A toothpick, for popping bubbles and swirling color

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UV Resin or Epoxy: Which One for Ornaments?

Both work — the right pick depends on how thin your ornament is and how much time you have before you need a finished batch.

Choose UV resin if: your ornament is thin (under about a quarter-inch), you want to see a finished piece the same afternoon, or you’re batching a large number of gifts and can’t wait days between pours.

Choose epoxy if: you’re pouring a chunkier ornament — a thick bauble or a layered design — where UV light can’t fully penetrate and cure the center. Epoxy’s even, all-the-way-through cure handles depth better; you’ll just be waiting the standard 24–72 hours instead of minutes.

For your first batch, we’d lean UV resin — the fast turnaround means you can pour, cure, and fix mistakes in one sitting rather than finding out three days later that a bauble stayed tacky.

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How to Make Resin Christmas Ornaments: Step-by-Step

1. Prep your molds. Make sure each cavity is clean, dry, and sitting on a level surface — a wobbly mold pours unevenly and can trap air along one edge.
2. Mix and color your resin. Measure carefully by weight (not by eye) — small batches punish measuring mistakes more than a big coaster pour does. Stir in a small pinch of mica powder or a drop of alcohol ink; both go further than you’d expect in an ornament-sized pour.
3. Add your inclusions. Sprinkle in glitter, press in a dried flower, or swirl a second color with a toothpick. Do this while the resin is still fully liquid so inclusions settle where you want them, or wait until it starts to gel if you want them to stay suspended near the surface.
4. Pour and de-bubble. Fill each cavity, slightly overfilling for a nice domed top, then pop any trapped bubbles with a quick pass of a heat gun or a small butane torch (see our heat gun vs. hair dryer guide if you’re deciding between tools). Small, deep cavities hide bubbles more than a flat pour, so give it a second pass about a minute later.
5. Cure. Under a UV lamp, thin ornaments typically cure in a few minutes — check your resin’s specific instructions for cavity depth. Epoxy ornaments need the standard 24–72 hours, undisturbed and dust-free.
6. Demold. Once fully cured (not just dry on top), gently flex the silicone mold to pop each ornament free.
7. Add your hanging hardware and finish. Attach a jump ring through your pre-formed hole, thread ribbon or ornament hooks, and give the piece a quick buff with a microfiber cloth.

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💡 Pro tip: place your hanging hole before the resin fully hardens, not after. Fully cured resin is brittle right at the edges, and drilling into a finished ornament is the fastest way to crack one you’ve just spent an afternoon making. Instead, once the piece reaches a tacky, semi-firm stage — a minute or two into a UV cure, or a few hours into an epoxy one — press a pin vise or a fine sewing pin through near the top edge and let the resin finish curing around it. You’ll get a clean, pre-formed hole with no risk of a last-minute crack.

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Ornament Design Ideas to Try

• Glitter gradient snowflake — layer clear resin with a gradient of white-to-silver glitter for a frosted look.
• Pressed-flower bauble — suspend a small dried flower or sprig of baby’s breath in a clear round ornament.
• Personalized name or initial ornament — write a name or initial in gold paint pen on a backing layer, then seal it under a clear resin pour.
• Geode-style swirl — use alcohol inks in two or three colors and drag a toothpick through them before they set, for a marbled, geode-like effect.

Any of these makes a good subject for a quick step-by-step photo series later — worth keeping in mind if you want to turn this batch into social content down the line.

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Common Mistakes (and How to Avoid Them)

• Trapped bubbles in small, deep cavities. Ornament molds hide bubbles more than a flat coaster pour — pop them twice, once right after pouring and again about a minute later.
• Drilling a fully-cured ornament. As covered above, this is the top cause of cracked pieces. Place your hanging hole while the resin is still tacky.
• Overloading a small pour with pigment. Too much mica powder or ink in an ornament-sized pour can leave it permanently tacky or cloudy — start with less color than you think you need.
• Demolding too early. A UV-cured piece can look solid on top while the center is still soft. Give it the extra minute your resin’s instructions call for, especially on a thicker bauble.
• Mold-release issues on detailed shapes. A finely detailed snowflake or star can be trickier to release cleanly than a simple round shape — flex the mold gently from the back rather than pulling at the ornament itself.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Can I use leftover resin from another project for ornaments?

Yes — ornaments are a great way to use up small amounts of leftover resin from a coaster or tray pour, as long as it’s still within its working time and hasn’t started to thicken in the cup.

How durable are resin ornaments — can I ship them as gifts?

Once fully cured, resin ornaments are hard and stable enough to ship — wrap them the way you would any breakable ornament (bubble wrap, a snug box) since resin can crack under a sharp impact even though it won’t shatter like glass.

Can kids help make these?

Measuring, mixing, and adding glitter or inclusions are all fine for kids to help with under supervision. The resin itself should be handled by an adult — see our Resin PPE for Beginners guide for the basics on safe handling and ventilation, even for a small-batch project like this one.

Will resin ornaments fade or yellow on the tree?

A quality UV-stabilized resin holds its clarity well indoors. Direct, prolonged sunlight (say, in a west-facing window) can yellow any resin over time, so if you’re displaying rather than boxing them between seasons, keep them out of harsh direct light.

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Keep Learning on ResinAffairs.com

That covers resin Christmas ornaments from start to finish — here’s where to go next:

• 🎁 Resin Gift Ideas for Beginners → — more holiday-season projects once it’s live, a natural next read if you’re gifting this year.
• 🧪 How to Pick the Perfect Resin for Your Project → — a deeper look at resin types if you want to go beyond UV vs. epoxy.
• 🛠️ Essential Resin Tools Every Beginner Needs → — the full base toolkit behind every project on this site.
• 🩹 Common Resin Problems and How to Fix Them → — for troubleshooting stickiness, bubbles, or soft spots on any resin project, ornaments included.

A single afternoon and a handful of small molds is all it takes to have a tree’s worth of handmade ornaments ready to hang or gift. Go pour something small and festive.