Kat Brent, 12, has been experimenting with resin jewelry for several years. 

“During the pandemic I was looking at a lot of art stuff because I was bored out of my mind, and I saw a lot of people mixing up this stuff there and pouring it into here, and I was fascinated,” Brent said. “I did some research and thought, ‘oh that’s cool, you can take this one substance [resin] and make almost anything you want with it,’ and it just kind of grew from there.”

They started out only making basic molds, but as time went on, their work gradually got more detailed. Today they can easily make fine, detailed jewelry pieces with other embellishments such as glitter. This year, they also became curious about whether friends at school might be interested in their work.

“I was like, ‘what if I made money off of this at school? I’m sure people would like it.’ I brought stuff to school and made, like, $80 off of it this Halloween, so it was successful I think,” Brent said.

The process for making their jewelry involves deciding what kind of product they want to make; for instance, earrings or necklaces, then choosing shapes and colors. They pour the resin, then wait for it to dry for at least two days. After fastening the resin piece to hooks or keychains, it’s ready to be worn. For someone with such easy access to jewelry, it might seem like Brent would be interested in making it for themselves. However, this is not necessarily the case.

“[I only make jewelry for myself] sometimes, but not usually, because I don’t wear it super often. [If I did wear it, I would wear] little stud earrings,” Brent said.

In terms of pursuing jewelry as a career, Brent is interested, but hesitant. 

“I’m not really sure. I’ve always wanted to do a little side business, but it’s just so expensive. In this economy it’s probably not the best idea,” Brent said.