Once you’ve tried your hand at putting other natural things in resin, such as dried flowers, you may want to try putting food in resin. While this isn’t recommended, it can be done with specific foods if done correctly.
So, how do you use food in resin? To use food in resin, you’ll need to dehydrate it first. Foods with high water content such as fruit have to be dried before being cast in resin. Even if you dehydrate the food, your resin creation will likely only last a few years before the food starts to break down or discolor.
Food isn’t recommended to be used in resin because although it’s encased, it can still break down over time. If you still want to try putting food in resin, check out my guide below.
Can I Put Food In Resin?
Yes, you can put food in resin, but it must be done carefully and with only certain foods. Even though you can do it, it’s not recommended.
Food naturally decomposes over time. Even when cast in resin, you can expect a certain level of decomposition to occur.
So while you can put food in resin, it has to be done safely. The food will release bubbles into your curing resin, leaving little air pockets around the food for oxygen or moisture to break through and create a breeding ground for bacteria.
To avoid creating a resin masterpiece that’s destined for disaster, you’ll need to dehydrate the food, if possible, before adding to resin. Some foods, like candy, can’t be dehydrated. You can try putting this in resin, but it will likely fade over a few years and be ready to get thrown away.
If you want to try putting candy in resin, check out the video below from Creatively Erica. She shows you her process for creating a candy resin tray.
Can You Put Fresh Fruit In Resin?
One food that’s used frequently in resin is fruit. You may have seen resin pieces created with fruit slices like oranges, limes, or even strawberries cast in resin.
While these may look pretty, remember that those fruit slices will decay over time.
So no, you cannot put fresh fruit in resin. Fresh fruit will still be full of moisture that would be sealed in resin. With nowhere to escape, the moisture would just start growing bacteria and creating a health hazard.
The fruit slices you see in resin have been dehydrated first. This is an important first step that absolutely cannot be skipped if you plan to use fruit in resin.
How To Use Food In Resin
Even though putting food in resin comes with a lot of risks and safety considerations, as well as a short shelf life of the resin project, many people still choose to do it.
The creations look beautiful while they last, and using dehydrated food can help to decrease the risk of quick decomposition.
So if you’re still interested in using food in resin, let’s get started. The first thing you’ll need to do is gather your supplies:
- Resin
- Respirator and safety goggles
- Gloves
- Silicone molds
- Fresh fruit with a food dehydrator or already dried fruit
Remember that safety comes first, so before working with resin, you’ll need to put on your safety gear. This includes your respirator mask, safety goggles, and a pair of gloves.
Even if you think you’ll be able to cleanly place the fruit pieces in your resin without touching the resin, you should still be wearing gloves. Safety is the number one priority and should never be skipped.
You can choose to either dehydrate your own fruit or purchase fruit slices that have already been dehydrated and preserved. The choice is yours, depending on how much time you have and whether you want to try dehydrating the fruit yourself.
Once you have all the supplies you’ll need, you can get started with the following directions:
- If you purchased fresh fruit, dehydrate it according to the instructions that came with your food dehydrator. If you are using already dried fruit, skip to step 2.
- Set up your work station. Collect all supplies needed, such as your silicone mold, resin, and any other tools you may be using.
- Pour a small amount of resin into your mold, ensure there are no bubbles, then start adding your dehydrated fruit slices. You can place them however you like, either to cover the entire mold or to simply be accents in the resin. You can use tweezers or a popsicle stick to position the fruit slices exactly where you want them.
- Pour another layer of resin until the entire mold is filled.
- Allow the resin to cure. Follow the directions that came with your resin to know the exact time. Generally, resin only takes around 24 hours to cure.
- Remove the resin cast from the mold. You may notice there are some areas of fruit not covered by resin. This can happen when adding 3-dimensional objects, so you’ll just need to fill in those areas with resin.
- Allow the small filled in areas to cure.
- Once your whole piece has cured, you can decide whether it’s ready to use or if you want to sand it down and add a final top coat.
After that, your resin piece is done! Remember that this resin piece may only last a few years depending on how the fruit inside breaks down.
Dehydrating the fruit decreases the likelihood of it decaying, but it can still happen after around 3-5 years. Keep an eye on the resin creation over time to monitor whether it needs to be disposed of safely.
For a great tutorial on using fruit in resin, check out the video below from Sheri Vegas.
Alternatives To Using Food In Resin
If you like the look of using food in resin but don’t want to deal with a dehydrator or the risk of decomposition, a great alternative is to use clay.
Clay works well with resin, and you can create realistic looking fruit slices with polymer clay to use in place of real fruit. For a tutorial on creating citrus slices using polymer clay, check out the video below from The Creative Siren.
While polymer clay citrus slices will look different from dehydrated fruit slices in resin, they will be safer to use.
Over time, you won’t have to worry about decomposition or bacteria growing in your resin. Instead, you can cast your resin and rest assured that it will be good for years to come.
If you’re open to changing the look of your resin project, you can switch out the food and use dried flowers instead. When using flowers in resin, these will also need to be used dried instead of fresh. This is only to prevent the flowers from browning and looking gross over time.
Dried flowers cast in resin have a beautiful, soft, elegant look that can still give a natural feel to your resin project.
Project Ideas For Food In Resin
There are a few common projects that many people do when using food in resin.
One popular project for food in resin is to create a serving bowl or tray. These are items usually associated with food, so it can be a fun idea to include food in the resin cast of the bowl or tray.
If you’re going to use resin to create a serving bowl that will hold food, make sure to only use resin that is rated food safe once cured.
Not every resin is food safe. In fact, most of them are not. You have to read the package label carefully to discern if the resin you’re considering is safe to use for contact with food once it’s cured.
A serving tray doesn’t only have to be used for holding food. A cool idea for incorporating food in a resin serving tray would be to use lemon slices for a tray that will hold a pitcher and some glasses of lemonade.
You can add limes or oranges to create a whole citrus serving tray and use it to serve lemonade, lime water, or orange juice. Another fun idea for food in a serving tray would be to use dried tea leaves for a tray that you’ll use to serve tea with a tea set on.
Tea leaves generally come already dried, so you can use them as they are straight out of the packet. Some people use citrus or other fruit slices to make drinking cups, too.
If you plan to make drinking cups fully out of resin with citrus slices, just as you did with a serving bowl, be sure to check if the resin is food safe and recommended for prolonged beverage or food contact.
Resin can still leak toxins into food or drinks even after it’s cured, so it’s important to check to make sure your resin is safe to use to make a drinking cup.
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