I started working with resin just trying to make jewelry for friends. Sometimes you run out of resin pigments, but you have half-used bottles of acrylic paint. The idea to mix the two often pops up. Acrylic is cheap and comes in any color you could wish for, but resin crafts can turn sour if you don’t know what you’re getting into.
Mixing acrylic paint with resin sounds simple. Drip some paint, stir, pour, cure, admire your art… or so it would seem. Acrylic paint is water-based. Most resin for crafts is epoxy, which carries its own chemistry and likes to keep things dry. Pour in too much acrylic, and you might just end up with a sticky pour, strange swirls, or something that never quite solidifies. I learned the hard way, watching a batch of earrings come out cloudy and soft instead of shiny and solid.
No one thinks about resin chemistry until something fails. Epoxy resin cures because of a reaction between two parts. Bringing water into the mix can mess up this process. Commercial resin dyes and pigments work because they're engineered to bond without changing the texture or finish. Most acrylic paint lines aren’t designed for resin. Emulsifiers and water can interfere, leaving you with pieces that don’t last, peel, or even break apart after some use.
Suppose you’re making coasters, tabletops, or even just tiny charms. The goal is a finished piece that won’t warp, flake, or look dull after a few weeks on someone’s desk. A lot of DIY crafters like me have seen the heartbreak of otherwise perfect creations turning milky or getting strange cracks inside. The more acrylic you use, the cloudier and weaker the resin gets. Even a few drops can make a difference.
Some folks still use a touch of acrylic for small drops of color, but always in tiny amounts—less than 10% of your total resin mix. This helps avoid too much disruption. Stir slowly to keep bubbles at bay. Run a small test piece before pouring a big batch. Finishing with a clear top layer of pure resin can help protect your work. Don’t expect deep rich color—acrylics often mute out once they cure with epoxy.
Dedicated resin pigments outperform acrylics every time. Powders, alcohol inks, pastes, and liquid dyes cost a bit more but give consistent results. Some soap colorants even blend into resin well. I switched to buying tiny bottles of professional pigment, and the color payoff blew acrylic right out of the water. No cloudiness, no sticky surprise, and colors stayed bright wash after wash.
Artists and professional crafters use resin-safe dyes for a reason. Third-party lab tests prove that these products don’t break the resin’s chemical bonds. Transparency, flexibility, and longevity all improve. If you sell your work or gift it, those qualities matter. Take cues from those with years in the field. Most seasoned makers keep water-based paints away from resin pours, learning from their own early mistakes.
Experimentation has a place in resin art. Yet if you want to build pieces that last and keep your reputation strong, careful selection of colorants becomes just as important as the resin brand itself. The right tools make all the difference, both for hobbyists and pros alike.
