Fabric and Resin Bookmarks
I participated in a craft fair over the weekend with my mom, who was selling the children’s books she recently wrote. The first two books of the Environmental Space Explorers series, Adventures on Pink Unicorn Planet and Adventures on Crystal Water Planet are available at Barnes & Noble if you’d like to check them out. Both were illustrated by my daughter, so they’re extra special.
When I was planning what to make for the craft fair, I wanted to come up with something appropriate to accompany these adorable books. What goes better with books than bookmarks? I considered a bunch of different ways of making them, and eventually I settled on using resin and fabric. There are so many different fabric patterns that you can find something for everyone. I was looking specifically for unicorns, planets/space, and undersea prints, but I also couldn’t resist some rainbows. I had to stop myself there, because I wanted to buy so. many. more. prints.
I found plenty of unicorn fabrics in cotton quilting fabrics, but I couldn’t find quite as many space or undersea prints in stock at my local store. I did, however, find some really pretty prints in flannel. I was less sure about how those would do, but I decided to give them a chance anyway.
When you’re choosing your fabrics, remember that they will look a little different when they’re coated in resin. They darken a little as though they’re wet, so you can wet down a sample piece of fabric to get a good idea of how it’ll look.
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Supplies:
- Fabric
- Scissors/rotary cutter
- Cutting mat
- Ruler
- Resin
- Resin mixing cups
- Table protector
- Gloves
- Disposable paint brush or silicone spreader
- Hole punch
- Tassels
Let’s make some bookmarks!
The first step is to cut out your fabric. I used my rotary cutter to cut mine into strips about 2”x6”. I think that’s a perfect size for bookmarks.
Full disclosure: I made a lot of bookmarks at once, so I mixed a full 8oz of resin and covered two surfaces with bookmarks. That was NOT the best way to go. It was stressful trying to use up the resin before it started to cure, and as a result, I was sloppy with some of my bookmarks and missed some spots on a bunch of them. I can—and will—go back and fix them, but starting with a smaller batch would be much easier.
The next step is to coat the bookmarks with resin. I normally use a clear shower curtain liner to cover my table when I’m working with resin, so I cleared that off and covered it with bookmarks. I needed more space, so I also used some silicone mats on my desk. Between the two work spaces, I was able to make a whole lot of bookmarks.
I picked up some paintbrushes at the Dollar Tree that I used for resin. You can only use a paintbrush once with resin, so you need something disposable. I had the thought after the fact that I have a silicone spreading tool that would probably be perfect. It came with something else I bought, so I forget that I have it.
After I mixed the resin, I poured some on each bookmark and spread it over the whole thing. I’m very glad I was wearing gloves, because this is a messy process. I found that I needed more resin to cover the flannel, because it soaked up more. If I poured too much, I just scooped up a little with the brush to transfer it to another bookmark.
I thought I’d checked carefully to make sure that all of the bookmarks were fully covered, but I could have done a better job. So I recommend looking at them from all angles.
Also check to make sure that you don’t have any fabric strings stuck in the resin. You don’t have to worry about frayed edges, because you can trim them off later, but you DO need to make sure there’s nothing stuck in the resin or it’ll be there forever.
I checked on the bookmarks after about 18 hours, and they were ready for the next step, which was to trim off any excess resin/strings. I just used scissors for this, and it was easy to do.
You could leave the bookmarks as-is, but I wanted to add tassels to mine. That’s the final step. I now have hole punches in several different sizes. 1/4” is the standard size, but I used 1/8” for this. Even with the thicker flannel coated in resin, it wasn’t too hard to punch the holes. Some of the tassels had thicker loops on top, so some of those were a little tricky to fit through the small hole, but all of them worked.
Aren’t these cute? I love them. They were a big hit at the craft fair, too. I’m going to touch up the rest of them before the next craft fair.
Final thoughts… The flannel worked fine, but the end result is a texture that’s a little rougher than the quilting fabric. It might actually be a nice sensory tool for some people. I considered sanding them down a little just to see what happens, and if I do that I’ll report back.
Let me know if you make your own bookmarks! You can tag me on instagram or Facebook.
Happy crafting!
