You can use pretty much anything, but for this article, we’re using chocolate wrappers, cracked eggshells, the shiny foil from old CDs, and headphone cables. If you’re yearning to work with resin, these funky cufflinks are a good place to start. Oh, and before you begin, feel free to crank up your favorite music and ease into some mindful meditation of a different kind.

Stay safe, seriously

The most important part about working with resin is knowing how to use it safely. It’s a hazardous material, so if you ignore safety precautions, you could get hurt. So whether I’m working on a large-scale resin painting, wood, or in a 16-millimeter metal circle, this is how I stay safe:

Read the safety instructions on the resin packaging. These will tell you how to care for any resin-related injuries. Plus, if something does go wrong—like resin gets in your eyes—you may not be able to read the packaging to figure out what to do.Wear eye protection, gloves, and an apron. The more covered-up you are, the better.Work in a well-ventilated area. Resin is a chemical, and it emits fumes that can affect your lungs. It’s pretty smelly, too, so you may be grateful for good air circulation.If you have kids or pets, make sure they’re not around. As I said, resin can be harmful.Cover your work area with newspaper and keep paper towels nearby. Spilled resin is sticky and you don’t want it on the floor or table. I have a separate table I use for resin projects so I can leave it undisturbed.Don’t use the tools for anything else. You really don’t want to bring the resin measuring cup or stirrers into the kitchen.Keep your mobile phone on silent to minimize distraction. I learned this the hard way. I was in the midst of carefully pouring resin into cufflink blanks when my ringtone jarred me so badly that I accidentally poured too much, making a merry mess. Once the resin dried, the cufflinks were permanently stuck to the base of the wooden holder. It’s like working in a chemistry lab—you need to keep your focus.

The basics of working with resin

When I first started working with resin seven years ago, there weren’t many brands to choose from. I ended up using EnviroTex Lite resin at the time—the same brand I used for this story. It comes in two bottles: one for the resin and one for the hardener. I have also used ArtResin, but it was not available when I was shopping for resin. Like EnviroTex Lite, it also comes in two parts. If I could get my hands on them, I would experiment with ultraviolet resins and eco-resins, but they’re not available where I live. UV resins dry—cure—under UV light in a matter of seconds, so they save a lot of time. Eco-resins, meanwhile, are non-toxic and solvent-free. I also tend to buy smaller quantities of resin when I’m working on smaller projects, such as cufflinks and lapel pins, because unused resin turns yellow over time and I don’t want my projects to look old. If you’ve never worked with resin, make sure whatever brand you buy has proper instructions on its packaging. Some, like EnviroTex Lite, call for a 1:1 ratio of resin and hardener, while others require 1:2. Even so, you have to be willing to make some mistakes along the way as you learn how to accurately mix resin and hardener. When you mix your resin, do so according to its instructions. Otherwise, it won’t cure fully and you’ll end up with a sticky surface. The packaging will also tell you how long your brand will take to cure. EnviroTex Lite, for example, finishes in 8-72 hours. The size of each project below is a good thing, too, because the best way to get the hang of resin is to start small. If you’re just starting out, work on one cufflink blank at a time to get comfortable pouring resin before you start handling several—pouring resin is a process you can’t rush. And if you find you’ve mixed more resin than necessary, don’t throw it out. You can pour it into something else (I used an old wooden tray), and experiment with colors before it cures.

What you’ll need (for every project)

Materials

Acrylic paintBlank cufflink basesResin and hardener

Tools

ApronEye protectionGlovesNewspapers (or paper towels)Paintbrushes with fine brushesResin measuring cupA sturdy table (or workbench)ToothpicksWooden stirrers (for resin and hardener)Wooden rack (to hold the cufflinks in place)

I have always wanted to create mosaic-like cufflinks, and I knew eggshells could help me achieve that effect. Materials

Eggshells (cleaned)Transparent craft glueWater

Tools

Paper towelsTweezersA water container

Any material that gleams, I collect. That’s how I ended up with several chocolate wrappers, many from the Mackintosh and Lindt brands, and a plan to use them to achieve a look of subtle black and gold glam. Materials

Chocolate wrappers

Tools

ScissorsTweezers

It breaks my heart when I have to throw something away without exploring how to incorporate it into some kind of DIY project. So when I spotted the rainbow sheen on the backs of some blank CDs, I made it my mission to find a way to harvest the shiny foil that produced those colors. Unfortunately, I still had to discard the transparent plastic part of the CDs. Materials

A CDHot waterTransparent craft glue

Tools

A bowlPaper towelsScissorsTweezers

I had some broken mobile earphones lying around, and surmised that I could cut the cables into 1-centimeter bits for a set of cufflinks. My cables were white and were pliable enough to turn into small spirals that could fit within the cufflink blanks. Materials

2 1-centimeter snippets of earphone cableSuper glue

Tools

ScissorsRound-nose pliers

As you can see, if you’ve got a barrel full of creativity and oodles of patience, there’s no end to the ways you can use resin and upcycled materials to make cufflinks. Test out different materials and let your imagination run wild. From simple pieces of decorative paper to pressed and dried flowers, the possibilities are endless.