Although some brands of resin claim they don’t yellow, it’s a well-known hazard. Following is my test of what happens when sample tiles of eleven brands are left on a sunny windowsill with their top halves protected.
The photo above is before the yellowing test began. The cured EnviroTex Lite and EnviroTex had already begun to yellow over a period of 19 months in a covered cardboard box in my windowless basement.
The brands used were:
- Alumilite Amazing Clear Cast
- Art Resin
- Cernit Kit Finish Glass
- Chinese resin from Amazon (brand unknown) – UV
- Pandora Deep Shine – UV
- EnviroTex Jewelry Resin
- EnviroTex Lite Pour-On High Gloss Finish
- Ice Resin Jeweler’s Grade
- Little Windows
- Lisa Pavelka’s Magic Glos – UV
- Resin Obsession
- UltraDome UV Epoxy – UV
There are four UV resins. The rest are two-part, epoxy resins. The resin caused my handwriting to melt on some of the tiles.
I covered the top halves of the tiles with double-faced foam tape. This really stuck to some of the resins and made quite a mess, so I’ll try aluminum foil next.
I’ll keep a close eye on this test and shoot photos fairly frequently.
Sun exposure begins
The above photo was after only four hours in full sun. I put the tiles in order of visible change with the worst in the top left.
The Chinese resin was thick and sticky when I used it and wouldn’t self-level. Apparently, I got a bad bottle. When I removed the foam tape, it came off of the polymer like a piece of cellophane, but I’ll include it anyway.
I removed the leftover adhesive which was making a dirty horizontal line in the center of the tiles. The bright yellow of Cernit Kit and Ice Resin has faded a bit, maybe bleached out by the sun? Amazing Clear now looks clear again. I can see a very slight difference in Magic Glos, Deep Shine and UltraDome.
The yellow in EnviroTex Lite seems the same. The yellow is fading in EnviroTex Jewelry, Cernit Kit and especially Ice Resin. The very slight color change in Magic Glos, Deep Shine and UltraDome remains. Amazing Clear, Resin Obesession, Little Windows, Art Resin and the Chinese Resin are clear.
I moved Resin Obsession to the top row because it seems to be turning yellow overall, maybe from heat, rather than UV rays. Cernit Art, Magic Glos and UltraDome all seem to have the same slight yellowness on the bottom half. The bottom row seems pretty clear.
Resin Obsession is getting more yellow overall. Little Windows might be turning color a bit overall. The bottom halves of Magic Glos and UltraDome seem slightly more yellow.
Little Windows has started to yellow overall. Magic Glos and UltraDome seem a little more yellow on their bottom halves.
The most noticeable difference is Little Windows which yellowed more. The rest look about the same.
Little Windows is now more yellow than Resin Obsession. Magic Glos has yellowed a bit more.
Not much change, except Magic Glos looks darker yellow than EnviroTex now.
The yellow of EnviroTex Lite and Little Windows seems more intense.
Little Windows, Magic Glos and UltraDome seem a little more yellow.
UltraDome might have yellowed slightly more.
I can’t see any difference after another 50 hours in the sun.
The yellow in Envirotex seems to be fading. The rest appear the same.
I can’t see any difference. I wonder if they’ve stabilized.
Not much difference since the last photo. Amazing Clear Cast might have gained a tiny, little bit of color. Little Windows seems lighter.
It’s been 8 months since I last posted a photo. A few resins have gotten darker. None have improved by the sun bleaching them. Art Resin is still looking really good. It’s now the brand I choose when I use resin.
Yet another extremely informative experiment! Thank you so much!
I was about to buy some Magic Glos to cover some round beads, as it’s heralded as “non-yellowing”; but as your experiment shows, that isn’t quite the case!
I cannot thank you enough for sharing your findings. Not many people consider the long term deteriorations of our supplies.
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I think every resin manufacturer says their resin doesn’t yellow or resists yellowing. I wanted to see for myself. More time needs to pass before we really know.
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It looks like the Chinese Resin you used held up to the test pretty well. Was it also the lease expensive? Did you purchase from Ali Express?
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The Chinese resin hasn’t yellowed so far, but the bottle I got was really thick and wouldn’t self-level. Then it came off of the polymer after curing like a piece of cellophane and a piece of it cracked off. I don’t know if it was the cheapest, but it was definitely cheap. People have said they really like it and that I got an old bottle. I got it through Amazon. The Chinese vendor had the worst customer service and wouldn’t give me a full refund, so I had to get an Amazon A-Z refund. Buyer beware. You usually get what you pay for.
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Such a great comparison! I used some of these in the past. These days I use Countertop Epoxy products or their lesser known epoxy for artists, Faux Rizzle. I like that they are UV resistant but also FDA compliant and very resistant to heat. It seems like all epoxies have a downside depending on your intended use. My biggest issue was volume of purchase versus shelf life … so now I make sure I use it all by pouring toothpick holders or salt & pepper shakers 🙂
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Thanks, Christy!
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Thanks for this. In summary, would you suggest Amazing Clear was the best? It looks to be the least yellow and didn’t seem to smudge the writing.
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Yes, I would. If I had to use resin today, I’d use Amazing Clear Cast. It still hasn’t changed color in the least.
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Thanks for this! Would you recommend Amazing Clear as best overall? It looks like it not only didn’t yellow, it seems it didn’t smudge the writing.
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Yes, I would.
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This is an amazingly informative post! Thank you for the time you put into this. For the Chinese UV resin is it the one in the black bottles with a blue/green/yellow label that has plants on it?
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Yes, exactly.
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This is an amazingly informative post! Thank you for the time you put into this. For the Chinese UV resin is it the one in the black bottles with a blue/green/yellow label that has plants on it?
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Yes.
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Thank you somuch for doing this test. I learbed a lot, in my opinion it looks like the Art resin might be best. Didn’t smug the writing much, looks self leveling, and is still very clear. Is it still holding up? And how was it to work with?
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I like Art Resin. It’s still holding up and is easy to work with.
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Hi Phyllis! Thanks so much for conducting this experiment! I know the others have asked about which one you think would be the best considering how they’ve held up against the UV rays, but it looks like the Alumilite Amazing Clear Cast yellowed a tiny bit while the Art Resin was one of the clearest. What do you think of the Pandora Deep Shine?
Would you mind posting the links for these resins, please?
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Thanks, Jessie. If I had to choose one, it would be Art Resin. Amazing Clear Cast is also very good.
Pandora Deep Shine didn’t yellow. Many people like it and there is an advantage to the quick cure of a UV resin. I had a hard time getting a smooth finish with it. There are specific directions to follow and a brush is included, though be sure to clean the brush of all lint before using it.
There are several places to buy the resins, so I’d rather not endorse specific vendors. A google search will do the trick.
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Thanks again, Phyllis!
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Would like to add my thanks for doing this it’s very helpful for choosing a resin to work with.
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You’re welcome! Thanks for writing!
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This is so great. thank you. so it has been over a year since your test. art resin still unyellowed? is this urban art resin?
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Yes, I’ve left my test in the window and just looked at it and Art Resin is still unyellowed. It’s this Art Resin: https://www.artresin.com/?gclid=CjwKCAjwqpP2BRBTEiwAfpiD-yImCtwCtLvx31wAzO0LVTPUKCJOAy3yWWnhcXdppTTcNVrlU0UQ9RoC070QAvD_BwE
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are the samples resin/epoxy tinted white only or do they have a clear coat over top ? just wondering how you did the samples
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I’m not totally sure I understand your question. The resin is clear. There’s no white tinting or clear coat.
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sorry. I read your post over a few times. i see now. it is clear over tile. i understand. sport for the confusion. thank you again.
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which UV resin would you recommend?
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Although it does yellow, I like Ultradome.
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Thank you
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Where do you buy it? I can’t seem to find it.
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http://ultradome.com
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Thank you
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I was going to try KS Resin, but kept reading about the bubble problem. The resin I have been using yellows within days but it was all I could find locally (Famowood Glaze Coat at Home Depot, nice to work with without odor). I will use it only for deeply colored artwork now. I will now try ArtResin since it looks stable.
Thanks for this experiment. It saves all of us!
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You’re welcome! Thanks for writing.
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Great information! Thank you !
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You’re welcome, Leonie!
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hello Phyllis, was wondering, ArtResin only seems to work with a frame encasing it if not it is quite fragile, would you agree to that? as im in a dilemma what resin to use, would want to make a keepsake of my dog’s fur(she just passed on) as a charm to wear as a bracelet, love the idea that ArtResin does yellow over time but worry about the fragility of it as the charm would be barrel shape like the ones selling in Pandora as such there would be no frame supporting it. Your advise would help. 😉
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I haven’t used resin in that way and haven’t heard that Art Resin was fragile. In general, resin is tough as nails. You might contact Art Resin and ask them.
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