How to Make a DIY Resin Geode (Easy Wall Art With Remodel Resin)
Updated: 2 days ago
Countertops Aren’t the Only Thing You Can Pour
What happens when you hand two people a pile of blue resin, a few cups of metallic color and a foam cutout shaped like a rock? You get a DIY resin geode that looks like it was sliced straight out of the earth.
In this video, Kathryn and Shaylah take over the pour table to make blue geodes for their offices. They try two different pouring techniques, learn from the first one, and nail the second. Along the way, Mike shows how he built the geode shapes from scrap foam and gave them a realistic stone border.
It’s simple, it’s fast, and it’s one of the most fun projects we’ve done. If you can follow a recipe, you can make a geode.
Why Geodes Make a Perfect Resin Project
They’re lightweight. The base is insulation foam, so even a big geode is easy to lift and hang. It looks heavy, but it isn’t.
They’re forgiving. Geodes are full of swirls, rings and blended color. There’s no “wrong” pattern.
They’re fast. The artistic pour takes minutes.
They’re versatile. Hang one as wall art, or build a bigger one into a coffee table.
They’re a great way to learn. You’ll practice mixing, layering color, the exotic pour and isopropyl alcohol effects, all skills that carry straight over to countertops.
What You’ll Need
For the geode shape and border:
Scrap pink insulation foam
A Sharpie and a jigsaw
Fast-setting mortar mix and water
A sponge
80-grit sandpaper or a hand sanding stone
Fast-dry spackle
Paint for the border
For the pour:
Rezinite (1:1, extended working time)
True Tint colorants
A drill and mixing paddle
Mixing buckets and cups
Isopropyl alcohol in a spray bottle
A torch
Gloves
Step 1: Cut the Geode Shape From Foam
Mike started with leftover pieces of pink insulation foam. He drew an organic, rock-like shape with a Sharpie, using as much of each scrap as he could, then cut it out with a jigsaw.
On one piece, he also cut out the center like a donut. Real geodes often have a hollow middle, and this adds realism. You could even glue crystals into that open center. Cutting it out took about 30 seconds.
Step 2: Build the Stone Border
The border is what makes it read as a real geode, and it locks your resin design in place.
Add a little water to the bucket first.
Add Rezin Rock into the water, then add the mortar powder.
Mix, adding a bit more water if needed. You can always add more water, but you can’t take it out.
Work fast. This mix sets quickly. Scrape it off along the edge of the foam and press it against the side with your hand.
Build a lip. Squish the mix up against the edge so it stands a little higher than the surface. That lip holds the resin in and makes the pour much easier.
Shape it with a wet hand and a sponge.
Once it’s dry:
Sand off any roughness with 80 grit or a hand sanding stone.
Fill any cracks with fast-dry spackle.
Paint the border so it looks like a geode’s outer crust.
[VIDEO: start at 16:20 for mixing Rezin Rock and mortar, and 17:35 for sanding and painting]
Step 3: Pick Your Colors
Kathryn and Shaylah were inspired by blue agate geodes. Their palette:
Teal Surge (Kathryn’s favorite, and the one she wanted to stand out most)
Blue Flame
Glacier Spark
A custom blue, made by mixing blue True Tint with black. Mike first tried this mix on a Blue Quartzite pour.
White, black and a light blue, made from white with one drop of blue
A color tip from the video: on the first try, three parts black to one part blue came out very dark. For round two, they lightened it up. Start lighter. It’s easier to add dark than to take it away.
Mix solids and metallics. In round two they used three True Tints and two metallics. The solids give contrast, and the metallics add sparkle and movement as the colors melt together.
[VIDEO: start at 0:52 for choosing the colors]
Step 4: Mix Rezinite
They used Rezinite because of its extended working time. With this many colors to mix and divide into cups, the extra time means nobody is rushing.
Mix for 2 minutes with a drill, then split the resin into cups and add your colors.
If you’re using a fast-set resin instead, don’t leave it sitting in the bucket. It needs to come out right away.
[VIDEO: start at 2:16 for mixing Rezinite]
Round One: Pouring Color by Color
Click on picture for full video
For the first pour, Kathryn and Shaylah each worked from their own cups, pouring the colors in rings around their geodes. A few things they tried:
Chop lines toward the center, like a spiderweb, then mist with isopropyl alcohol to bring out striations.
A puddle pour in the center: pour color right in the middle to create an inner ring.
Meld it by hand. Mike’s suggestion was to blend the whole thing together with a gloved hand, then hit it with alcohol.
The results looked great, and each geode had a completely different style. But they did see some bubbles coming up from the surface.
The lesson: prime or seal the surface first. A seal coat keeps air from pushing up through the pour.
Round Two: The Exotic Pour (The Winner)
First, let round one dry and use it as your seal coat. Mike didn’t sand it before round two, because the first coat was still fresh enough for the new resin to bond to it.
Then try the exotic pour:
Mix all your colors and divide them into cups.
Layer them into one bucket. Pour about a quarter of each cup into a single bucket, stacking high-contrast colors over each other. Mike under-mixed the white and black first to make a marbled gray.
Keep the leftovers. Whatever stays in the cups is your insurance policy if you need to mix more.
Pour in rings, and keep the bucket moving. Don’t stop in one place. Work around the geode and finish your circle.
Don’t dump it all at once. It’s better to pour less and come back for a second pass than to run out halfway through.
Pour sideways for a “snake skin” look. Tilting the bucket so the resin comes out sideways makes the colors stack on themselves.
Mist with isopropyl alcohol and watch the swirls open up.
The verdict was unanimous. The exotic pour looked more seamless and more natural, especially for beginners, and it was faster.
As it sits, the resin keeps flowing and melting together, which is exactly what real geodes look like. Mike says it should stiffen up in about an hour.
[IMAGE: resin-geode-exotic-pour-blue.png — Alt: “Pouring blue and white resin from a Remodel Resin cup into a DIY resin geode with a dark stone border”]
[VIDEO: start at 8:09 for round two, and 12:04 for the alcohol effect]
Tips From Kathryn and Shaylah
Test on a small piece first. Shaylah plans her art, so next time she’d rough it out small. Then she’d know she loves the colors and movement before pouring the big one.
Go for more contrast. Darks right next to lights make the swirls pop.
Mix metallics with solid colors. That’s what gives the melding effect and the sparkle.
Use the exotic pour for even glitter. In the exotic pour, the metallic spread out nicely, instead of sitting in clumps like it did in round one.
Seal or prime first to stop bubbles.
[ start at 13:46 for their tips]
Common Mistakes to Avoid
Skipping the seal coat (bubbles will come up through the pour)
Making your custom colors too dark at the start
Dumping all the resin at once instead of saving some for a second pass
Stopping the bucket in one spot during the exotic pour
Building the border without a lip
Letting the border mix sit too long (it sets fast)
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a DIY resin geode made of?In this project, a foam base cut into a rock shape, a stone-look border made with Rezin Rock and mortar, and Rezinite resin with True Tints and metallic powders.
Is a resin geode heavy?No. Because the base is insulation foam, it’s very light, which makes it great for wall art.
Which resin is best for geodes?Kathryn and Shaylah used Rezinite. Its extended working time and easy 1:1 mix give you plenty of time to work with a lot of colors.
What’s an exotic pour?You layer several colors into one bucket, then pour them out together in rings. The colors come out stacked and swirled, which gives a natural geode look with very little effort.
How do I stop bubbles in my geode?Seal or prime the surface first. In this video, the first pour acted as the seal coat for the second.
Can I make a coffee table this way?Yes. Mike mentions geodes can become wall art or a coffee table.
Do I need to be artistic?No. If you can follow a recipe and keep the bucket moving, you can make a geode.
Where do I get started?Find Rezinite, True Tints, metallics and Rezin Rock at remodelresin.com, and learn the basics in our free Resin 101 training.
Question of the day: Which resin geode did you like better, the first pour or the second pour? Let us know in the comments.
You Got This.
Confirm the color names before publishing. The video calls Teal Surge, Blue Flame and Glacier Spark by name but never says which are metallics and which are True Tints, so I left them unlabeled. The image placeholder is for the screenshot you sent; rename the file to match before you upload it to Wix.
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