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How to Add Findings, Hooks, and Bails to Resin Pieces
A practical guide to resin jewelry hardware — bails, ear wires, jump rings, and clasps — with material recommendations and step-by-step attachment methods.
The resin part of a jewelry piece gets all the attention, but the hardware is what determines whether it’s actually wearable — and whether it stays together. A beautiful pendant on a cheap plated bail that snaps after two months is worse than a plain pendant on solid hardware.
Here’s what the different findings are, what materials to use, and how to attach them to resin reliably.
The basic vocabulary
Bail: The loop at the top of a pendant that the chain runs through. Glue-on bails have a flat base for adhesion; pinch bails grip a drilled hole or insert; tube bails embed in the resin pour.
Ear wire: The hook-shaped wire for dangle earrings that passes through the ear piercing. Also called a fish hook or French wire.
Ear stud post: A straight post with a flat pad at the back end. The flat pad is where the earring piece adheres or embeds. The post passes through the piercing and a push-back holds it in place.
Jump ring: A small split ring used to connect two components — a bail to a chain, a pendant to an ear wire, etc. Opened by twisting the ends sideways (not pulling apart, which distorts the circle).
Lobster clasp: The most common necklace clasp, with a spring-loaded gate. Connects to a ring soldered at the other end of the chain.
Eye pin / head pin: Wire with a loop or flat head at one end, used to make wire-wrapped dangles. Not often needed for basic resin jewelry but useful if you’re doing mixed media.
Materials: what’s actually worth buying
This is where beginners spend money wrong. “Silver-tone” or “gold-tone” at the craft store is almost always a brass or zinc alloy with a thin plating that flakes, tarnishes in months, and causes skin reactions in people with nickel sensitivity. For pieces you’re wearing yourself, it’s fine for experimenting. For anything you’re selling or gifting, it’s not.
Sterling silver (925): Tarnishes slowly, solders cleanly, widely available in all finding types. The real thing — stamped 925.
Gold-fill (14k or 12k): A thick layer of gold bonded to brass — not solid gold, but substantially more durable than plating. Will last years with care. Significantly cheaper than solid gold.
Niobium: A hypoallergenic metal with a similar look to silver. Won’t cause reactions even in people with multiple metal allergies. Available in ear wires especially. A bit harder to source but worth it if you’re making earrings to sell.
Surgical steel (316L stainless): Genuinely hypoallergenic for most people — better than the vague “surgical steel” label often used for inferior alloys. Look for 316L specifically.
Brass, copper: Fine for decorative pieces not worn against the skin, or for pieces sealed with resin or lacquer. Reactive against skin over time.
For earrings: use sterling, gold-fill, niobium, or 316L. No exceptions if you care about your customers’ ears.
How to attach a bail
Glue-on bail: Sand the back of the pendant at the attachment point with 220 grit to rough the surface for adhesion. Clean the dust off. Mix a small amount of two-part epoxy (5-minute epoxy or slower-cure jewelry epoxy both work — slower gives more working time and a stronger bond), apply to the bail base, press firmly to the pendant, and hold or clamp for a few minutes. Full cure in 24 hours. Don’t try to use CA (super) glue — it’s brittle and fails under tension.
Embedded tube bail: Pour about 70–80% of the mold depth. Let the resin get to a thick honey stage (roughly 2–4 hours in, temperature dependent). Press the tube bail base into the resin so the base is submerged and the loop extends above the mold. Pour remaining resin over the base to lock it in. This gives the strongest hold because the bail is mechanically keyed into the cured resin.
Drilled hole with jump ring: Fully cure the piece, drill a 1.5–2 mm hole at the top (see drilling holes in resin for the technique), open a jump ring and thread it through, close the jump ring, attach the bail or chain directly. This is the most flexible approach and what I use most often because you can see exactly where the balance point is before you commit.
Attaching ear wires
For dangle earrings: drill a small hole (1 mm) at the top of the piece, thread a jump ring through, connect the ear wire loop to the jump ring. Open and close jump rings with two pairs of flat-nose pliers — one on each side of the split, twisting sideways. This keeps the circle intact.
For stud earrings: the post needs either to be embedded (flat pad down in the pour) or glued to the finished back. Embedding gives a stronger hold. Gluing works fine for lightweight pieces — rough the surface, use two-part epoxy, let cure 24 hours before wearing.
A note on jump ring size
Jump rings come in different gauges (wire thickness) and inner diameters. For small jewelry:
- 20 gauge / 4 mm ID: light and delicate, works for small charms and earrings
- 18 gauge / 5–6 mm ID: more substantial, better for pendants and anything that will see daily wear
- 16 gauge / 6 mm ID: chunky, for statement pieces or very heavy pendants
A jump ring that’s too thin will deform under the weight of a heavy pendant over time. When in doubt, go heavier gauge.
Closures for necklaces
Lobster clasp with ring: The standard. Easy to use, secure, available in every size. Match the metal to the chain — sterling clasp on sterling chain, etc.
Toggle clasp: A bar and ring closure. More decorative, makes a design statement on the back of the neck. Less secure than a lobster but fine for pendants people aren’t doing athletics in.
Slide/magnetic clasp: Easy to use for people with limited hand dexterity. Magnetic closures are not as secure as lobster clasps and can open unexpectedly on heavy chains. Use with lighter pendants.
The hardware is the part that holds everything together — it’s worth spending the extra dollar per finding on quality. A piece that loses a bail or has an ear wire that irritates someone’s ear reflects on the resin work, even if the resin itself is perfect.
Browse bmmold.com molds for jewelry making.
What hardware type are you most unsure about? Bails confuse a lot of people until you’ve worked with them a few times.
— Nikolai