11 Of The Best Resin Dye Alternatives On The Market!

With the use of resin going through the roof right now in a wide range of arts and crafts, we have noticed more and more people reaching out for a list of resin dye alternatives that they are able to use to tint their resin to the color they need. Although high-quality resin dye is relatively cheap these days, the color range available can be a little restrictive leading people to hunt for suitable alternatives that can provide the color that they want.

Due to this, we have decided to publish this article going over a number of different resin dye alternatives that you are able to use when doing your arts and crafts. We have tried to include a wide range of different alternatives that you can use ranging from common household items that the majority of our readers will probably have in their homes already to some specific arts and crafts materials.

Covering such a wide range of alternatives that you can use to dye your resign should be a quick and easy way to help our readers find color alternatives to help you get exactly what you want out of your resin. As usual, due to covering such a wide range of alternatives in the article, we have our table of contents below so you can quickly and easily navigate to the resin dye alternatives that you want to read about.

The Best Resin Dye Alternatives!

We would also like to point out that some of these resin dye alternatives offer considerably better performance than others but we will point this out for each of them as we go through our article. As you can probably imagine, this is due to the alternative products not having been specifically designed for use with dying resin, if you do want the best performance possible, always try to find the dye color you want in a high-quality resin dye.

Can You Color Resin With Eyeshadow?

A number of our readers will probably already be aware of this much cheaper alternative to resin dye that usually offers a much wider range of colors as it is commonly recommended on social media, YouTube, and arts and crafts forums. A cheap, but decent eye shadow set is probably the best alternative to resin dyes on the market due to it also being made up of the same type of Mica Powders that actual resin dye contains.

This offers a very similar level of performance to the user while usually being much cheaper and offering almost any color or shade you could ever need. You simply grind the eye shadow up and add it to your resin then allow it to cure prior to removing it from your mould and the majority of the time, you will end up having very similar results to an actual resin dye.

The vast majority of eye shadow pallets on the market will work well with the vast majority of decent epoxy resins without issue. They tend to offer you an excellent color that is comparable to commercial resin dye kits while also having a great shimmer for both the glossy and matte variants of epoxy while the resin will also solidify correctly without issue.

Can You Use Watercolor To Color Resin?

In our opinion, the second best alternative to epoxy dye is the tried and tested watercolor paint. It is another very popular option that is commonly known but it can save you money while also offering you an absolutely huge range of colors to choose from if you do opt to use watercolor paint as a dye alternative.

The resin cures correctly with watercolor paint in it while also holding the color of the ground-up watercolor paint too while also performing very well with the cheaper epoxy resins on the market that can be hard to find alternatives too. If arts and crafts is one of your main hobbies then it is also very likley that our readers will already have watercolor paint in their home allowing them to quickly use it as an alternative to their resin dye without having to spend any money.

Can You Use Nail Polish To Dye Resin?

Although it tends to cost a little more than the other two optioned covered above, nail polish can also be an excellent alternative to resin dye while also opening up a number of additional possibilities that are not possible with other options. For example, there are a huge number of nail polish options with glitter already in them that you are able to use to get unique effects with your resin.

Although there are a small number of outliers when it comes to nail polish, the majority of them will work very well with your resin letting it set without issue while also holding their color. As we touched on above, any glitter or other additives in the nail polish tend to set well too without the resin being sticky or soft helping to add a unique look that even commercial resin dyes can struggle to deliver.

Can You Use India Ink To Color Resin?

Another great alternative that is commonly used is India Ink as it does an excellent job of dying your resin with minimal effort and costs involved. We also have an article going over how you are able to make your own India ink at home too if you like to go that extra step to make the ink formula yourself prior to using it with your resin.

One of the main limiting factors of India ink is that the vast majority of the commercial India inks on the market right now are made from soot and water meaning that they are all black. Although they are not technically an India ink as they have additional ingredients in them, there are a number of colored inks on the market that are marketed as India ink offering some color diversification too.

India ink tends to go really well with resin and ensures that your epoxy will set correctly while also holding its color if you are using a colored variant of India ink. The color spread tends to be pretty uniform throughout the resin too without any variations due to the soot particles shifting offering a solid look that is a popular choice.

Can You Use Chalk To Color Resin?

If you specifically want a light, pastel color with your resin then using cheap chalk as an alternative to your dye can work wonders. Not only is it very cheap but it is also easy to use as you simply grind the chalk up and then add it to your resin prior to putting in its mould.

The resin tends to set very well and not have any issues with its consistency and chalk is available in a wide range of different colors. As we touched on above though, you are almost always going to have a more pastel color pallet and you can struggle to get darker colors. Depending on what you want from your resin once dry, this could hold you back if you use chalk.

Using Kool-Aid As A Resin Dye!

An underrated, budget-friendly alternative to commercial resin dye that is often overlooked is simple No products found. that have proven to work well and be a popular option amongst many people for their arts and crafts. The color hold up well once the resin has dried and has a nice translucent effect to it too while not cause any problem with the resin setting either.

He main upside of using some Kool-Aid packs is that they are by far the cheapest option in our list letting you stock up on them and dye huge amounts of your resin without breaking the bank. That said though, there are downsides to this as the color selection is limited meaning it is only a decent alternative if you are trying to save money rather than find new colors.

Depending on the actual epoxy resin that you are using for your work, the budget savings may be offset as using Kool-Aid packs as a resin dye alternative can be hit and miss with cheaper resins. Due to this, you usually have to use a decent epoxy resins that tends to cost more than the standard entry-level ones.

Can You Dye Resin With Acrylic Paint?

Although many people do swear by No products found. as their main alternative to traditional resin dye, it does tend to be more expensive than the options covered above. If you are trying to reduce costs then this is probably not the best alternative for you but on the flipside of this, if you are looking for a wide color range then there are a huge number of different acrylic paint options out there.

Although the resin does tend to set correctly without any problems with acrylic paint added to it, it is very rare that the resin will set to be translucent either. Depending on your goals for your resin once set, this could be a deal breaker for you as some people do like their resin to be translucent. That said though, depending on what you are doing, having a solid color resin may be better for your goals pushing acrylic craft paint to the top of the list for you.

Can You Use Alcohol Ink To Color Resin?

Another popular option is to use a cheap alcohol ink instead of a resin dye and this offers you the advantage of being both cheap while also having a huge color range available. Although alcohol ink tends to only work well if you are using a decent epoxy resins, it can offer you some unique looks that are not available with other resin dye alternatives.

One of the main ones that we see is the unique swirls that alcohol ink is well known for. Although they are not as obvious as they are when using alcohol ink on paper, there are there in your resin once dried if you look close enough. On top of this, although rare, you can get the swirls that can occur when using alcohol-based ink on paper making your resin look extremely unique.

Unlike some of the other options that we have covered, using alcohol ink to dye your epoxy resin also tends to be transparent once set too making it one of the better options if you do require a transparent look. The resin itself does usually dry without issue although we have seen some people report that the cheaper, lower-quality resins were soft and had not set correctly when using alcohol ink but decent resins tend not to have any issues.

Can You Use Food Coloring To Color Resin?

A large number of people do tend to use a range of different food colorings as an alternative to a traditional resin dye but this is very hit and miss depending on the specific food coloring that you use. Although some of them can work very well and will produce very similar results to a normal resin dye, some of them perform very poorly and can prevent the resin from setting correctly.

Although you can try a number of food colourings with your resin dye to test the results, if you are wanting a quick and easy alternative, we would recommend that you go with any of the options above as they tend to have much better results that are consistently positive. Many of them are also cheaper than using food coloring too.

Using Coco Powder As Resin Dye!

Although you are able to use coco powder as an epoxy dye alternative, we tend not to recommend it as it can be hit an miss even with high-quality, expensive epoxy resins and the color options are very limited. On top of this, most people seem to think that their resin will be a shade of brown but it is almost always black when using coco powder as your dye drastically reducing what you are able to do with it.

In our opinion, if you do need a brown or black resin, simply using a high-quality resin dye will always be a better alternative. Although it may cost you a little bit more than using coco powder, you will often end up saving money in the long run due to the number of dud batches that simply don’t set correctly when used with coco powder.

Taking Advantage Of Mustard Powder!

This one is very similar to the coco powder-covered above and although you are able to use mustard powder as an alternative to resin dye, the results are mixed and you are restricted to a shade of yellow of your color. Although the resin does generally tend to set, sometimes it can still be a little soft and will not set correctly potentially causing you issues depending on what you were wanting to do with your work.

Conclusion

That brings our article going over what we feel are the best alternatives to resin dye currently available on the market to a close. We hope that you have found our article helpful and that you have found an alternative that will be able to help you meet your needs without you breaking the bank. We have touched on the strengths and any weaknesses of all of the alternatives above to try and ensure that you are able to easily make a decision on the best alternative for you and your needs.