Gemex Craft Kits give kids creative freedom to make fun resin jewellery and accessories, quickly and easily! But Which one is right for you?
If you like this then you may be interested in our review of the Shaky Pop Nail Studio and the Gemex Galaxy Accessory Pack.
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How Do The Gemex Craft Kits Work?
There are three main types of Gemex craft kit available, and all use a liquid gel that hardens in 3 minutes using UV light. The main difference between the kits is the tool used to emit UV light.
All the kits will contain 1-2 bottles of liquid magic, a UV light source, a themed gem mould, decorations for your gems, assorted jewellery/accessory clips and attachments, stirring tool and instructions.
To make the gems, sprinkles and bead decorations are placed in the moulds and the liquid gel is squeezed over them. Then the plastic stirrer is used to push the decorations into place (you can add decorations after the gel has been put into the mould as well). Then a UV light is held over the wet gel for three minutes until it hardens.
There are a few different Gemex Crafts Kits you can buy.
Gemex Deluxe Creation Station
This is the biggest craft kit and comes with everything you need to make a large number of gorgeous gems that you can turn into hair clips, necklaces, keychains and much more. It comes with two silicone moulds with different gem shapes on them and a huge selection of sparkles and decorations to use in your gems… far more than you will need. The creation station itself is well thought out and is designed to keep all the decorations in place.
The box says you can make 100 gems but in our experience it’s a lot less especially if you make the larger gem pieces.
It contains
- Creation Station,
- Shell light,
- 2 x 25g Liquid Magic,
- 6 x assorted style decorations,
- 2 x hair clips,
- 1 x bracelet,
- 1 x pair clip on earrings,
- 1 x ring,
- 1 x keychain,
- 1 x sticker sheet,
- 1 x stirring tool,
- 2 x magic moulds,
- 1 x bag loops,
- instructions.
You can see my girls review of it here
Gemex Magic Shell Playset
If you need something a bit smaller than the Deluxe Creation Station then the GEMEX Magic Shell Playset is worth looking at.
It uses the same shell UV light source to set the gel moulds which is really easy to use and quicker to set multiple gems than the torch UV light source used in other kits. It also contains two moulds with gem shapes, 3 bags of sparkles/decorations but only 1 liquid resin gel.
Contents
- Shell Light,
- 1 x 25g Liquid Magic,
- 2 x magic moulds,
- 1 x bracelet,
- 1 x bag of loops,
- 2 x hairclips,
- 1 x pair of clip-on earrings,
- 3 x assorted style decorations,
- stirring tool,
- instructions.
Gemex Craft Kits Accessory Packs
There are currently two Gemex Accessory Packs available; Galaxy and Unicorn.
Both of these use a torch UV light to harden the liquid gel resin. The torch takes a bit longer than the magic shell as the light doesn’t get all the shapes in one go. But it does mean that you don’t need to pick the mould up and you can focus on making one gem at a time. And this makes it easier for younger kids to use.
They contain
- 1 x 25g bottle Liquid Magic,
- Torch Light,
- Themed Magic Mould,
- gems / decorations,
- stirring tool,
- Assorted hair clips,
- bracelet,
- bezels
- loops,
- instructions.
Gemex Craft Kits Starter Set
The Gemex Starter Set allows you to create gorgeous gems in just a few minutes but comes with a small clicker type mini UV torch and a smaller bottle of Liquid gel resin. Because of the small clicker-style light, I’d say this was the least useable for the younger age range.
It contains
- 1 x 15g bottle Liquid Magic,
- mini torch light,
- magic mould,
- assorted gems / decorations,
- instructions.
Requires 2 x CR2016 batteries (included)
gemex Top Tips/Things To Know About
- UV lights – The magic shell is the easiest and quickest way to set a whole mould but younger kids may struggle to transport the mould to the shell light (it can also be used to set nail varnish!). The torch is probably easier for younger kids as the mould case can stay in place and they can focus on doing just one shape at a time.
- Amount of gems you can make – with all the skill in the world there is little chance of making the number of gems the box states unless you only make the smallest gem in the set. This is quite a misleading sales pitch and actually, I don’t think the craft sets need that as a tag line because the creative fun value is there regardless of how many gems you can actually make. If you’re making large gems you’re not going to make even half the amount of gems stated on the box.
- Liquid gel resin – it’s sticky so cover work surfaces and have something to wipe hands as sticky fingers get a lot of the sparkles and decorations stuck on them! The gel does smell, so it’s good to do in a larger more open space but it’s been approved as child safe and is very different to the professional resin that needs masks and ventilation. You can use any UV liquid resin with the kits so when you run out, look on Amazon if you don’t want to buy a Gemex refill.
- Gem still tacky – sometimes when you pop your gem out it will feel slightly tacky still. We found that taking it out of the mould, flipping it over and giving it another three-minute blast helped and sometimes allowing it to cure overnight really crisps it up. UV resin doesn’t do so well in really hot conditions. So for example, whilst filming the review for youtube, we had a few that were tacky because of the heat caused by our filing lights. Once they were removed from the heat they stopped being tacky.
- Extra Tools – A small pair of jewellery pliers are useful for getting the jump rings through the gem holes so you can attach them to chains and bracelets
What Do We Think Of The Gemex Craft Sets
Having reviewed two of the sets (Gemexe Deluxe Creation Station & Gemex Galaxy Accessory Set) I’m really impressed with them and like how quick and easy it is to use. It’s not mess-free though and younger kids will definitely need help.
All the Gemex crafts kits parts are interchangeable and the mould shapes are really fun which makes creating them very addictive. Plus you can experiment using different decorations… googly eyes, cooking sprinkles, glitter, coloured sand etc.
The key thing to think about is the age of your child. The torch sets allow the resin gems to be cured in situ where as the magic clam shell requires the moulds to be lifted and placed inside them!