Resin jewelry making is a lot of fun. Maybe it is because it is somewhat reminiscent of lab work where I get to measure/weigh out resin and do a little mixing! But as I found out in the series of real flower jewelry making last year, it is wonderful technique for capturing nature.
I previously used crystal cat litter to dry real flowers and dandelion clocks which were then used to make
real flower resin jewelry.
California based Little Windows run by Fran Valera has some pretty cool resin jewelry making supplies which I've been reviewing and using for some time. The numerous project tutorials on Fran's site is fantastic - they inspired all my resin designs!
I've received more of of their unusual resin formulation which is a 2:1 mix of the two parts of epoxy resin. Part B of any 2 part epoxy resin product has a shorter shelf life (it goes yellow) so it is boon to be able to buy just Part B should one's stock goes off. Very useful if you do not often make resin jewelry.
This time round I wanted to test out their smaller molds. These are not silicon but they have a release coating so popping out the cured resin is easy peasy. The bottoms of these molds are slightly smaller than the top. The result are resin pieces with a refractive edge. That is aided by the way resin cures - the middle part becomes lower than the edges.
Silver plated wire in gold courtesy of Parawire : Love charm courtesy of Tierracast I used the small round molds to create a floating butterfly bracelet using some puffy butterfly stickers. I will share the tutorial later this week.
My first attempt at wiring was not pleasing. As you can see below, the resin pieces were too far apart. So I rewired them using a hinge technique to get them to be closer and still be fully articulated. The wire work tutorial for this will also be out later this week.
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| first attempt at wiring the resin pieces. |
I cast the butterfly bracelet resin pieces rather deep. Nothing wrong with that but I prefer daintier pieces. So I went the other way for the pressed flowers on blue background project using square molds.
Silver plated wire courtesy of Parawire
The real flowers, leaves and grass were harvested late last summer and pressed. The tutorials for how to press them flat using a microwave and prepare them for resin jewelry making will be out in the
next few weeks.
As you can see, I still need more practice and care. Resin jewelry making is not technically difficult but it requires patience and an eagle eye for the dreaded bubbles. If you look closely, I still had small bubbles. They actually were rather pretty on the flowers or even the butterfly stickers. Not so lovely when I missed them at the edges. They did detract somewhat from the lovely "frame" produced with these molds.
Little Windows' resin product is a low bubble one - I usually don't have trouble with bubbles. But I am well into the second half of the bottles now. So I suspect the viscosity has increased with age and the bubbles that do form do not escape as easily. Fran does share a tip for dealing with this (increased viscosity can also be due to cooler temperatures) which I did not do. Microwave the batch by itself briefly for 5-7 seconds.
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| real flower and leaves with a butterfly sticker |
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| Map charm courtesy of Tierracast; Metallic leather cord courtesy of Endless Leather |
Giveaway If you'd like to win
$50 worth of resin jewelry making supplies from Little Windows, please make a comment below. Make sure you leave contact info below if you do not have an online shop or blog.
Little Windows is
offering a special 15% off discount for all readers! Use this code :
BeadingGem Email subscribers need to scroll down the post they receive, click on Share Comment and enter your comment. Pick Name/URL. If you don't have a store or blog, leave the URL blank.
This giveaway is for US and Canadian readers only. Extra entries if you become or are a blog subscriber or follower etc. If you also do shout outs about this giveaway, those will count as additional entries too! Please say so in the comments. (The exception is Facebook - just like/comment on the giveaway status there!!)
It
ends in a week's time at 6 pm EST Monday, March 21, 2016. I will pick the winner randomly and announce the results as soon as possible after. So be sure to leave a contact email if you don't have an online link or make sure you come back and check! Otherwise I will redraw in a week. Good luck!
Disclosure Photography All images were captured using my iPhone 6S, the camera+ app and the Modahaus TS320 Tabletop Photo Studio in natural light. Photo editing was done in-app with final tweaks in Adobe Photoshop Elements. There were some challenges with photographing these cabochons such as reflection and their transparency. Using the light grey background sheet from the Modahaus was easiest and the most time efficient.
Click for more information on my
How to Photography Jewelry Webinar.
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