I have all sorts of gemstones. But none in the shape I wanted for the design I had in my head. So I created my own resin "gemstones" for this wire wrapped earrings tutorial. The starting inspiration were
Nunn Design's small open round bezels which I bought some time ago. I thought it would be fun to suspend Swarvoski montees inside them.
I mixed up a batch of resin (
courtesy of Little-Windows) and colored it. I happened to use
Ranger's Perfect Pearls in gold but you can use other pigments (see first link below). A couple of tips about resin jewelry making. Make sure you have other resin projects in mind so you use up the resin you make up. Instead of squinting your eyes trying to see each level of the resin parts, use weight. This sweet little scales does the job.
Silicone molds are the best as no mold release agent is needed. Check out the baking section too! But remember not to use the molds for cooking afterwards. I particularly liked
Wilton's Wedding Jewelry Fondant Mold
($6.53 on Amazon). There were some faceted shapes.
As I wanted to try many of the molds for earrings, it made sense to purchase two to make up pairs of resin components at the same time. Colored batches might vary slightly. Once the molds are filled with resin, cover them up to prevent dust settling on it. Leave 24-48 hours to cure.
The "facet" edges did not stand out until I traced them out using a gold oil paint marker.
I used a spiral ratchet drill to quickly drill holes in the resin cabochons. These manual drills are great for polymer clay and resin clay too. Takes a bit longer than electric drills and far less likely of accidentally skipping across the surface.
See this post for a review on manual drills.
You can suspend beads or montees by wire wrapping. As montees have 4 holes, I used 2 lengths of wire. Each was secured to the bezel with wire wrapping. I used 24 G fine silver craft wire in gold (
courtesy of Parawire).
I would have preferred square wire which would have wrapped even tighter on the frame and reduced the slippage. However, I did not have the gauge required to go through the montees.
The rest is easy. Just do a wire wrapped loop to attach the resin gemstones to the open bezel. Have one end of the wire longer so the wire wrapping can be extended down the top part of the resin cabochon. Add ear wires and you are done!
Disclosure I receive books and products for review. I do receive a small fee for any products purchased through affiliate links. The opinions expressed are solely my own. They would be the same whether or not I receive any compensation.
Photography I used natural light my iPhone 6S with the camera+ app and the Modahaus TS320 tabletop studio for final project images. Tutorial photos were taken using the same equipment but with artificial light. Check out my
How to Photograph Jewelry Webinar .
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