Resin Over Rust

A little experiment.

Vintage, plated flowers with different heat, patina and surface treatments.

But you can't wear rust, there is concern for things like botulism so you have to coat it in something. But it has to be in something that is even more durable then the corrosive rust.

Ice resin to the rescue.
The glassy, wet look could be altered with scratches and an antique wash. But that adds a whole other hour onto the pieces. And I need to make other stuff.

Ice Resin

 

(image from iceresin.com)

 The hunt is over. 

The quest has been fulfilled.

Many a projects thrown to the way side from lack luster results and just plain unprofessional finishes.

I have used and rejected; acrylic varnish, golden gel gloss medium,  liquid sculpey, kato liquid clay, clear embossing powder, diamond glaze, magic gloss, envirotex and colores resin.

Sticky sides, inadequate coverage, inconvenient application, yellowing, bubbling, cracking and all around yuckiness ensued.

But search no more, the resin to out shine all other resins has been discovered.

Seriously, just go buy some right now.

I have coated polymer clay: embossed, painted, mica powdered (?) and stamped. Papers, both vintage and straight from the ink let printer. Metals; raw, oxidized, patinated, and rusted. I have filled bezels, both metal and polymer clay, seed pods and acorn caps. I have created molds and filled them with resin. 

And Ice Resin has delivered perfect results every time.

I had Susan's name on my blog roll for the longest time. But nothing ever happened at her blog so I took it off. Now I see she has been working on a book, developing a jewelers grade resin, casting charms (so glorious in all their rustic savagery!) and overseeing a fantastic new inspiring blog called Objects and Elements.

I completely missed the blog hop that featured a lot of really talented artists utilizing ice resin in their own way. Which was frankly just aggravating because I just finished carving up a ton of vintage brass bezels, set with photo shopped ephemera and brass eyelets.

Okay, I won't keep you here, you have some inspiring blogs to check out. I just had to insert myself in this here band wagon because I am very excited about Susan's contribution to this media and it has opened huge, gigantic doors for me in the world of mixed media jewelry. 

   

Yay!!!! They're finished!

 

Lots of leaf charms. Leaf charms with lotus pod slices....

 and Hydrangea flowers.....

                                     

 and sprinkled lavender ....

and tiny pressed red buds.....

and even mini leaves.....

I do not expect these to last long so I have already started a new batch. I switched to a jewelers grade of resin and although they take much longer to finish, I am really happy with the results. Very clear and hard resin that I will talk more about in another post .

You can purchase your very own leaf charms here!

More for the Turning Leaf Collection....

Fortune's Wisdom Earrings

Companionship Necklace

Terms of Debt Necklace

Poetry in Leaves Bracelet

Copper Nest Necklace

Balance Necklace

Capable Gypsy Hoops

Augmenting Earrings

These are all pieces I crafted to compliment the Belle Armoire article that I thought was coming out in January. But it's out now, so I am trying to upload them to the slevart store in between last minute Christmas shopping and wrapping!

If you would like to purchase the completed charms by themselves to create your own jewelry with, I have a few left from this batch;

*Update - these have nearly sold out but no worries, I have a HUGE batch of different sizes setting in resin now. I believe they should be listed starting the 10th.

This is a very versatile technique. With slight adjustments made to the length of the wires, you can create a myriad of pieces, all unique. The photo below shows the leaves in brass, at only 3/4" of an inch long.

I found myself trying to create poetry from all the different words, sort of like those fridge magnets. There weren't enough words that made sense though, maybe I will plan a little more carefully next time. Anyway, I like to hang them from simple hammered hoops as you can see below;

Pertaining Earrings

I hope by reading the article you are encouraged to try your hand at soldering shaped and hammered wires. When they are shaped free form like this, it helps you relax and enjoy the process instead of trying to obtain perfection while you are learning something new, like soldering.

Until next time!