Vintage Techniques Resurrected for Jewelry... AMAZING Inspiration by Tracy Alden

Hello! Tracy here with a inspiration post using Amazing Crafting Products. I am always trying new techniques and ways to create art, but sometimes some of the best ideas have already been tried and just need to be dusted off!

My mother, Theresa Brehm, a resin artist in her own right, had created many different ways to make beautiful resin jewelry, even adapting preexisting resin techniques of her time. As I had already noted in a previous Inspiration Post my mother had even worked with shards of opal mixed with resin. Lately my mother has been cleaning out art supplies, and one of the things she found in her collection was a 40+ year old resin inclusion kit! My mother wonder if I would be willing try out the kit with Amazing Clear Cast Resin, and of course I said yes!

The kit is simple: a jar of real white opal shards (shards smaller than a dried pea), plastic cabochon shells and instructions. The kit was designed so that one could use the tiny shards of fragile opal persevered in resin as jewelry. 

The original idea was to fill the plastic cabochons with the resin and opal shards, though my mother had already found out over 40 years ago the plastic cabochons would get scratched easily and were often too small for the opal she wanted to include. A solid resin pour was the better choice and protected the opal better as she had found out. She worked out a way to be able to pour any size cabochon in layers to control the placement of the opal and the final backing layer of resin.

So I opened up the bottle full of opals and cleaned them in water, removing any dirt or matrix still attached. I let them dry and sorted them by size and shape.

Using a cabochon mold, I started with pouring a thin layer of clear resin that settles to the bottom. It has the appearance of a lens. I let that cure until reaching a tacky set – about a few hours in warm weather. Next I poured a second thicker layer of resin and carefully place the opal shards in the resin making sure to coat them completely. The resin needs to cover the shards resting on the first poured layer. The final layer is a thin layer of resin tinted with Black Alumilite Dye.

The technique worked prefect with Amazing Clear Cast Resin!

While placing the shards of opal is time consuming, it creates a beautiful effect. 

So happy with the results, I started trying other stone shards and in this case the Pearlized Stampendous Mica Fragments Jar, from the The Frog Dog Studio April Mixed Media Kit. I did a pour with the black resin layer and one without to show you how without the back layer to the cabochon it doesn't have the same dramatic quality as those with it.

With the addition of frames, findings and jewelry embellishments,

I now have one-of-a-kind jewelry pieces! 

By trying out new (or old) techniques

what AMAZING arts and crafts can you create?

Please share them on the user GALLERY on the Amazing Mold Putty Website!

Visit my blog Art Resurrected for more craft tutorials!

Until next time, safe travels! ~ Tracy
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