New resin jewelry

Exciting news!

I have a new line of silver tone resin jewelry!  This has been in the making since January (with a couple of hiccups along the way), but they are looking sooooooooooo good!  So here are the details:

These pieces are like what I've been making, with a few exceptions:

• They are made of pewter
• No open backs
• Sterling silver filled ear wires (Read about sterling silver filled wire)

They still have yummy colors and a soft, satin finish.

Here's a few random pictures:

These are a tray of mostly earrings.  There are earring singles (round or square) or earrings doubles (double circles or square/circle).











A closeup of a couple of the pewter pendants before they are filled with colored resin.

Why make resin jewelry out of pewter?  There are actually a few reasons for this:

Sterling silver prices are obnoxious.  (Get precious metals quotes at kitco.com.)  I have created these new resin jewelry pendants and earrings to have the same artistic look as my sterling silver resin jewelry, but I can do it for about a third of the price.  The other neat thing about pewter is that it is an alloy of tin and copper.  (Sometimes it includes lead, but my jewelry does not.)  It's not going to tarnish like sterling silver does.  I love the silver pieces but with the price of silver now and the economy still on uncertain ground, my retail and wholesale customers have been asking about alternatives.  I still have some sterling silver and resin jewelry pieces and will be happy to do the new designs in sterling silver by special order.



 
A group of the new pewter pieces lined up and ready.













Normally, I only do one color pour a day, but since I need to get samples ready to go to ACRE Las Vegas next week, I've been doing two pours a day:  one in the morning and one in the evening.  Here, I've done an orange and a purple color pour.










These are the same orange and purple colors in earrings.











After I get done pouring a batch, I have to let it cure for 24 hours before I can do another pour (at least in the same piece).  To keep the dust off of the resin jewelry pendants and earrings, I cover them with plastic containers.








Ah, they're starting to come to life!  This is after a couple of days.  At this point, I've also done a green, pink, and yellow pour.  Notice the resin cups and dirty paper towel at the top of the picture?  I'm getting the resin all over my kitchen countertops.  It almost looks like a birthday cake has exploded.









Another closeup of the future earrings with resin.  There are a few mistakes to sand off once they're cured.











More colorful resin pendants.














This picture is the reason why I only do one color then let it cure for 24 hours before pouring the next one.  The orange was poured on Tuesday.  The turquoise was poured on Thursday.  The dark blue was poured today (Friday).  Some of the dark blue spilled onto the orange.  The orange was completely cured (hardened) so I just had to wipe off the dark blue.  If I poured all the colors on the same day, the dark blue would have mixed into the orange if it had still been wet and the piece would have been ICK.






This picture was after today's pour.  You can see that in addition to the previous colors, there are some reds, pinks, turquoise and yellow/green.

Don't they look good enough to eat???  I will try to have some finished pictures up next week. 

  

New resin bracelets

I have found some great papers and vintage postcards and stationery that I'm working on getting into resin bracelets.  I am still in the prototype stage, but you can look at the samples and get an idea what I'm thinking.

Part of using these papers in resin bracelets is that they need to be covered with a sealant first.  On this batch, you can see the two closest to the front didn't get sealed very well.  (Although I thought I did.)  The dark purple "watermarks" in the papers are because the resin actually got the papers wet.  I've also had problems with some of the other vintage papers creating a look of Alka Seltzer in the resin if I don't get them sealed completely as well.

I'm excited these will be soo cute when I get them done.  Stay tuned while I work out the kinks.

Custom order: part 2

So onto the next pour of the custom order! The picture shows after I poured the orange. I let the resin cure for 36 hours in between pours. That assures me the pour before is solid so that way if I accidentally get resin where it shouldn't be, I can soak it up with a Q-tip, although sometimes accidents happen. See the pendant in the top row just to the right of center? It spilled after I let it cure so I will have some sanding to do later.





After all the resin has hardended, I can begin sanding. If you look closely at the pieces, you can see I have "overpoured". This is intentional, as I need to sand until the pieces are flush.










The center pieces of silver are also a little taller than the outer piece to make sure that any spills go to the outside, versus the inside (easier cleanup). The next step in the process is to completely sand it down with 8 different grits of sandpaper. I then use a buff to give it a soft, satin finish. The last step that I do is to coat it with a museum quality microcrystalline wax. That makes the pieces just a smidge on the satin side and makes them moderately tarnish resistant.




As I was writing this blog post, I realized that I didn't get a picture of the set before my customer picked it up. Whoops! The pendant at left is the same as the one from the first picture in this post (bottom row, middle pendant) and the center pendant in the second picture in this post. This pendant is available for $50 on a 16 inch rubber neoprene cord. Sterling silver chains are an option for an additional charge.





I hope my customer will send me a picture of his sweetie wearing the set. I will be sure to post. :)

Custom orders and mock ups

So it's another over-the-top Saturday night in the studio. Kids are in bed, hubby is at work and I'm working like a crazy woman. I love my family dearly, but I definitely don't have as much time to work on jewelry as I used to. I have to work on my jewelry and the business of making jewelry every possible moment their needs aren't taking priority.

A customer recently contacted me about wanting the University of Florida Gator colors (orange and blue for those of you outside of Gainesville) in a set of jewelry. We talked some details and he actually left it for me to use my judgment. Hmmm.... A couple of days later I had the idea that I would take pieces I've already done and "Photoshop" the Gator colors in there. While my Photoshop skills aren't anything to write home about, I think I did a pretty good job of getting representational images.

I've got a good start below. What do you think? Anyone got any favorites out there? Maybe this is the start of a line of resin jewelry just for University of Florida Gator fans or just someone that loves orange and blue. Are there any other schools with this color scheme? ??

I'll keep you posted on what he likes (it's a gift for his girlfriend). I'll see if I can't get some pictures too as I'm ready to pour and while they're being finished.