Making Jewelry using Resin and Epoxy Clay
Resin jewelry making and two particle adhesive clay are definitely now two of my favorite beading arts. One of my favorite recent products this season at the bead show in Tucson was two part epoxy clay. The best design for me to illustrate or compare it is to polymer clay meets epoxy glue. You can discover it in array of vibrant colors just like polymer clay. How you use it is to mix equal parts of A to B like you do epoxy glue. You kneed the two sections together with your hands for 3-4 minutes and switch on the glue. The moment you mix the two parts you have anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour and a half to work with it before it hardens and loses its stickiness. There are a few brands out there and extra are popping up because it truly is the latest craze! You can find different brands available at Fire Mountain Gems, Atlantic Gems and Amate Studios.
There are a good deal of different procedures for epoxy clay jewelry making. You can make a pave look inside a bezel setting with Swarovski crystal flat backs. You could also set on charms, stone or glass and chips and you can layer pieces to get to your jewelry three dimensional. What really brought me to this item was how easy it was to use and by having very limited mess and figuring out. It is very nearly fool facts. It is a fantastic way to use bezels and blanks.
An additional service I have really liked in the last two years is Resin. There have been so most types of resins popping up and so many profits that it is too numerous to speak of them all. I will probably talk about the most popular which is a UV resin or a resin that cures in sunlight or under a UV light. The additional is a two part epoxy resin. For many years resins have been known to be very hazardous and toxic and that has been an issue for many to use it for jewelry making. The most recent types do claim that they are non-toxic without a strong odor and you do not have to worry about the setting up of the location you are working in.
I have worked with Magic Glass which is a UV resin. I like to work with it because it comes in an effortless applicator restraint bottle and it is easy to put on in a bezel. It does tend to bubble a lot easier then other resins but I put to use an embossing heater and draw it over my piece fast to pop the bubbles. I also find if you want to make a dome you do have to apply several layers. I also have made use the Ice Resin which gives you a real high grade shine when it dries. It does take 72 hours to fully help and must be in a dust free environment. You do have to blend part A with part B and your measuring must be fairly correct or it will not cure properly and it will be cloudy. It is a bit more misleading but if you do blend it the right way the bubbles settle and will not appear in your final item once it dries.
There are usually so several resin jewelry ideas but the easiest use to get familiar with this item is to apply a bezel or jewelry blank and you can encapsulate a picture, attractions, images or words in a clear resin coating. It is applied a lot in Steam Punk jewelry design or even in the more vintage jewelry designs. It is a great idea to create a neat pendant or focal piece for your jewelry.