Polymer clay and resin, yay!

It's 2012, Blog, and that means another year of cool new crafting techniques to try! For Christmas I asked for the accoutrements I needed to explore using resin, and I wasted no time in trying out this nifty medium. Here you see my latest creation: a Steampunk Charm Necklace using beads I made with polymer clay and resin.

I used Lisa Pavelka's product Magic-Glos, and boy howdy is it great stuff! All you need to cure it is either sunlight or a UV lamp, and this being Wisconsin in winter, I opted to ask for Lisa's brand of lamp, designed especially for use with these sorts of projects.  Those two items were all I needed to get started in resin crafting.

So, here's how I made the charms in my necklace:

There are both silver ones and copper ones, using Premo metallic color polyclay. There are also faux wood ones, also made of clay (I love making faux wood.) I cut out the squares with a beveled clay cutter, then topped them with all kinds of embellishments.

Going for the steampunk theme, I used various clockworks: springs, gears and tiny screws. I used a scrap of sheer Victorian fabric on one. I raided my bead collection for the metal scrollwork, key charm, and various beads, and my misc. junk files for gemstones and a scrap of tarnished copper. I baked the squares in the oven per usual.

Once they were cool, it was resin-ing time, Blog. All you do is put some drops of resin on top of a square, spread with a toothpick to the edges, and let the product self-level. It forms a perfectly clear and smooth dome all by itself! 5 minutes under the UV lamp is all it took to cure, and I ended up putting three coats on to give a nice, high dome.

I drilled holes and superglued in eyepins, then chained the charms together. I'd estimate the whole project took about seven hours.

Photo by Christopher Robleski

I was just thrilled with the result. You're still my best friend, Blog, but I think Uvie here may be a close runner-up. You rock, Uvie!

The mind boggles at the awesome things I'm going to be able to do with resin. Who knows exactly what...but fish and sparkly stuff will no doubt be involved at some point.

Uvie and my Magic-Glos were purchased via Amazon, but you can get them many places. For more info, best place to go is the website of the awesome Lisa herself, www.lisapavelka.com. You've got no "resin" not to!  Bwahaha, oh blorg, Blog....