OOOOoooo...Shiny! - Resin

As usual, this post is VERY picture heavy! Be aware if you have a slow connection or limits! I have crafting ADD, apparently. I have several projects going on right now that have nothing (or at least little) to do with each other. It's funny how they all seem to be tying together though.

Up until recently, all I used to give a domed finish to my polymer clay pieces was the UV Magic Glos resin by Lisa Pavelka. I didn't like two part resin because I always seemed to get dust on them during the long curing process...whereas the UV stuff cures so quickly there isn't really time for dust to stick...at least if you cure them immediately! But I had made so many cabs using Marilyn's technique I went through a big bottle of it in no time flat! So I decided to give the two part another try.

I used a coupon @ Michael's to get a package of the two part Mold Putty Amazing Clear Cast resin. They have a 10 minute resin there but it seems to be white, not clear. This one takes several hours to solidify, so I cover everything up with paper plates and take out container lids. :D

I did do some regular doming (you'll see those in another post!) but I had also found some molds in my stash for this type of resin, so I dug them out and made some bracelets and shaped cabs. At first I was doing basic stuff, but I found an area at Hobby Lobby where they have tiny items made to go in resin...and then I found that Dollar Tree also has tiny items that are supposed to go on fingernails but work perfectly for this. They also have tiny beads and flecks of glitter for nails that work well, if you are looking!

I saw some examples that used real lace...but I had this mold for polymer clay already so I took some pearl mica powder and put it in some liquid clay and baked it to make this. I didn't add anything to it but I will on the next one!

 I soon got addicted to adding things to it, besides the tiny brass dragonflies and butterflies. I am on a few resin groups on FB (this is where I get all the inspiration for the many things I try, you know! I saw someone who was happy to learn an important tip on one of our groups and she said, "to think, I actually resisted joining Facebook!" Lol!) Some of them are making extraordinary resin items...one extremely talented lady is adding wood and actually putting her creations on a lathe! Some add bugs, or other dead things, but I have some delicate fern in my yard that I decided to dry and use. I like the way it came out with this tiny brass butterfly!

I added a little brass butterfly to my fern in this one.

 My second attempt at this bracelet has more fern. Hard to know how much to add at first!

Then, I remembered the Arnold Grummer Iridescent flakes that I've had stashed forever to use with making my "Fauxpals" with polymer clay and thought I'd try it with this. It is so hard to take a good picture of them, let me tell you, but they look like diamonds, in person!

I added a brass dragonfly to this one. I have a mold with several different shapes and sizes on it that I used with these. I only used them a few times and suddenly they began getting scratches. Not sure why, I am delicate with them except for removing them from the mold. And since one of the members on my FB group mentioned putting them in the freezer to get them out, it isn't so difficult to remove them...well, except for the bracelet!

I got a bracelet mold to use with the resin and love the results. This is one of my very favorites to wear! And on one of my FB groups, I was told that you can fill the other side of the mold to make a paper weight or drink coaster. Love that idea! Once again, mine has tiny scratches in it....I guess I could dome it after it is made, though...

One of my fellow Facebook group members, Dustin Morris, has been messing around with abstract paintings he has shared with the group using resin with paint and alcohol inks. They are just GORGEOUS. They are on a larger scale that my work, of course, but I decided to play around with some ink and some gold leaf flakes that I've had forever. The odd part is, that I put a lot of Wild Plum, a pink alcohol ink by Adirondak, in both of these and somehow it disappears as it cures.  Greens and blues don't seem to have a problem, though.

This one had a few more colors, but once again, no pinks or reds made it to the final cure. I also added some clear sparkly embossing powder to most of the rest of the resin on this page! :)

You can more clearly see the alcohol inks with the gold flakes in this one. I love this one! I think I need to let the resin thicken a bit before swirling in the AI...Notice the Plum made it through on this one!

I got some Plum in this one too...although it might be purple. 

And now, for something a little different! My aunt got me a whole bunch of samples of Formica, because she saw me playing around with Alcohol inks and resin a while back. She actually paid to have it sent to me, so I decided I'd better use some of that resin on them. :0) I have done both sides of these with Pebeo Prisme and Moon and two part resin, and sometimes some inclusions!

 (I have tried to post fronts and backs together.     You can tell hopefully which is which by which way the quarter is facing. :)

This mermaid is a little different from the others. I used some of that flat aluminum bezel wire and shaped it as I wanted, then put strong clear tape on the back and drizzled in Pebeo paints. After it dried for a couple of weeks, I resined it. I still have to do the back, as it is sticky where I pulled off the tape. You can also do this without Pebeo.

These are the copper pipe bezels that I etched in the previous posts. I put tape on the back and then poured resin inside with the Grummer's flakes and some alcohol inks. I just need to solder on some loops to hang them with now.

These were done in a normal mold. I first put in the resin, placed some gold leaf flakes in it, then added the iridescent flakes, so the gold would show up clearer. Then I put some indigo alcohol inks on the left one.

The one on the left has alcohol inks with the iridescent glitter. The one on the right is gold flakes and holographic glitter embossing powders, wire wrapped to a filigree pendant I had.

These were some of the first ones I added alcohol inks to. I then mixed some pearl mica powder to the resin and covered the back with it after they cured to make it white...I thought the AI would show up better, and they did...Pictures of these don't really do them justice! :)

One of my first with AI, I placed that star on the back and for some reason the color moved away from it, leaving this.  I kind of like it. :)

I drilled some of them and used pinch on bails instead of wire wrapping. I love this one with the gold leaf and AI.

Love this one, Clear with holographic embossing sparkles and gold leaf flakes.

Then I got some of these deep bezels on sale at Hobby Lobby and decided to make some seascapes with them. :) I put Pebeo paints on the back and added metal charms. The white "coral" is made from a clay like plastic.

The anemones in this one are made of baked polymer clay.

This is a steampunk dragon! :) Pebeo paint on the back is kind of hard to see....

Pebeo with metal turtle and seahorse, clay plastic "coral".

Last one! Love the way these came out. :)

This is a wire wrapped resin Fauxpal heart. So hard to take a good picture of these!

Recently I went to Michael's and was pleased to find they had a large new selection of silicone molds I hadn't seen before. They must know I was needing them to mold resin in! :D

These are in the area where the cake decorating supplies are.

Closer look...those robots are adorable!

These are for making small cakes and were in a nearby area.

Love the cars...they would make great large resin pieces. It is so hard to find things for boys!

These are for making ice cubes and were in a completely different area.

Also for ice cubes..these were near where they have glass globs for putting in your plants, of all places!.

Well, this post is extremely picture heavy now and I think we're all caught up, so thanks for checking it out and I hope you found something useful in it!

Leo the Timneh Gray Parrot - Sharpie Oil Paint Pens & Pebeo Prisme

I've been working on a few secretive projects lately, and one of them was a present for my aunts. I made a painting of their Timneh Gray Parrot, Leo (short for Leocadia, for my grandmother) with oil based Sharpie paint pens. They have had her for quite some time and I wanted to do something special for them for one of their birthdays. Timnehs are related to African Greys and are very smart birds. This is not Leo but I didn't have a great picture of her and loved this one...There were originally two birds but this one was the one I liked. :)

I decided to totally cheat and trace that image on some clear textured glass. This was actually a very quick project, at least until the framing part of it! Trace the image in black and scrape off any paint that you don't want. I decided to outline her feathers by scratching into the paint so the detail would show up if there was a light behind it. I did not have any gray markers, so I used black and white paint and it sort of mixed on the glass. 

After thinking about it for a while, I decided to use my Pebeo paints and enhance the bland painting. It would also hide the reversed text from the opposite side. But how to keep the paint where I wanted it and away from Leo? I looked around the craft store and found an outline paint for glass, which had a very narrow tip and turned out to be a bit sparkly.  In the photo above you can see how I outlined the bird before I started using the Pebeo paint. It dried as a raised line so I decided to try it  to keep the Pebeo paints outside of Leo's outline. 

Both the Sharpie paint pens and the raised line paint needed to be baked in the oven for permanence so after several days to let it dry, I baked the painting according to instructions. I don't think the Pebeo can take the heat so I had to do this step before painting. After what happened to my tiger (see a few posts back, Sharpie Paint Pens and Glass Fusing), I didn't want to go too high - esp as I thought it might scorch the sparkle paint. The photo below shows it not long after I added the living paint. I used Buttercup Prisme for the yellow, Vermillion for the tail, Leaf and Moonstone for the rest. I did have a bit of the paint spill a little over the side of the sparkly line but I wiped it off and moved the paint away from the area. You can see the shine from the wet paint! I didn't add an outer border to the edge, and the painting didn't need it as it is thick enough to stay put....to a point!

You can see below how the paint settled into the slight texture of the glass.  It added a cool look to the  other side. You can see the raised lines outlining Leo and her feathers in this one, and also how it covered the backwards text on this side. You can see that instead of a frame (the glass wasn't a size that would fit in a frame, plus I wanted to see the design from both sides.) I taped the edges with copper tape. I could have soldered but I did not. I first used a long piece of copper colored aluminium flat wire around the entire bottom and up both sides of the painting (like a U) and made loops at the ends to hang it with. (This is the same wire I use for bezels for my pendants!) Then I taped the entire thing to the glass as neatly as possible to secure it all. Quite sturdy, even without the solder. I know, because I dropped it on my tile floor while I was wrapping it! Other than the loops getting a little flattened, it did not get damaged at all! Thank goodness, because I was going to visit them the next day and I would have been upset if I broke it...:)

Close up of this lovely paint....it's funny how it made tinier effects on the low spots. There were a couple of spots I had to touch up areas where the paint didn't quite cover and you really couldn't tell in the final product.

This is the original side I painted on with the paint markers, the side without the outline or Pebeo paint. Leo seems to stand out because the Pebeo paint is on the other side. I wish the special effects were visible from both sides, but this side looks like plain paint. Funny, huh? At least you can see the texture of the glass, which adds interest. Anyway, my aunts were very happy with their gift. Leo, I am not sure!

Thanks for seeing how Leo was made - make sure to stop by my Pinterest page to see a lot more of my creations, and please like my Facebook page, Karmic Confetti! 

And now, for something completely different....(Pebeo Prisme & Moon)

Playing with my Pebeo Moon and Prisme paints again! I really never stopped, I have just been waiting for them to cure completely before trying to put Lisa Pavelka's Magic Glos on them to protect the paint. I redid a few of them, too so double the wait...But I finally took a break from the glass fusing to do this now that a few weeks have gone by. I have so much mica and glitter floating around my house that I don't think I can use my ICE Resin anytime soon! And someone just told me the stuff has a shelf life...and I've had mine for at least a year! Sigh...Anyways, on to the creations! :) 

These are several different colors. I'm afraid I couldn't tell you what they are, though! I am sure it is the English red, the Onyx, Eggshell White, Violine and probably the Moon  Gold.

I like the way the cross came out. Same colors, probably Carmine and Vermillion in addition.

On this one and the one below, I added some Super Copper mica powder to it. It came out very metallic looking.

Then I started playing around with some Formica samples I had. Love the way the colors combined! You just never know what you're going to get, with this paint! These are not sealed yet.

Then I thought to add a fairy charm I had on hand. I ran out of Magic Glos on this one! I'll have to get more and figure out how to finish it. I had been trying to get a flame effect in the paint.

 The Magic Glos is so clear you can't even see it in these photos. :)

This is the first side...I see a flower.

And the reverse side. Kind of like a Phoenix in the flames, eh?

 First side....Volcano? :)

Reverse,,,View inside the volcano? Hehe. 

Then I bought a couple of paper mache boxes to experiment with. I love the way they came out! I was trying to do flames again, on most of the sides....

These still haven't been sealed. Maybe that's when I'll try the ICE resin...

This one was interesting, the way it came out. I put a couple of tiny droplets of paint and it must have had a lot of the stuff in it that makes them move and it spread out like crazy!

Similar thing happened to this box, as well. Stir, stir stir! I thought I did....

And then, a different project. This is a piece of chainsaw art my husband and I bought in St. Augustine about a decade ago. It's been hanging outside for ages and we discovered the back of it was very rotted. It has some sentimental value to us, so I found a product to reinforce the wood and it did a great job! It's a liquid that soaks into the wood fibers and makes them strong again. I then filled all the cracks with wood filler and repainted it. What a mess it was!

 Ta da! I was very happy to see it back almost better than new! I decided to try my Pebeo paints on  the turtle...

Pictures don't really do it justice! Very happy with the way it came out. I'm still waiting for it to cure completely and then I'll give it a clear coat...

Closeup of the shell. Aren't the effects lovely! Love this paint...!

Thanks for looking - make sure to stop by my Pinterest page to see a lot more of my creations, and like my Facebook page, Karmic Confetti!