Glowing Paint Button Bracelet

I'm still going crazy for glowing stuff this summer! I wanted to see how well glow in the dark acrylic paint would work in the resin!

It worked like a charm, or in this case, like a button!

I'm using EasyCast Resin, Castin' Crafts Mold Release, Glow in the Dark Acrylic Paint, and a button mold and a bangle mold.

*ETI suggests wearing gloves when working with resin for safety* Gloves also help keep your nails nice :)

These are  glow in the dark paints that I'm using:

Spray your mold with mold release the mix up a batch of EasyCast Resin. Carefully pour the resin into the mold but leave a little space at the top to add color.

I'm using a toothpick to add some paint to the resin and stir it around. You can ofcourse mix each color seperatly to get a more even coloring before pouring but since I am making tiny buttons I didn't want to waste all those cups!

Once you've mixed the color in to your liking let these sit for 24- 72 hours until hardened.

The paint leaves them slightly translucent and....

The have a great glow!

I wanted to make a button bangle out of these! I usually take my left over resin and pour it into the botton mold- who can have too many buttons!

This bangle mold needs 15 buttons to go all the way around. You can put your buttons into a pattern or just be spontaneous with it!



This is a mold from Yaley Enterprises.
They make resin and Deep Flex Resin Molds along with a variety of colorants.
Check out all the offer here: http://yaley.com/SitePages.asp?ID=46
 

Mix up a batch of EasyCast Resin and carefully pour it into the bangle mold but only about 3/4 full to leave room for the buttons.

Carefully insert the buttons making sure they are fully covered with resin. You can add another layer of resin on top if needed.

Let this set for 24- 72 hours!

Now you have a cute button bangle...

And it can glow too!

Bell X1 Discography Jewelry in honor of "Chop Chop" their new release

I am so excited about the new album just released by Bell X1! In honor of the new release I wanted to make something special.

The new album by Bell X1 is called Chop Chop. It has a great sound and the guys from Bell X1 are so awesome they put the entire new album up on Sound Cloud for everyone to listen to!
You can listen to it here: https://soundcloud.com/#bell-x1/sets/chop-chop-1
You can also order or download the album here: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_0_8?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=bell+x1+chop+chop&sprefix=bell+x1+%2Caps%2C323

This is also a great chance to tell you about EnviroTex Lite and show you the doming technique.
The key supplies to make these resin pieces are EnviroTex Lite, Mod Podge, and a paper punch (I'm using a 1 inch square. You can also cut your images out by hand if you don't want to get a punch.
*ETI suggests wearing gloves when working with resin for safety* Gloves also help keep your nails nice :)

We also need some images! I'm using the covers of Bell X1's albums. Insert the images to your preferred program. I'm using Microsoft Word. You will need 2 of each image.

You can format the image and change the size to fit your paper punch. For mine, I sized them 1 inch by 1 inch. Be sure to leave enough space between the images to fit you paper punch.

You can use the punch upside down to line up the images.

 

Once you have punched out the images they need to be coated with a sealant so the paper doesn't get "wet" and "blotchy" in the resin process. I'm using 2 coats of Mod Podge.
The green surface I'm using is the backside of a silicone mold. The silicone offers easy clean up but you can also cover your surface with wax or parchment paper.

Glue two of the images together back-to-back making sure that you get them both right side up.

 

 

Now you should have some 2 sided images that are coated with sealant.

Mix up a batch of EnviroTex Lite (it mixes almost just like EasyCast Resin) the big differences are: it is used specifically for resin projects that are 1/8 inch deep or less, it is a bit thicker than EasyCast, and it hardens more quickly on small projects!

Start by slowly dripping some resin onto the center of the image.

Using a toothpick, spread the resin over the image. Be sure to get all the way to the edges but try not to go over them. Once it has been fully coated you can slowly drip extra resin to get a nice domed effect.
If you have some bubbles you can exhale over the surface to pop them. Be sure not to inhale the resin fumes though! The carbon dioxide from your breath is what pops the bubbles not the force of the air. A heat gun on low will also work (you must keep it moving though you don't want to burn or melt anything) A candle lighter will also work but don't get it too close to the surface or anything else for that matter. I don't want to be responsible for anyone setting things on fire!

Let these harden for 8- 12 hours. They should not be tacky after the 8-12 hours but they will still be somewhat pliable. It will take about 48 hours for them to be completely hardened.

Once they have set for the initial 8-12 hours they will be set enough for you to flip them over and coat the other side with resin.

When all of the images have been coated on both sides and have hardened at least 8-12 hours we can start putting our necklace (or bracelet) together.
For the jewelry making portion you'll need a chain (necklace or bracelet), jump rings, a drill bit (or dremel, or hand drill), and jewelry pliers.

When working on such a small surface, especially being a two sided piece, I get nervous about the electric dremel skittering across the surface. You can actually take the drill bit and twist it manually through the piece.
If you are worried about the drill bit scratching the surface you're working on you can put a popsicle stick underneath the area you're drilling.

 

Attach them to the chain loops with jump rings. By hooking the jump ring in the chain loop it will hold the charm in the same spot while wearing.

Where you drill the hole will dictate how they hang on the chain.
The first 4 albums are drilled in the top right corner...

The last 4 albums are drilled in the top left corner...

For the center tile (a pic of the band) I drilled in both corners...

Here you can see how the hole placement changes how the charms hang on the chain.

A bracelet will hang more in a straight line like this...

While the necklace would hang more like this...

I just love how some paper can be turned into a great piece of jewelry!

Glowing Jawbreaker Set

I was pondering the semi-opacity of the glow in the dark puff paint and got to thinking about jawbreakers. I did some jawbreaker fingernails a while back and thought this would be a neat way to transfer the concept to resin. As an added bonus they glow!

For supplies I used EasyCast Resin, Castin' Crafts Mold Release, the jewel mold, glow in the dark puff paint in natural color, and red, yellow, and blue glitter in hexagon and ultra fine.
*ETI suggests wearing gloves when working with resin for safety* Gloves also help keep your nails nice :)

I mixed up a batch of EasyCast resin and added a little of each type of glitter- remember jaw breakers are mainly off white with splotches of color. Then I added the glow paint to get the opaque color.

 

 

I sprayed the mold with Castin'Crafts Mold Release the I poured the resin mixture into the round jewel cavities to get the jaw breaker shape. Let this set for 24-72 hours to harden.

 

This is some resin "jawbreakers"glowing away.
I poured the left over resin mix into some tiny bottle caps which will be added to my scrap resin piece supply :)

To make these into a set of earrings I used some earrings with loops attached to the front, some small split rings, E-6000 adhesive, and jewelry pliers. You need 4 resin pieces for 2 earrings.

Apply E-6000 to the back of one resin pieces...

Press a split ring into the adhesive with half of the ring sticking over the edge of the resin to create a loop.

Take a second resin piece and sandwhich the split ring in between. Repeat this for the next earring and let dry for 24 hours to get maximun adhesion.

I attached a couple of split rings to the loop on the earring...

Then attach the resin "jaw breaker"!

For a ring, you'll need a ring blank and E-6000 adhesive.

Apply some E-6000 to the ring blank.

Press the resin piece onto the ring blank and let dry face down for 24 hours to get maximum adhesion.

I think these are too cute!!

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