Cherry Ripe

A few weeks ago I bought some lovely little cherry charms in a gold colour. I knew I wanted to make a charm bracelet for spring but couldn't think what else to add.
Then I bought a great mould for lips - I was intending them for hair clips but realised they would be great fun as charms made from UTEE jewel enamel so it was time to get out the melt pot.

I needed to make a really bright red so used just a couple of drops of red melt ink in clear UTEE and for fun added bright red glitter

the lips mould is very flexible and makes four at once which speeds up the process

I embedded short gold ball headpins to roll down

when I carefully heat polished the lips the glitter became even more BLING making the lips look quite juicy

I hand made a two by two chain for the bracelet and added the charms

I decided that it needed a contrast colour so found some flat black onyx faceted discs

I had three lips left and did think about earrings but finally decided on a long chain with a fully loaded dangle on the end

cherry lips charm bracelet and necklace

I had some jewel enamel left and had left it to solidify in the melt pot.  I returned to the pot and heated it up to try a couple of experiments.  I had bought some vintage steam punk effect keys and clock faces quite a while ago and not really thought of a project. I decided to see what they would look like with UTEE poured over the back surface to show through. 

I managed to pour just to cover the clock face but the key spread a bit so before it got too cold I used a sharp blade to cut off the excess and then carefully used the heat gun to neaten it up.

the final small bit of red I used in one of my lovely figured heart moulds and when cold used gold gleam wax which I buffed up once set.

Finished pictures of my suncatcher mobile

So as promised here are some images of the finished suncatcher mobile.

I used my variable temperature soldering iron to melt the holes
Sadly no sun today to show it off!

Suncatcher UTEE jewel enamel tutorial

Translucent UTEE jewel enamel is wonderful when the sun shines through it so I decided to create a suncatcher for my bedroom. The colour scheme is Santorini..so rich blues, sea greens and turquoise.

I wanted to create lots of discs with texture but thin enough to gently turn in the air.

I had heard that pouring UTEE straight into a cutter could be done as long as you use some sort of release  agent so I decided to try Versamark and pushed the cutters into the pad to coat the metal.

This method is easier than pouring onto a texture tread and then cutting out as it gives a sharper, cleaner edge and means you pour the mix less often so you can keep random swirl effects and of course you don't have to keep re-melting. I wanted three different sizes and was able to pour all three each time plus they cooled very quickly enough to carefully remove the cutter and do another pour before totally set. Very efficient!

choosing a part of the pattern

pour into the cutters

the cutter removes very easily

ready to take of the mat

I had some deep blue transparent left over from a previous project and a couple of pieces of a turquoise so I broke pieces off and added to clear then using a cocktail stick dabbed small spots of melt ink into the mix trying not to mix too much. It was a bit of a compromise because I didn't want too solid a colour and I also wanted good swirls.

I used blue, chartreuse and Paris green melt inks

Sometimes it worked others not so much!

this one is lovely

I poured the lovely deep blue separately as that is pure Santorini.

Finally I used a large bezel to create the  heavier central disc and used a texture tread to "stamp" onto the UTEE when still soft. Once cold I removed the disc from the bezel.

I love the way that the texture tread creates some parts matte and others shiny. I used the heat gun to enhance the gloss.

now all I have to do is create the actual mobile