The lovely designer Fiona Potter led the session, giving us an introduction to the possibilities by sharing some of her wonderful makes.
You can find her work here:
We started by weighing and mixing clear resin and hardener to pour into a mould and throughout the day we added layers to this basic mould starting with inclusions - I used some jump rings.
This would not be ready until the next day so when I finally turned it out it was a surprise to see what I had created. The bottom most layer ( which becomes the top layer when turned out ) was clear. Then another clear layer with jump rings. The third layer has multi coloured glitter, the fourth is very dark blue.
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| my finished piece |
We used a bezel with a simple wire worked shape to create compartments then coloured clear resin with a variety of things. I chose to use a deep blue glitter for one section, alcohol ink for a second and some crushed chrome diopside (gem art ) for the third.
We created the wire shape and gently hammered it to give a flat base which would act as a seal. The wire had to fit very tightly otherwise the resin would bleed between sections. We weighed out resin and hardener, mixed it for 2 minutes and let it stand to settle out the bubbles.
We then put a small amount into the bezel where the wire would sit to "glue" it in place
I carefully sprinkled the diopsode into a section and then I used a cocktail stick to carefully add very small amounts of resin to my bezel. Finally I mixed in some glitter into the resin I had left and added it to the bezel.
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| I am very pleased with this piece |
We also used wire to create free form shapes which we gently hammered to give a flat back. Then we firmly stuck this shape onto sticky backed plastic to prevent seepage and added the resin. I chose to use an orange mica powder added to one and blue glitter to the other. I got better at manipulating the wire with the second one!
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| work in progress - still stuck onto the plastic |
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| work in progress - still stuck onto the plastic |
All our pieces were just about touch set before we left so we were able to take everything home. The next day I added a final doming layer to finish of my pieces.
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| after a final layer of doming resin |
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| the finished piece |
