©manon
Yesterday I decided to get back into my painting journal. I took a little painting break after painting 32 paintings for Cinda and our project ROAR. (Btw…. check out Cinda’s ROAR site when you have a minute). I gave myself the challenge of doing this painting in under an hour and there you have it. It’s funny that every time I get back to painting it takes a bit to get myself comfortable again.
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I’ve been working most days in my jewelry studio. These are my latest sterling silver earrings. I love to solder so anything that I can put together with the torch makes me happy. You can find these in my Etsy shop. These are my man’s favorite pair that I’ve made. It’s a good thing when a guy thinks the jewelry you make is nice.
©manon
Our temps have been hot in the desert but the nights are still lovely enough for us to walk. The sunsets never disappoint. This was taken two nights ago on my walk.
Thanks for stopping by!!
fill you heart with art
~manon
Years ago I covered many of my mosaics in resin to give them more of a modern look and lately I’ve been playing around with it in my jewelry. There are some great books and tutorials out there and I just wanted to give you an easy *how to* if you’re curious about using resin.
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I made my own silver bezels for this project but I would suggest starting with cheap ones that you can buy online or at any craft store. Once I finished my bezels I laid an old garbage bag on my surface and adhered my bezels to packing tape…..sticky side up. Try not to get your dirty little fingers on the tape because anything that’s on there will ultimately transfer to your resin.
Next….a few safety tips….. wear disposable plastic gloves. Depending of the brand of resin that you use you may need a respirator or dusk mask if the fumes are particularly strong. Make sure you’re in a well ventilated space. I wouldn’t suggest doing this anywhere you’ll be consuming food.
©manon
There are many resins out there. Research on which one is the best for your needs but make sure that you find one that it is non-yellowing because you don’t want to have a piece get yellow down the line.
The resin comes in 2 parts. The resin and the hardener. It’s important that they are not cold when you start working with them so you can put them in a hot bath of water for a few minutes to warm them up.
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Mixing…… I buy the little pre-measured medicine cups to mix my resin. You will mix them in the exact amounts starting with the resin and then adding the hardener. Once you pour the resin let it sit for a second to make sure it’s the amount you want and then add the hardener. You are now ready to mix with a wooden stick. NOTE….. mix it very slowly for at least two minutes. The more vigorous the mixing the more air bubbles you are going to have. After the mixing is done you can either add color or keep it clear and let it sit under a heat lamp or light for 5 minutes to help draw out the air bubbles.
©manon
I added color to my resin and there are a variety of ways to do this. You can add a couple of drops of oil paint or acrylic paint. I’m told that pastels can be ground up and mixed in. Some people use a tiny amount of mica powders. Perhaps you want to leave your resin clear and carefully put something in it like pieces of glass or beads. The fun thing about this is that you can experiment.
Now you’re ready to pour. Do so carefully so you can see where the resin is going. Pour until you’re happy. Have toothpicks or a needle to get any air bubbles that are present. You have about 30 minutes to work with this. The resin will set up pretty quickly so leaving the room for an hour and coming back to it isn’t going to work out for you. Once you’re happy with what you’ve got you can cover your work with anything that will keep the dust out while it cures. I use a container that is meant to store things in and I put it over the pieces. The dry time depends on your product but I let it sit 24 hours before I take it out. Also…. the overall cure time is about 3 days.
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These are what my pieces looked liked at first. Cute but I wasn’t done. I didn’t pour too much initially into my bezels because I wanted to add some snippets of my artwork to my pendants. I made sure my condensed copies of artwork were sealed with a gel medium and then I adhered them to the resin on the bezel. I then poured a clear batch of resin and let them sit for another 24 hours.
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These are my finished pieces ready to string on silver chain. I think they turned out great.
Resin has so many possibilities. Give it a whirl!! If you want to push it more you can look up some books on this topic that will inspire you!!
fill your heart with art
~manon
©manon
I love to see the collections that people have. I’m not much of a collector….except for my art supplies and shoes…lol….but I do have a variety of hands. The two larger hands in this photo were found at an antique store years ago. They use these to make plastic gloves and once they get a crack in them they are discarded. At the time I purchased them the price was right.
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I adore these two hands. The larger one was a lovely gift to me from my love and I’m not even sure where I found the smaller one.
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These are the functional hands in my studio. They hold business cards and notes.
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This is a lovely teapot hand that sits in the office. I will never use it as a functioning item. It was made by an artist named Jack Earl.
I made some pendants and rings with resin last week. The circle piece from this pic is already headed to a new home. I put it on a very long silver chain and it looks awesome.
You can find more of my work at Etsy.
fill your heart with art
~manon
For the last two years I’ve been making organic jewelry pickle to clean the fire scale off of my jewelry after it’s been annealed or soldered. I searched the internet for a non-toxic alternative to the pickles that are commonly sold and I found this easy recipe. It’s a combination of 1 cup white vinegar with 1 tablespoon iodized salt… you can increase the amounts like I usually do.
This pickle works best when it is heated so I keep mine on a coffee warmer. Make sure you turn it off when you are done or it will end up cooking your pickle after a couple of days. When the pickle turns a light blue it’s time to make a new batch. This stuff is fantastic and is completely non-toxic.
Here are some of my jewelry pieces on my cork board. The pretty pink brings a smile to my face every time I walk into my studio.
You can find my jewelry on Etsy.
Fill your heart with art
~manon
©manon
These past couple of weeks I’ve been playing with resin in my jewelry. I used to work with resin years ago on my completed mosaics so this isn’t really new to me except the size is much smaller. I have to concentrate not to over pour …lol. I’ve been pleased with the way these rings have turned out. I think that the dark silver really compliments them well.
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This ring has already gone to a new home. The red is really pretty on it.
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The best way to try anything new is to obviously experiment before you throw any of this stuff into finished pieces. I tend to get ahead of myself sometimes….yikes….but I played with the resin first to try and avoid any disasters. Btw….they sometimes happen anyway…lol.
You can find my new pieces at Etsy
See you soon!!
Fill your heart with art
~manon
