Ocean Collection to kick off the summer!
With it officially being summer we decided that we wanted to make some summer jewelry. And what is the first thing you think of in the summer- the beach. Lee had a great idea of what we should do to kick off the summer collection- ocean-themed pieces. Let me tell you these beauties are a labor of love, but we are really happy with the final products.
Here is what you will need:
Resin (mixed when needed)
Silicone measuring cup
Silicone molds
Mixing stick
Sand
Blue, green and white color pigment (also can use a small amount of acrylic paint)
White acrylic paint
Paintbrush
Toothpick
Hairdryer* (we did not do this but in hindsight, we should have!!)
Heat Gun
The first thing we decided was to go to “the beach” (aka the lake since we live in the middle of Georgia, nowhere near the ocean) where we collected a bottle of sand. We let the sand dry for a few days because water and resin are not friends! Then we mixed the first layer of resin. The resin comes in two parts: a resin and a hardener. You mix it at a 1:1 ratio measured by volume, meaning it requires equal amounts of both resin and hardener creating a chemical reaction, transforming them from a liquid into a solid over time. Once the resin was completely mixed, we started mixing in the sand until it was a thick pasty consistency. Because we were filling so many molds, we had to repeat this step twice, and the 2nd set was a lot better because we realized that it would still run, filling in the mold if it was thick enough. Once the sand resin was in place, we let it harden for 12 hours. We also propped the larger molds up so they would fill one side of the mold.
Next, we mixed a light greenish-blue resin and repeated the drying process. Then a dark blue layer. Once that was dried the process got a bit more… complex. For the jewelry plates, we had to fill the bottle layer first. For the pendants, we had to add the “waves” before filling. And with the Planchettes, we had to add the wave and mini seashells before filling. We wanted to add the waves all at the same time, so we filled the plates and waited another 24 hours.
For the waves, we started by mixing a cloudy white resin. We tried pouring it then using the heat gun to move it, but this failed (this is where the hairdryer would have been helpful)! So, we wiped that off a tried a different approach. Lee used white acrylic paint to paint the waves where she wanted them then we added the white resin on top of it to give it the effect we wanted. She was very happy with how this turned out!
After the waves dried for 12 hours, we added the shells to the planchettes and filled the remaining molds with clear resin. I then used the heat gun to get the bubbles out of this layer (which we did not do on the others because there are bubbles in the ocean and thought it would add to the effect). The AC stopped this day and unfortunately, the resin did not set correctly in some of these pieces, but that is okay because life happens sometimes, and you have to just keep rolling with it! We are very happy with the pieces that we did make! We popped all of them out, lightly ran sandpaper over the edges. For the pendants, we added hoops and make them key chains or necklaces (lees pick).
We are in the process of adding them to the website, so definitely take a few minutes to check them out! We have also made a vlog showing you this process. You can check it out below:
Thanks for taking the time to be part of our Crazy! Until Next time...