Working Wednesday: Nature Collection.
Working Wednesday blog is about our nature collection. This includes all our jewelry that has flowers, petals, and clovers. For this week, I am going to focus on some Baby’s Breath necklaces. I used the baby’s Breath to make bottle necklaces and resin molds. I am also going to discuss a technic that I am calling “drop pendants” because it is similar to how you make drop biscuits. I’m not sure if it has a different name. I just was playing around with resin and really liked how they turned out.
I have wanted to make some jewelry with baby’s breath for a while now, and since I needed to make some pictures, I decided this was a perfect time. Baby’s Breath stands for everlasting love and innocence; on top of being a pretty flower its size makes it easy to use.
The first step is to collect and dry the flowers. Sissy got a beautiful bouquet that had some baby’s breath that we had been drying for about a month. Typically, we dry flowers by hanging above our kitchen sink. This place is safe from being bumped, and since I we have a “Day of the Dead” themed Kitchen and already have dried flowers as part of our décor it never looks crazy to dry things here.
Making the Pendants with Molds
Supplies:
Dried Flowers (Baby’s Breath)
Pendant Molds
Toothpick
Resin (mixed when needed)
Disposable measuring cup
Mixing stick
Heat Gun
Lou wanted to help, so I went about some of these a bit differently than usual. Lou took the Baby’s breath flowers off the stems and filling the molds with them. Usually, I would put a thin layer of resin before putting the flowers into the molds, but I didn’t want Lou to get it on her. Once Lou had put all the flowers in, I mixed the 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. Mixing the resin and hardener together creates a chemical reaction, transforming them from a liquid into a solid. Then I poured it over the flowers. I knew that these would bubble, so I poured a little at a time. I also used the heat gun to draw some of the bubbles out. These will need to dry for at least 24 hours. Then you pop them out of the molds and sand the rough edges. Lastly, I attached I a jump ring to work as the hook the pendant and then attach another ring to attach the pendant to cork necklace.
Making the Bottle Necklaces
Supplies:
Dried Flowers (Baby’s Breath)
Small jars with cork lid (we got the kind with a hook already in the cork)
Pendant Molds
Tweezers
Resin (mixed when needed)
Disposable measuring cup
Mixing stick
Heat Gun
For the bottle necklaces, I took small pieces of the baby’s breath and put it inside the jar. I used the last of the resin from the molds to cover the corks of the bottles. This attaches the corks to the bottles, and I put a drop on top of the cork to attach the hook. For the bottles, I attach a jump ring to the hook and put them on to the cord necklace. For the resin pendants I a jump ring to work as the hook the pendant and then attach another ring to attach the pendant to cork necklace.
Making Drop Pendants
Supplies:
Dried leaves, clovers, etc.
Pendant Molds
Resin (mixed when needed)
Disposable measuring cup
Mixing stick
bead reamer
a split ring opener tool
For the drop necklaces, I used dried things that I already had pressed. When drying the leaves, clovers or dandelions, I usually press them in my favorite book “Ink Heart,” this way I always remember and it a little extra special. I let them dry for at least a week before using them for jewelry. To make these drop pendants, I placed a piece of parchment paper down then put a drop of resin down on the paper. I put the dried flower or leaf in the resin. Then I poured resin on top of them. I did my best to pour the resin in a circular shape, but I want always left these dry for over 48 hours. Then I used a split ring opener tool to make a dent into the pendant. Then used the bead reamer tool to make the hole bigger. Some cracked or broke completely during this step. I will have to get better at this with trial and error, unfortunately.
Lastly, I just added the jump ring to them and put on a cord necklace. I think these are some of my favorite I have made.
Lou and I had so much fun making these necklaces together! Hope you all take some time to check our nature collection out on the Website. Also, for the Next week, our entire Nature Collection will be 25% off. The Sale starts today, July 10, 2019, and will continue through July 16, 2019. Until Next week…