I've been practicing with the jewelry equipment my sister bought me, and I've actually put together a couple of new pieces that I've been pleased with. The first is a pendant for my lovely wife, Caitlin, complete with her first initial and some Gerber Daisies (which she quite enjoys):
My inspiration for this piece came from this amazing tutorial: Illuminated 'P' by ~somk. Obviously I've got a lot of work to do before I can produce work of that quality, but I've taken a few baby-steps on that road, beginning with buying myself a wonderful set of tiny itty-bitty brushes, and receiving a bunch of varied Celtic art supplies for Christmas (which I'll probably be posting about on Friday).The second and more recent attempt was this pair of earrings for my sister, for Christmas and also to thank her for sending me down this jewelry-infested avenue:
They came out pretty well, I think. Quite simple, but pretty and very homemade gift-looking.I've learned a couple of lessons from these projects that might be useful to any of you looking to try this at home:
1) Make sure to laminate both sides of your image, otherwise the epoxy seeps into the paper and dulls the colors.
2) If you mix the epoxy more slowly and gently, you end up with fewer bubbles and better visibility. As the inimitable Katie Cragoe put it, you're not making a souffle.
3) Make sure to mix the epoxy thoroughly. If it's not fully mixed, it won't dry all the way, and you'll have to apply another layer on top which takes an extra day of drying, and sometimes doesn't work if your bezel is already too full.
That's it on jewelry. More to come on the recent illumination project.
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