Frilly Heart Face Broke The Studio

     Last weekend, I continued on my quest to re-configure my pewter bezels. While I like many, if not most, of them to be simple and plain, with clean lines, sometimes I do like them to have some swirls and twirls on them. The bezel mold I had been using was made several years ago, and it wasn't quite open enough for the hearts to fit into easily. So I always had to work on them, to get the centerpieces to fit. On Sunday afternoon, I re-made the bezel from scratch, making sure there was plenty of room in the center for the hearts to fit. This is my first test of the new mold. It still has lots of detail, and now the hearts fit without a struggle.
      I don't know why it takes me so long sometimes, just to do the things I intend to do, need to do, to make things easier on myself. And it didn't really take all that long to do this. I puzzle myself - why work harder than necessary, when I can take a couple of hours and make things easier. It's a mystery.

     Speaking of mysteries, I finally wore out my crucible for the pewter. Last weekend, it just gave out and stopped working. So I will have to get a new one, and get familiar with it. Fortunately, my old one stayed hot long enough for me to get all the pewter out of it before it shut itself down. I'm researching now to see if I want the same thing, or something different this time.

Rosaire Saint of Lourdes

     Happy Saturday! Even though it was a short week, with Monday and Tuesday off work, I thought I would never make it through the week and get to Saturday and the studio. It's plenty warm and sunny around here, and I have plans for a major resin pour today. I have my fingers crossed for some great focal pieces. 

     Along with re-creating some of my bezel molds, I've also been working on some of the more figurative and decorative medallions, making them easier to finish and visually cleaner. This Rosaire is one that I worked on this week, and I just love the worn look on this patina. I don't always have control over the patina and how it interacts with the metal, and this one is especially nice, I think. I'm going for a worn, dark look in the pewter, or a bronze-coppery look in the highlights.

     This medallion was a loan to me by a lovely friend, Diana, on the west coast, who found it in France and let me take a mold from her original. It's a little tricky to clean up after casting, with all those quaint points and indentions, but I just adore the look of it, so it's worth it.

     This is another loan of a medallion, this time from Deryn Mentock, who sent me the original. I don't know if the original is contemporary or vintage, but I loved the shape of it. It's another one that's slightly tricky to clean up after casting because of the lovely undercuts and round points. I re-made the mold for this one to make casting it cleaner and I'm very happy with the details that came out on it.I'm experimenting with adding color, to make those points around the outside bright red - we'll see how that works out!

     The original that this charm was cast from was also sent to me by Deryn Mentock. I've been meaning to mold and cast some for a while, and finally got that done this week. The original was definitely modern, and possibly italian in style, but I wanted to give it an old fashioned look, and darkened the color. I think these will be great for earrings, they're small and lightweight. I was able to capture a lot of the detail, fortunately.

     I'm headed over to the studio today to get more things finished. If the weather holds, maybe I'll ride the bike over.

Looking To Face Past, Looking at Past Faces

Today has been a truly mixed media day, but very productive. I worked in several media, changing from one to another as the needs of each changed.


I wanted to pour some more resin words like the ones I've been making into charms. First the molds had to be prepared, and the first layer of resin poured. That had to sit for a while, so I changed to glass.

I ground the edges of some fused glass cabochons and put them in the kiln to fire polish the edges.


While the kiln ramped up, I made some glass word charms and got them all ready to solder together. When the glass cooled, I got the faux gemstones ready to use in making charms and dangles.

Back and forth, all day. Between casting pewter and casting resin. Between grinding and firing glass.

There's a method to the madness though. I've got the entire week of Labor Day off from the day job. So I'm trying to get as many components and things prepared ahead of time as I can, so I can spend the week working on designs.

For me, that's a good way to spend time off --- in the studio.


I wanted these charms to look like something from an advertisement, maybe from one of the British colonies way back before the turn of the century. The back sides have an advertisement on them, the fronts have lovely faces, interesting words and rhinestones. I've had them on my mind for weeks, and finally found the time to create some!


Very jazzy, and what I have to show so far for what I did today. Now I have to keep my hands off the resin and let it cure overnight. No touching, no peeking!

Green Garden Crown

This design has been waiting to be finished, I probably should have done it before Saint Patrick's day. I just didn't get it pulled all together until recently.


The front of it is cast in resin, from that last batch I showed that had a glint of golden color to it, but tinted with a green color.


The reverse side is polymer clay, and the bead is quite light even though it's substantial, because it's hollow inside.


It reminds me of the designs in wrought iron gates, with a mossy finish from being out in the garden. It reminds me of the castle garden, of the place I stayed on the trip to Ireland, when we were near the coast. That rustic ancient feeling, still moist from a dewy morning.

There are more photos at the Etsy shop, if you want to take a peek.

Resonation Results

What's that???

A big mysterious looking black box of some kind full of something odd-looking??


I can hear you thinking ... pondering.

Well, it's the plastic liner from a box of Marks and Spencer Chocolate Tea Biscuits (cookies, to us) from my trip to Ireland. The biscuits are long-gone, but I saved the liner. You just never know what might come in handy sometime. (side note - the chocolate biscuits were yummy and I wish I had some more)
 What's that stuff inside?
 It's the results of my resin mold casting experiment this weekend. They're out of the molds and hardened, but unpainted.
 Can you see little racecars, hearts, fishes?
 Anchors, bezels, seashells?
 Wings in various sizes, a scarab amulet? Keys! Stars and crosses!
 Can't wait to get my paintbrush and start dipping.
 Here's a preview of one I made earlier and painted yesterday.
 I made the bezel, painted it and mounted the resin seashell on a clear square resin cabochon I had cast earlier.
 So when you hold it up to the light, you can see through it.
 I can't wait to get ahold of some of those charms and apply some color!
Color box fun ...

Toys, Wings and Medals Newly Ancient

CHARMING MEDALLIONS

My hands are covered with paint, and all up under my fingernails too -- in a bit I will go and clean them, scrubbing until the paint comes off. And thaw myself out, with a hot mug of cocoa. It's been bitterly cold here.

I've been trying out some gold-toned charms in resin, making them and putting an antique red-gold patina on them. That's why my fingers are painted, and my fingernails.


It's been so cold I wasn't sure the resin would set correctly. It did seem to take longer than I've seen it take before. I left it overnight, just to be certain.

If there's anything I have learned about working with resin, it's to leave it alone.

Don't move it, touch it or even rearrange it. Just leave it to harden. But I did put it near a spotlight lamp so it would get a little warmth on it that way.


Two of them are casts I made from religious medallions I brought back from the trip to Ireland. I don't want to part with the original metal ones, they are some of my mementos of the trip. So I cast them to make molds, and made these resin replicas.

And a little fleur-de-lys charm. With the Celtic cross design, these look like a set, to use in a design together.





These resin charms are an experiment. I used resin with gold coloring added. When they came out of the molds they were very bland looking. Flat gold color, no details showing.


So I used some fun colors and put a patina on them. Now they look very old. I wanted them to look ancient, with a dark color in the deep groves and indented places, and a shiny worn look on the high spots.

I plan to use these in jewelry designs, maybe a necklace or charm bracelet. They're easy to drill to make holes wherever they need one.

Three of them are wings, bird or angel wings. They have a beat-up and well-loved look to them.


Two are sea shell shapes. The molds were made by casting some real shells I collected from the beach years ago.

The patinaed resin shells don't look like real shells now, they look more like fossils. Or carved nuts in the shape of shells.

One is a tiny toy racecar. It's so quaint, like a toy prize from a Cracker Jack box. Or a child's saved toy, put aside years ago. Just a hint of red paint clings to its sides, and a shiny gold tone on the hood and fenders.
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For some decorating ideas on how to use art beads, charms and buttons, my post on Art Bead Scene on using wire to make an ornament is posted today, hop over and check it out.

Intentional Creativity

Color Madness

Got some 2-part silicone mold making materials, now nothing is safe from becoming a mold for beads.

Mixed the first batch a little too long, but think there's one good mold coming out. It starts to harden quickly, no wonder the instructions say to chill to get a few more minutes to mold. Got to have the object out and ready, and just go fast.

Big plans to make a bunch of new beads, many thanks to those who have shopped my other beads in the expeditionD Etsy shop.

Here are some in-process photos in the polymer clay studio. See the timer in the photo on the left, a reminder to take things out when it goes off. And the potholder and place to rest the metal tray. Baking on the ceramic tile maintains stable heat under the beads.

Spring must be coming, look at the colors that are coming through.

Still have to patina and age, buff and polish the components and add finishing findings. Probably do that tomorrow in the basement studio, the messy one. Then the photographs. Got about 24 beads going today.

Also need to finish the glass items to ship out for the next magazine article. Lots to do in Studio B finishing off the glass pieces. Just need enough time to get it all in the works.