Steampunk pendant!

A while ago I was debating whether to invest in some 2 part resin, everyone seems to be using it, but wow it is so expensive. I had no idea if I would like it, I asked friends, and received various recommendations.

then I found this in my local £1 shop..

it was in the DIY section, and I figured it was definitely worth £1. Of course it then sat in the drawer as I really had no idea what to do with it. 

One night I was searching you tube, and started looking at all the resin videos..who knew there were so many!!!

My problem was lack of molds...then I came across this video, where the lady had used her rubber stamps as molds. Genius!

Go and see how she did it HERE...

I decided to have a go. First I surrounded my stamp .. EDY02...with plasticine, and rubbed a little Vaseline onto the stamp. 

next I mixed up the resin and added a little FRESCO paint...

Bearing in mind this is cheap resin, if you want a totally clear, bright resin then you are going to have to buy the more expensive stuff, but if you want to colour your resin, then this works just fine. 

I filled in the areas of my stamp using the coloured resin. 

I used London Bus and Little Black Dress. 

The small sparkly section was achieved by not adding paint, but adding fine glitter instead. 

According to the instructions on the packet, this particular resin ...

starts to set in 4-6 minutes

can be handled after 30minutes.

fully cured in 16hrs

so really not much time to work. On a small piece like this it was no problem though. 

I left mine about 10 minutes or so, then I added a layer of resin+black over the whole thing. (this is what the girl in the video does)

I then left this for 30minutes. I pulled the plasticine away, and was able to flex the rubber stamp and peel that away too. 

This is what I was left with. 

The rubber stamp is NOT damaged in any way. 

I then took a craft knife and trimmed the rough edges. 

The screw hole at the top is very convenient, I decided to punch that out. it was a little thick to go through my cropadile, so I used a hand punch.  This worked perfectly and went through it like butter. 

I then used a file to smooth the edges a little more, and then added a couple of jump rings. 

Finally I rubbed a little TREASURE GOLD... around the edges and added a cord..

Voila! one pendent made with my own stamps. It will be fun to wear this. 

I had a lot of fun doing this, it's a super cheap way to practise before moving onto the expensive stuff if you like the technique. We all know what it's like to buy something and then be scared to use it because of the cost. This was a great introduction to resin, and now I know more about it I would maybe buy some of the 'real' stuff. 

Darcy x