Wednesday, May 05, 2010

More Stuff

Some good.

Some not.

Here's the good part:





These are the Russian lacquerwork pansy beads that I bought at the Bowers show a couple of weeks ago.



I added some dangles made of pearls, Czech glass, crystals and a pair of Cathy Dailey silver flower beadcaps.

I am officially IN LOVE with these earrings. I am really wrestling with myself about posting them on Etsy, but then again, nothing is selling anyway so I suppose I can post them AND keep them at the same time LOL!

And now for the not so good:





I named this picture "ruined." Because every one of these items has something wrong with it. Mostly it's that the resin has soaked through the paper in certain spots making it look like the images have "grease stains" on them. No need to leave a comment telling me I need to pre-seal the paper - I did that. With 2 coats. Front, back and edges. I don't mind so much about the wooden pieces, but to ruin those #A@&&@&)#!!! expensive Patera bezels pisses me off! Oh, and one of the bezels ended up with a piece of dust or fuzz or something stuck to it. Which, considering that I put a cover over everything while it's drying...I can't figure out.



See what I mean about "grease spots?" This one woulda been so totally cool, too. Dang it


Speaking of "ruined" - this is the ONLY piece that survived the great drilling debacle of 2010. Which is a shame, because some of the other pieces were really awesome - until I tried go all power tool on them. Now, they are scrap.

But, occasionally I do get a few things right:




I've been getting some great artwork from various vendors - I loved these old Hawaiian tourism prints from the 60's and 70's. Reminds me of the years I lived on Oahu as a child. And the vintage blue flower prints were just so pretty. I still need to file the edges on these, but since they started life as wood beads, they already have holes in them. YAY!




Okay, these? Came out good! These are some embellished 3D stickers that I bought at Tall Mouse. They just happened to fit exactly into the square Patera bezels and they were already layered so I just plonked 'em in and resined them. I was afraid I'd get bubbles because of the 3D nature of these stickers, but surprisingly, they worked perfectly!

***We interrupt this blog post for a special announcement. WHAT IS UP WITH BLOGGER AND PHOTOS TODAY? Seriously - not loading; partial loading; randomly turning photos sideways; being SLOOOOOWWWWER than molasses - this is killing me!***



We now return you to your regularly scheduled blog post already in progress.



How CUTE are these little koi fish? I know, right? These are those "puffy" kind of stickers applied to wood beads and then resined. They came out perfectly. I am definitely doing more of these!




These two are my favorites. The one on the right is a wood bead that I covered with some special art paper I had in my old rubberstamping stash. I added the brass dragonfly charm and a little blue crystal and then covered with resin. The one on the left is a Patera bezel. I layered in some swirly, watery-looking image that I bought on Etsy, added the brass dolphin charm and a seashell I picked up at The Wedge when we went there for Dad's memorial. I'm definitely going to do some more with the shells - they look awesome.



Okay, that's enough drivel for today. Check back tomorrow when I'm sure I will have something new to drivel on about ;-)



KJ


P.S. Happy Cinco de Mayo! Margaritas, anyone?

8 comments:

lunedreams said...

ooooh!! LOVE LOVE the koi fish ones!!! and your "ruined" ones are awesome! but i see about your grease spots, how odd. BUMMER!!! those kitschy hawaiian image ones are great fun!! resin is so fickle, it seems? those earrings are lovely, i think you should take them for several "test runs", and then if, gee, they just don't make the cut (they're just TOO pretty) you can keep them. Way to go!! Hopefully the kinks will come out eventually....

Beatnheart said...

I think you are doing a fab job and good for you to keep at it. I thought it was just me not selling...Yes blogger is a blogged up today with slow loading etc. guess I'll hit the workbench for awhile....I'm ready to start using the resin..it seems so cool. I thought "Ice Resin" was the new improved product..??? oh well. toddles for now...

EmandaJ said...

I am so up for a Margarita! Love the resin, it's really resinating with me.

BTW, I have posted a challenge on my blog and I appropriated the text for your bracelet challenge, hey, i gave you credit! Check it out.

Emanda

TesoriTrovati said...

I could so use a margarita right about now.
Love, love LOVE those pansy earrings (you knew I would, didn't you?) I say keep 'em...
And I love all the resin projects. Great idea with the wood discs. I know about the paper. I is mystifying. I use it as an excuse to do another layer of resin with a sheer overlay, like velum or overhead projector printed with black line drawings. Very cool floating effect.
And dolphins? You had me at hello...
Enjoy the day!
Erin

Marie Cramp said...

The dolphin is my fave for sure!! I think if you love the earrings, you should keep them. The beads on them are really lovely.

Joann Mannix said...

Wow, how beautiful. I am very impressed with your talents. Incredible. And those earrings? Absolutely divine. I also love the old Hawaiian stuff and the koi fish. Oh, whatever. I love it all. It truly is stunning.
I'm going to go lurk around and check out all your other beauties now.

Oh, and Hate you, Blogger.

Kaos Siberians said...

Ok, I had to check out this resin stuff...and I found this on one of the pages:

Mod Podge #IC8
We use this to seal paper before you resin it, holds up well, doesn't crinkle and keeps color. We've tried many other products and this old standby...

Might help with the "grease stains" maybe? Here's another tidbit on sealing:

Whatever method you choose to create a barrier, be sure to completely seal the photo (front and back). The resin will leak into any unsealed paper surfaces and will cause the paper to turn translucent or gray. If using clear packing tape or clear contact paper, be sure to leave a tiny sealed edge around all corners of the picture.

SummersStudio said...

I think maybe you are having more sucess than failure these days. I especially love your koi.