My very first bottle of resin is empty....

...would you like to see where it went? I initially decided to venture into the world of resin after doing some fossil hunting with my Dad down at Barton-on-Sea. We picked up loads of little fossilized shells and I thought, "They'd be great set in resin." I then promptly shelved that thought.

A monthish later, Kerry, of PennyDog, offered a beginners resin kit on her facebook page. It had everything I needed- a book, pendant moulds, resin plus a couple of extra bits that I didn't realise I needed (mixing cups, measuring cups, stirry sticks, findings and a bangle mould). This kit is now sold out but Kerry is doing this one instead if you want to have a go. I highly recommend it!

After reading Kerry's book I promptly got to work. I popped a small layer of just resin in all of the mould cavities. After it had hardened, I popped in fossilized shells and then topped up the resin. The bangle needed another layer of fossils and resin. I mixed up too much for the final layer in the bangle so chucked the rest in the now emptied pendant moulds with some glittery bits.

Next the hard part. Sanding and polishing. I have a rotary tool for my jewellery making so could do the rough sanding there. Then I used wet and dry paper up to 1500grit. This was fine for the glittery stuff but I felt the pendants needed a glass like look. I tried micromesh (fantastic stuff for silver btw) up to 120000grit which looked good but a lot of effort. In the end I painted a thin coat of resin over the fossil pendants/bangle and now they are lovely and shiny.

I decided to spend some of my birthday money on a couple of moulds that I bought direct from Resin Obsession in the US (Kerry stocks some of their stuff but not the mould I had my eye on). I used them to make more glittery bits and pieces. These still need sanding etc.

One of the bits of resin related jewellery that I've made that I am most proud of is these little stud earrings. I made them by punching a circle out of sterling silver sheet and hammering it into a cup using a doming block. I then soldered a small length of 0.8mm wire on the back for an ear post. After pickling and polishing I popped a pressed forget me not in the cup and added a couple of drops of resin. The first pair I listed in my folksy shop sold that very same day!! I have made two more pairs, one is a commission and one is for the shop (and just listed them here.)

So, minus one pair of forget me not stud earrings this is everything I made with that first 6oz bottle of resin. Some bits will appear on folksy when they're done, some are already there and others were made for certain people. I'm hooked on the stuff and ordered another bottle from Kerry which arrived on Sat just before we headed off for the weekend! Yay!