We fill the silicone mold with two-component epoxy resin to the middle.
Then we carefully place our rose in it, trying not to break it.
After this, fill the mold to the brim. That's it, nothing else depends on us. We are waiting 24 hours.
Take the ball out of the mold. Under warm water this process will become much easier. We cut off the ugly top of the ball at the place where the fastening will be.
If the ball itself has any rough spots or scratches, you can polish it. To do this, you will need a separate mini-drill at low speeds and special polishing attachments.
The jewelry that I propose to make in this master class does not require any special skills; any novice craftsman, following the advice of this lesson, will be able to create incredible beauty with his own hands from natural materials and jewelry epoxy resin. Jewelry made from dried flowers and epoxy is at the peak of popularity today; any fashionista simply must have such designer jewelry in her box. Moreover, resin products are not only elegant and original in appearance, but also transparent as glass, strong and durable.
1. Epoxy jewelry resin;
2. Silicone mold in the form of a truncated ball, intended only for pouring resin;
3. Natural materials - dried rose buds;
4. Measuring cups or disposable syringes;
5. Wooden spatula;
6. Disposable gloves;
7. Disposable plastic cup or any other small disposable container;
8. Sandpaper;
9. Varnish for working with epoxy resin;
10. Metal fittings in the shape of a cap (a hugger for large beads), earrings, a metal nail with a loop or a cap.
Before starting work, you need to put disposable gloves on your hands, turn on the hood or open a window - the room should be well ventilated, since the resin has a strong, specific odor. Avoid getting the resin on your skin - it is alkaline and can cause burns. Do not neglect safety rules when working with epoxy resin. When sanding you need to use a respirator.
If the safety measures do not scare you, and the desire to try such an interesting material remains, then let’s move on to making earrings:
1. First, read the instructions for using epoxy resin and, according to its recommendations, combine the two components - resin and hardener. The proportions for each brand of resin are different, so follow the instructions strictly. Using measuring cups or disposable syringes, measure out the required amount of resin and hardener. Combine the two components in one disposable container and mix the components very slowly, for five minutes, with a wooden spatula. As soon as you see that the liquid has become completely transparent, feel free to put it in a warm place so that the excess air bubbles disappear.
2. Prepare silicone molds for pouring. I would like to note that not all silicone molds are designed to work with epoxy resin, only those made from class A silicone. Therefore, when purchasing molds, be interested in their characteristics and intended purpose. Before pouring the mold, you need to wash it with soap and warm water, and then be sure to dry it. Since we will be making earrings, find dried flowers that are the same in shape and size and, of course, they should fit inside the mold without much effort, which could lead to their disintegration. Rose buds must be dried for a month before pouring, otherwise, if moisture remains in them and they are not completely dried, the flowers inside the finished product will begin to rot.
3. You need to pour a little resin into each mold, about 1/5 of the internal volume of the mold - this will be the first fill, which will help fix the flowers in the desired position.
4. Place the rose buds inside the molds so that the ends of the petals are slightly submerged in the liquid resin. Flowers should stand upright in the same position. If you pour more than 1/5 or 1/4 of its internal volume into the molds, the resin, due to its thickness, will lift and push the buds up or tilt them. At this stage there will be no more pouring - so place the molds with resin in a warm, dry place until the epoxy has completely hardened, which will happen after 24 hours.
5. After 24 hours, you need to dilute a new portion of the resin, combining it with the hardener and make a secondary fill - this time to the edges of the silicone mold. When it hardens, the resin shrinks slightly - so don’t skimp on the epoxy and pour it to the brim. And again leave the filled forms for 24 hours in a dry, warm place.
6. After 24 hours, you need to remove the frozen balls from the silicone molds. This can be done easily under running warm water by pressing the center of the bottom of the mold with your thumbs.
7. The truncated part of the balls must be sanded with sandpaper, it should become straight and even. After sanding and grinding, you need to rinse the workpieces under running water and dry them.
8. Mix the hardener with the resin in small proportions and coat the truncated part of the ball with diluted epoxy.
9. Prepare metal fittings for decorating the balls - these can be large bead huggers, separators, caps, etc. Insert a metal nail into the hole in the fittings so that the head is inside the fittings.
10. Place fittings with a nail on the part of the ball coated with resin. Leave the workpieces in a dry, warm place until the resin has completely hardened, which will occur after 24 hours.
Hi all! I continue my series of master classes. This time it turned out to be an MK experiment, because... The end result of this event was not even known to me. And first, the background of this master class:
In addition to the line of jewelry made of plastic and beads, I have long been planning to launch a line of jewelry made of epoxy resin in a vintage style (soon, by the way, the ordered accessories will finally reach me from America, and even more beautiful and delicate things will appear in the store :-). And, of course, most of all I wanted to create jewelry with epoxy balls, and, as you know, molds are needed to make them. Where can I get them? A rather well-known store went on vacation... I thought and thought and decided to create molds myself.
Many attempts were made to find at least one MK on a given topic on both Russian and foreign portals, but alas, I did not find a single more or less successful master class, except, perhaps, one Chinese who made a mold of some kind of mouse ( however, looking ahead, he thereby gave me the idea of the necessary type of silicone). A lot of ordinary silicone sealant and corn starch were spent, but my attempts to make a mold from these materials were not crowned with success (by the way, I’ll let you know recipe for making leaf molds for ceramic floristry : silicone acid sealant + corn or potato starch, mix in a 1:1 ratio, first with a stick, then with your hands, you can knead until it stops sticking to them, make cakes half a centimeter thick, apply a leaf, gently smooth it, press it in and leave to dry for a day , in the end it turns out to be a good mold). After reading about various brands of silicone and looking at the Chinese :-), I came to the conclusion that I need a two-component silicone, which is prepared like an epoxy - the silicone part and the hardener are mixed. I found it on eBay from the English for 6 pounds 250 grams of weight and 25 grams of hardener + 5 pounds shipping. Here he is:
Instructions in English. But everything is more or less clear: we mix the silicone mass and the hardener in a ratio of 100:10, i.e. For 100 ml of mass we take 10 ml of hardener. For accurate measurements, we use measuring containers and syringes. IMPORTANT Do not overfill the amount of hardener, 100:10, period, if you pour in more, nothing will come of it, because... everything will begin to thicken quickly, bubbles and other troubles will appear. So, we combined two substances in pure and the main thing is DRY glass and begin to carefully, slowly stir until the mass becomes a soft pink color (salmon pink in their language), no white streaks of the mass should remain, knead especially carefully from the bottom and walls of the glass. Mixed it up, took another one DRY glass, poured the whole thing into it in a thin stream and stirred carefully again: this way we will definitely achieve uniform mixing of the components and reduce the number of bubbles. Something like that:
Next, take small cups (you can cut them from yoghurt containers, the main thing is that they bend at least a little), drop a tiny drop of instant “crystal” type glue onto the bottom and put balls there (I bought a set of these glass balls in the store " fixed price" for 37 rubles and chose the smoothest and prettiest ones). After about five minutes the glue will set and the balls will not run away from their place:
Let's start filling. In just a tiny stream, holding your hand suspended on top of the cups (and I also managed to take a photo at the same time ;-)), we begin to pour our silicone directly onto the ball (the instructions say that if you pour it this way, then it will reduces the number of bubbles as they burst):
This whole filling procedure IMPORTANT to complete within 40-50 minutes, because then the hardening reaction begins, and the silicone begins to thicken, which means it will not flow in a beautiful thin stream. However, this time is quite enough to perform these simple procedures. Additionally, I filled a small plate with a layer about 1 cm thick and set it aside to set. So, we poured it in, waited about five minutes, lightly tapped our containers with their bottoms on the table so that the remaining bubbles rose to the surface and pierced them with a needle, and so on 2-3 times (not forgetting about the bowl without balls):
We pierced the bubbles, put our cups in one container for convenience (mine was from under sushi) and for now we can figure out the location of the balls for our plate:
About an hour, ten to twenty minutes have passed since pouring, and the silicone in the plate has already begun to harden and thicken - it’s time to load the balls. We immerse the balls by slightly pressing them so that they enter about halfway into the silicone mass, but do not touch the bottom:
That's it, work is finished for today. We close our box with containers with a lid, but not tightly, so that evaporation during the reaction escapes, and put it in a far corner to dry for 20-24 hours, depending on the ambient temperature. The room must be ventilated. I placed it on the top drawers in the kitchen, not far from the open window.
20 hours have passed. Excitedly, we take out our containers and see what we have come up with. We take out the balls from the internal space of our molds. They move away from the walls perfectly:
We make holes of the required diameter from 5 to 8-9 mm for inserting fillers using nail scissors. Here's what we got:
The shape with hemispheres bends in all directions and easily takes its previous shape:
It seems everything worked out! It's time for testing. The instructions say that for some reason molds together with epoxy resin can be used only a week after their manufacture, while with gypsum fillers at least on the first day. Naturally, I couldn’t resist and filled the molds with jewelry resin a day after making them.
And here is the result. I would like to note that the resin, after hardening, separates from these forms simply perfectly.
That’s probably all I wanted to tell and show you today. I hope this master class-experiment is useful to you. After all, there are no discoveries without experiments! Do not forget about safety precautions when working: wear gloves, work and dry molds and products in a ventilated area, store all chemical liquids out of the reach of children.
Thank you for your attention. Always your Lida Floral Beauty:-)
SILICONE BRAND: Moldcraft GP-3481-F RTV Silicone Moldmaking. Type it into the search bar and several options should appear. Mine was from England, from the seller quantumsupplies1. He also has other types of silicone on sale, they apparently differ in hardness, and there is even silicone for making food molds - for chocolate, marzipan, ice, etc. !
Designers and craftswomen have learned to preserve entire worlds frozen in glass. In fact, all these shells, tiny buds, leaves and insects are forever frozen not in glass or amber, but in simple epoxy resin that is accessible to everyone. And you don’t need to have a laboratory or a separate room to create it yourself. Today we will learn how to create epoxy resin with your own hands, and then use it to make your own masterpiece.
Despite the fact that the name contains the word “resin”, you will not find natural components in its composition, because it is a completely synthetic product created in laboratories for many areas - from construction to handicrafts.
Epoxy resin is a mixture of two components: a hardener and the resin itself. Depending on the ratio of the parts of the hardener and resin included in it, it can be thick, liquid or even dense. Therefore, it is very important to follow the label instructions when mixing epoxy resin at home.
Epoxy resin is great for creating jewelry, decorative items, and even coating large surfaces. It has the following properties:
Don’t forget that you can also find epoxy glue on store shelves, which is completely unsuitable for us. Let's start with the fact that the glue itself is a derivative product of resin. It contains not only epoxy resin, but also a solvent, plasticizer, hardener and filler. Therefore, it is also durable, not subject to wear and holds the parts being glued tightly.
There are significant differences between resin and glue, which reveal disadvantages that are unacceptable for our purposes:
In order to avoid harm from the vapors that are formed when mixing the hardener and resin (the polymerization process entails significant heat generation), it is necessary to follow some safety rules.
If you don’t have a special surface to work on, you can use film or a simple file so you don’t have to worry about the table and what might happen to it during work.
After reading the instructions, preparing all the materials and work area, and following safety precautions, you can begin creating epoxy resin for your ideas.
So, to create epoxy resin with your own hands we will need:
Carefully read the instructions for the components of the epoxy resin
First, mix the components in one small container.
Mixing components must be maintained at a temperature no higher than +25°C.
It is most convenient to measure the required amount of resin and hardener with disposable syringes, so you will know the exact proportion and will not lose a drop when pouring them into a common vessel. Or use measuring cups, bearing in mind that from now on they cannot be used for anything else.
Do not try to make reserves, because once the mixture polymerizes, it becomes unsuitable for further use.
Gently mix the resulting composition in a circle to reduce the likelihood of bubbles appearing, because they can ruin the appearance of the epoxy resin craft.
If bubbles cannot be avoided, then they can be dealt with. To do this, you first need to let the mixture settle and then heat it up. The bubbles will definitely rise to the surface, which will allow us to carefully remove them. After this, the mixture can be used for your ideas.
Once the resin has cured, it may need to be treated as the composition may appear cloudy or uneven. Thanks to the elasticity of the composition, we can bring it to mind, and not throw it away in disappointment, thinking that nothing worked out for us.
The resin became cloudy after hardening
For sanding the product, sandpaper or even a milling cutter for polishing nails is suitable.
Since there will be a lot of dust during sanding, it is worth wearing a respirator, and it is best to moisten the sandpaper with water.
In this tutorial from DreamWorkshop, you'll find step-by-step photos of the resin creation process and some great tips on how to make cured resin clear and smooth using very simple tools.
So, we learned how to make epoxy resin ourselves, talked about precautions and organization of the workplace. It's time to try your hand further. After all, creating crafts from epoxy resin with your own hands is not as difficult as it might seem at first glance.
To begin with, it is worth noting that a material such as epoxy resin is quite versatile and can be used in needlework in different ways. It is used to create both individual jewelry and fittings, which complement works made using other techniques. It is great for figurines, cabochons and even stained glass.
The most common form of using resin is to fill silicone molds with it. The resulting blanks can be used in the future as pendants, beads, pendants, key rings, etc. The variety of molds allows you to create even rings and bracelets from epoxy resin.
Such molds should be made of high-quality platinum silicone, which will be resistant to the solution being poured and will allow the frozen product to be easily removed from it.
The advantages of such filling forms are precisely that:
Molds are great for pouring dried flowers, foliage, moss or shells into them - any three-dimensional element. To do this, you only need epoxy resin, a suitable silicone mold, as well as pre-prepared decorative elements.
Be sure to pay attention to preparation! Leaves, flowers and buds must be thoroughly dried so that over time they do not turn black, spoiling the appearance of the finished product. It is best to degrease shells, crystals and stones with alcohol or solvent, and then dry them too.
You can add not only dense decorative elements to the resin, but also gold leaf, glitter and even stained glass paint, but not much (so as not to spoil the ratio of the main components and not to violate the specified consistency).
Crafts made from epoxy resin can be decorated with plants...
...sparkles...
With this method of filling, decorative elements are most often unevenly distributed over the shape of the product. This is clearly seen in the example with the bracelet:
In the case when the decorative elements are small, heavy and/or you just want to place them in the center of the mold, it is first recommended to fill the mold with resin, and then immerse the necessary decor into it - leaves, small shells, dried berries - whatever your heart desires!
Method 2. When the resin has settled, pour it into the mold in a thin stream, distribute it evenly throughout the entire mold, and then immerse the selected decorative elements into it, helping yourself with a toothpick.
If you are limited in time or are afraid of bubbles, you can put the pan in the oven, preheated to 80°C (switched off and ventilated) for 15-20 minutes. After this, let the workpiece stand in the mold for at least a day so as not to damage the surface of the resin. Carefully remove the bracelet, sand it on the top side and varnish it for better preservation.
First, prepare the clay - roll out or twist strips of the desired length using a paste machine, rolling pin or extruder. Then wrap the resulting blank around the shape you like to make a frame, and send it to the oven, following the instructions on the clay pack.
When the frame for your future decoration has cooled, free it from the mold and you can start filling it with epoxy resin.
More details on the technology of making frames from polymer clay can be found in the master class by the author Rusalina.
Method 2: wire frame
If you are familiar with the basics of the Wire Wrap technique, then wire will come to your aid, which can be twisted into any frame or base to surprise others with your author’s vision of jewelry.
Method 3: working with wood
Working with homemade poured molds allows you to go beyond the boundaries imagined by hardware manufacturers. But still, such a combination of techniques requires more perseverance, accuracy and time, since now you create frames and frames yourself, which is a labor-intensive, but at the same time very interesting process.
Natural wood means naturalness...
…beauty…
…and style
However, such products are not so easy to make, and they also require a whole arsenal of special tools, since the wood itself needs to be fully processed and cleaned so that the result does not disappoint.
But if difficulties and painstaking work are your passion, and you already have tools for woodworking in the house, then be sure to try yourself in the unique technique of creating crafts from epoxy resin of different sizes and purposes.
And yet, despite the fact that these days we most often see epoxy resin only as decoration, it continues to be popular in other areas. So it is used to fill knife handles, to decorate flash drives, key rings and even pens.
And experienced craftsmen have gone even further, using epoxy resin to fill large surfaces. Tables with an incredible imitation of water in the middle or a simple and smooth surface from which an original image emerges, more resistant to fading - this is a reality created by those who love to challenge their talent.
Wooden tabletop with transparent epoxy resin insert
The table top is completely filled with epoxy resin
Those who remain faithful to small forms have also found their own signature style: pocket mirrors and even articulated dolls! It turns out that resin can realize any of our ideas.
As you can see, epoxy resin is capable of a lot and is limited only by the imagination of those who are seriously interested in working with it. Try and go from your first cabochons and beads to masterpieces worthy of the world’s museums of crafts made from epoxy resin!
This silicone (Elastolux) is good because it does not react with epoxy resin.
Catalyst (in the photo it is a small bottle with a clear liquid). It is sold in a set with silicone.
A container for weighing and mixing silicone and a stirring stick.
It is very important that the product has a perfect glossy surface, since silicone tends to absorb all the smallest scratches. The fact is that on colored products small scratches are not always noticeable, but when you pour transparent epoxy into a mold removed from such a product, such a scratch will be visible on the transparent epoxy. Let me emphasize once again that the product from which the mold is removed must be glossy, otherwise all epoxy products will be matte at best, and sometimes simply opaque. To create a silicone mold in the shape of a ball, I use balls for bearings (in Kyiv you can buy them at the Yunost market). They come in different diameters and are sold individually.
When you are convinced that the product is free of scratches and defects, you can begin making the formwork. You can use sour cream jars, plastic cups, etc. In this case, I took an empty shoe cover package for the ball, and a glass and lid for the ring. The shoe cover box is convenient. that it is just the right size and its bottom snaps tightly on the bottom - this is very convenient both when pouring silicone and when removing it from the formwork after hardening. You will also need plasticine, scissors, a knife and thermal glue in order to secure the products and formwork. So let's get started.
We wipe the products with a soft cloth to get rid of possible specks and fingerprints - remember that the surface should be glossy.
We roll out a sausage from plasticine for a ring and a ball for a ball :-)
Carefully attach the resulting sausage to the ring. We flatten the plasticine ball and attach it to the ball.
After this, attach the ring and ball to the caps.
Therefore, we return to our glass with the bottom already cut off and cut it to the required height with a small margin, so that it is enough to cover the mold with silicone and so that it does not escape through the top.
Let's try it on. Obviously, the distance from the product to the wall of the cup is too large, so we cut the cup. Adjust to the desired size and glue with tape. The joints must be sealed very carefully, otherwise the silicone will run away.
The silicone I use - Elastolux - should be mixed with the catalyst in proportions of 100 grams. silicone, 2.5 ml. catalyst. I won’t go into details and specifics of working with Elastolux, since the manufacturer has fairly detailed instructions on this matter. We weigh the silicone on a scale and measure out the catalyst with a syringe. The photo shows that I took 150 grams. silicone, respectively, the catalyst needs 3.75 ml. I’ll say right away that this amount of silicone will be enough for 5-6 molds of the same format as in this mk.
After the molds are filled, we leave them to harden for 7 hours. The first 10 minutes after pouring the foam, bubbles may appear on the surface - they can be popped with a toothpick or a needle.
We cut the formwork and remove the mold.
The molds are ready!
A few more words on caring for silicone molds:
1. Silicone molds pick up dust and small specks, so it’s better to store them in a closed box.
2. Before pouring epoxy, the mold must be washed in warm soapy water and dried well. I prefer to wipe the molds dry with an ear cleaner, since it happens that when the drops dry, they form whitish spots on the mold and rest assured, they will all be imprinted on your epoxy.
3. Rings and bracelets from the mold are much easier to remove if done under running water. Then wash the mold as described above.
4. When using a silicone mold for a bracelet, it is advisable to initially select a mold of the desired height. From my experience, I once poured several layers into a mold for a bracelet and on the 3rd layer I decided that this height would be enough for me (and the mold was designed for a taller bracelet), when removing the bracelet it naturally scratched the walls of the mold and use it more it is forbidden.
5. Molds are easily scratched, so do not try to pry the product with something sharp.
6. Molds should be stored so that they do not become deformed.
If you follow these rules, the molds will last you much longer.
That's all, I hope this MK will be useful to someone.
