Handling Casting Resin - A series of free tutorials

Hello All,

Here is a series of tutorials for using resin on paper jewellery. The resin is available with A1 Craft Supplies. You can contact them for purchasing the resin. I want to specially thank Richa Kapre of Rock, Paper and Scissor for her generous contribution to the knowledge in resin-handling.

My humble request to all users of resin: Resin handling is an exercise in patience. Hurrying the process with cause blotchy results. Please do read the instructions on your resin packaging carefully.

Part 1 - Preparation of surface for applying resin......

Very often, you are likely to encounter surfaces that have painted and drawn patterns on then. It is always better to cover the surface completely with a clear drying glue (like Fevicryl Fabric Glue, Camlin Crafty Glue or Faber Castell White Glue). Always allow for COMPLETE drying of the glue before you apply resin.

The base(s) can be prepared using the tutorial here.


Part 2 - Mixing Resin

Mixing the resin is the most crucial of all steps in the handling of resin. Unfortunately, very small things can be the make-or-break factors while handling resin. This video shows how one can mix resin. The key is to be patient and work slowly.

Part 3 - Applying resin on Enclosed Surfaces

Resin has most commonly been used for 'filling' up enclosed surfaces to create a "cabochon" like effect. This effect needs resin to be 'filled' in spaces. Though it may sound trivial, these very bubbles (in extreme cases, many small or large bubbles) can bring about "fogginess" to the resin coating and lead to bad finishing.

Part 4 - Popping the Bubbles

No amount of handling carefully can ensure zero bubbles. Mercifully, Richa has worked very hard at developing techniques to dispel these little jewellery spoilers :)

Part 5 - Coating a 3D surface (e.g. a jhumka)

One of the most common question I've been asked so far is, can resin be used to coat quilled jewellery. I'll answer it with a very reserved yes. I don't really know if it can be used on all types of quilling jewellery but it can be used on quilled jhumkas. How? Watch :) [Information courtesy: Richa]

Part 6 - Cleaning a resin coated brush

Since application of resin to a 3D surface needs a brush to be used and one wouldn't want to lose the brush, cleaning of that brush is imperative. Here is the video for how you can clean the brush after using it for coating the 3D surface(s)

Part 7 - Getting "Concave" effect on an enclosed surface

Such quilled outlines can be prepared using the quillography tutorial...........

Part 8 - Getting Concave effect on an unenclosed surface

The videos are property of Pritesh (Art'zire) and Richa (Rock, Paper and Scissor). Please do not report them as your own and whenever sharing, kindly give due credits.

Happy Quilling

 Pritesh

 PS: If my posts inspire you to create something on similar lines, I feel highly flattered. But please, do respect the effort I take in conceptualizing and executing, please give a direct link to my work when you are inspired by mine. Thanks for understanding........:-)

Antique finish jhumka - Free Tutorial

Hello All,

Here is a very quick tutorial for getting the antique effect on jhumkas (or any surface, for that matter).......

Step 1: Paint the dome (in any colour). It's painted yellow here, just for the sake of it. Now draw the pattern you wish with the "colour you wish to show above antique finish". For example, if you want antique golden, draw with golden outliner. For antique silver finish, draw with silver 3D outliner. We were targeting antique look with yellow as prominent colour, so yellow 3D outliner was used. In principle, any 3D outliner colour can be used, depending on your requirement. The denser the pattern, the better the antique finish looks.

Step 2: The pattern should be allowed to dry completely, before you do the following processes. You can also use half pearls, available with A1 Craft supply. The key is to allow the 3D outliner to dry completely.

Step 3: Paint the majority colour you wish to see among the antique sub-layer. We've used antique bronze (by Camlin). Make a complete layer above the 3D outliner pattern.

Step 4: Now, dab with pearl black to give an "old and rusted" look. Make only sporadic dabs.

Step 5: On top, make sporadic dabs with antique gold (by Camlin), if you wish, to give a partially antiquated look. 

Step 6: This is an important step. The key here is to use a piece of cloth (or tissue) that isn't too soft or coarse. For example, muslin is too soft but denim is too coarse. We've used an old cotton pant piece. Make the small patch above your index finger damp and scrape gently over the 3D outliner. Do not "wet" the tip, just make it damp enough to scrape off acrylic paint. You'll slowly see the 3D outliner colour emerge from underneath the "antique" colours.

(A video to help)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And here is an antique yellow jhumka :) Proceed with waterproofing, as described in the tutorial. You may need to alter the steps to accommodate your specific design, so get experimenting!

The obvious question is: Why so much hassle when one can simply buy an antique looking jhumka? Answer: You can "choose" your antique tone, it's made of paper (ultra-light) AND that it's handmade (there is no parallel to THAT, is there?)........

Happy jhumka decorating :)

Happy Quilling Pritesh PS: If my posts inspire you to create something on similar lines, I feel highly flattered. But please, do respect the effort I take in conceptualizing and executing, please give a direct link to my work when you are inspired by mine. Thanks for understanding........:-)