Good to the last drop

We usually say that about coffee, but here I actually mean that about resin. Not the UV resin you’ve heard me talk about so many times before, but the Little-Windows.com resin. Yes, it’s definitely my new love! It’s a 2:1 ratio resin rather than a 1:1 ratio that most other resins use for combination of Resin and Hardener. I find I just can’t go wrong with this one. I posted a little about it back in April. I’ve tried 1:1 ratio resins but sometimes ended up with beautiful but unusable tacky pieces which I sadly had to toss. And UV resin, while it has great uses, the annoying thing is that you can’t mix opaque stuff into it. And for the LW resin, I don’t have to wait for the sun to shine (here in the North, haha), or plug in my Aluminum foil lined Lunar Excursion Module (LEM) UV oven. Blablabla…ok here is a little idea with a bit more blablabla attached, lol. Notice the teardrop ends of the beads? I’m entering these in the 52 earrings a year which I have fallen behind in. I’m planning on catching up!

I normally use these cute silver little headpins with the round ball ends or the plain flat hammered end ones which I have so many of. Then this idea hit me…why not make some!!

When done working with a batch of resin, as instructed you can wipe the cup with a paper towel to then being able to reuse the cup. But now I make use of those last few drops before wiping it. Well,in case you’re wondering how I then cure them…here they are…

I just used Scotch Tape and taped the pins onto the shelf above my head. They’re not drippy at all, but you could place a sheet of printer paper underneath just in case you have your coffee there or whatever, lol.

Mine are black because I used Fran’s magical black powder that is used with her Dichro tutorial (the video of which you can watch in my April link above). You could also use glitter or colorful embossing powders.

Stay tuned for asap…

A Suntan bed for my Polymer Clay

Fall has arrived and with it, shorter days, less sun and cooler temperatures. If you've been following my blog on Polymer Clay Bytes!, then you know I've been posting quite a bit about resin. I've been bemoaning my two nail art lamps that have been doing double duty and there have been many times with me running outside to quickly lay out a tray of pieces only for the sun to go into hiding.
The nail art lamps are quite reliable for Magic glos, but since I have a quart of industrial resin that I also like  to use, unfortunately it also requires more lumen or output of light than the lamps could handle.

So check out this cool suntan bed my hubby built for me. I'm so stoked! It's fitted with 2 ballasts that hold 15 inch long BL 350 tubes . The plastic covers were removed and anchored inside an aluminum foil lined box. The aluminum helps reflect as much light as possible. The interior of the box can easily handle 40 pendants on its 9 x 18 inch area. I have two glass shelves that can be lowered and raised via 2 blocks for items with varying heights. Ideally, the resin cures best about 2 or 3 inches from the lights. There is a hinged door to close the unit as it's in close proximity to where I'm working. For these type of bulbs protective eyewear is recommended. I'll  be sun tanning my clay a lot more now!

About my other lamps, the single bulb 9 Watt lamp has only a 2 x 6 inch area and the larger with four 9Watt bulbs has a 6 x 6 inch working area. Those lamps cost on average $35 for the small and $60 for the large, but sometimes Ebay has great deals. I guess I'll put mine into storage or find a hobby crafter who can use one or the other.

There is a lot more to UV these days than suntans and light bulbs. UV can cause chemical reactions, cause many substances to glow or flouresce such as when checking for biological hazards in public places or to detect counterfeit currency would be a couple of examples. UV wands for your purse are now available to kill bacteria  if you are sensitive to chemical sanitizers and sprays. We all know the effects of UV by way of sunburns, but the UV spectrum has many other effects, both beneficial and damaging, to human health. You can read a lot more on Wikipedia about  UV and Black Light and differences.

Anyway, a big thanks to my friend Gera Scott Chandler who first blogged about her home built UV lamp that reminds her off a Lunar Excursion Module and well, I kind of thought so as well, lol. Well, it IS complete with Space blanket! You can see Gera's innovative LEM lamp and an update is found here. In general, her blog is well worth the visit.
 

Polymer Clay metallic and resin pendants

Between finishing the bead embroidered cuff I managed to finish off a few metallic and resin pendants. I thought I'd make a few pendants to match the stud and clip on earrings I had a request for.
I have two 6 oz bottles of magic glos to use up and after all 50 pairs of studs and about 10 pendants I'm still good with about 1 1/4 bottles. Good thing because I need to make more! Will also list a few on Etsy and ArtFire in the next couple of days.

Since getting the bigger lamp, production is a little quicker, although all pendants still require the 2 layers of resin to prevent the resin from pulling away from itself along the edges. Am very pleased the way these ones turned out.

Polymer Clay and Resin play

I've tinkered with various types of resins for my polymer clay jewelry and until now have not found the right product for me. I've tried Envirotex and some other 2 part resin that my husband likes to use and while he is very good at mixing 2 part resins, I am not. I think my equal measuring with specific cups is not working out too well, but apparently temperature is a factor also. I've ended up with sticky pieces that ended up in the garbage bin and was not too pleased because I didn't do it on a 'test' piece, ahem. No wonder I didn't do so well in High School Chemistry, lol. I've tried Judikins Diamond Glaze and DG3 Art gel and Glossy Accents which are dimensional glosses. Since they are water-based however they do not stand up to a lot of wear. I've tried UTEE and I do like it for 'round' objects, but for tougher wear I need something stronger.

Most of you know about the 1 part resin, Magic Glos, by Lisa Pavelka. I like it a lot, but it is a bit pricey. I'm glad it is available in larger bottles now which does bring cost down. It cures wonderfully under my 9 Watt UV lamp, but I find I have to do two steps and sometimes two layers to get it right. You can see my post about it here
About lamps...I just ordered a larger lamp, a 36 Watt one like this one. I'll be able to cure more pendants at a time (instead of 2 or 3) and with a quicker cure time.

Anyway...last year I had some UV resin sent to me by a manufacturer in the US. I'll have to dig out the flyer and info they sent me and tell you more about who, where and what, but I finally used it and WOW! am I happy I did. If you saw my last post you saw one of the pieces I did with this.
Here are a few more pics

 

This stuff, which is an Epoxy, cures relatively fast, about the same time as Magic Glos. What I do is a thin layer at first, cure and do another layer. What I found so far is that:

• it does not recede from the edge
• after curing it can be baked (if you need to add to your piece)
• it can be sanded (and I've got to do a bit of that)

Polymer clay UV gel lamp and cabochons

It is summer, but unfortunately this season we've experienced a fairly cool and wet summer due to El Nino which means very little sun. This means I can't cure my Magic Glos unless I have a lamp. I've found an economical one online, for $25 including shipping, sent from the UK, Sisi-business on Ebay. Am quite happy with it. What I like about it is that it has an off/on button and no timer. Most other ones I looked at on Ebay have either a 2 or 3 minute timer with automatic shut-off which means you'd have to reset it a few times. If you decide to order one, make sure you get the North American plug-in.
While on the topic of curing UV gel, I've found that when applying Lisa Pavelka Magic Glos on Polymer Clay pieces that the gel would always recede or pull away from the edges. I'd then have to apply 2 or 3 more coats or layers to fix and even then I might miss part of the edge. This would use more Gel than I'd like. Frugal me, the gel is fairly costly at approx. $9 an ounce. Apparently it is now available in 6 oz bottles too which will serve me better since I like to use it a lot, lol.
I've finally found a solution to avoid the 'pulling away'. It's so simple I wish I had discovered it sooner! By applying the Gel first around the rim of the piece and curing it, the gel won't recede.



Then I apply the second layer, filling the center of the cabochon and around the edges again, giving the piece a 'domed' appearance. Cure a second time. Afterward a little sanding around the edges will fix any rough edges. I'll show you tomorrow what I do with these pieces...