This will be my final shell post for now. I am so happy to end this series with a very special finished piece.
This shell had three pours of Envirotex Lite so that my dried flowers, leaves and charms would look as though they were suspended in water.
These shells do come with holes though...a little tricky to work with if you want to pour resin into them.
I tape my holes with very strong double-sided tape. This tape is called "red line" and is sold in most craft stores in either rolls or sheets. It is super strong and much more expensive than regular everyday double sided tape. I only use it for important jobs like open backed bezels or things like the shell I am demonstrating today.
I simply covered the holes with the tape and really made sure it was attached. As you can see from the final piece, it really did the job.
I did want to point out some repairs I made. I decided to glaze the back of the shell after I completed the inside work. See how the glaze at the back pooled at the bottom of the shell? I only noticed this in the morning. These "pools of resin" were easy to remove, I just peeled them away. This is very easy to do when the resin is not completely cured and still "soft" at the 12 hour cure stage.
This is how my back looks after glazing it with Envirotex Lite.
Hope you enjoyed shells and leaves week!
Thanks for the "red line" idea. That helps me immensely!
ReplyDeleteHugs!
Such a stunning piece!
ReplyDeleteJust want to confirm that you only leave the tape in place while you're pouring the resin. Then you remove it? How do you keep it from adhering to whatever surface you're working on? I love all these flower, leaf and shell ideas. I'm curious about whether the leaves and flowers keep their colors over time. I was always disappointed with my pressed flowers and leaves because they always lose their colors over time.
ReplyDeleteThe tape stays in place until the resin has completely cured. Then I peel it off.Since it won't stick permanently to a shell...it is easy to remove...but you could not do this with paper...only surfaces like metals, glass etc. There are loads of pressed flower people online using resin, including me. The colours stay remarkably bright under resin as long as your pieces don't sit in direct sunlight. My jewelery is always in a drawer, so when I pull out something with resin, it is as bright as the day I embedded it.
ReplyDeleteThe tape technique is described in this demo:
ReplyDeletehttp://resincrafts.blogspot.com/search/label/Open%20Back%20Bezel
Wow, you went out (as far as shell crafts go) on a high note, Carmi. It's gorgeous!
ReplyDeleteThat is a really special shell and you made it shine (both literally and figuratively).