My summer 2010 garden project was to grow a variety of sweet peas from seed. I had some beautiful results which I photographed. I also dried many of the flowers to use in projects this winter/spring.
So with this project in mind you can imagine how happy I was to get this message from Pam Barnes:
"I am loving what you are doing with the resin.
I am a pressed flower artists and would love to create some jewelry with my pressed flowers. Have you ever used resin over pressed flowers? I do not make jewelry of any kind....and I would only want to be able to make jewellry with the pressed flowers.
Thanks for sharing so much with us. Pam Barnes"
So this is a special short tutorial about dried flowers for Pam and anyone else interested in worked with nature. Dried flowers look amazing under resin! I wanted to show off my pressed sweet pea on a light background. I used Claudine Hellmuth's traditional tan paint to turn this gold bezel into something less shiny.
Then it is all about the "Mod Podge". I glued the sweet pea in place and then covered it in "Mod Podge" three times. That's why you see all that white over the flower. It does dry clear and will protect the flower from the resin.
I also glued a ring of rhinestones into the bezel to make a frame for the flower.
When all of this dried, I poured in the resin, right to the brim this time. Only one pour was needed.
And here it is after the resin cured! The flower looks very delicate and you can even see my paint strokes. Resin magnifies what it covers so you see things you might have missed. Keep that in mind because it can magnify a mistake too. I noticed that I didn't let the Mod Podge completely dry near one stem. I have a glue dot there that is now permanent. Thank goodness it is tiny and you only see it when you are zooming in.
Sweet peas. I love them and will be growing them from seed again this year!
Labels: Bezels and Other Components, Dried Flowers, Envirotex Lite, Jewelry, Tutorial
