Friday 11 July 2014

Resin casting in the beautiful COTSWOLDS

 Last weekend I enjoyed the most amazing treat: I spent an entire weekend at a resin casting and mould making workshop in Winchcombe which is in the Cotswolds. I was unfamiliar with the area and my trusty sat -nav took me off the A 40 at Andoversford to take a number of winding single track lanes across country...
 These shots were taken on the way home of day one as on the outward journey there was much cloud and mist and fog and I could not see the amazing views although I was amazed at the lovely woods and the steep hills , carefully driving the car up very very steep inclines and down again with my heart in my mouth as I'm a bit scared of single track lanes.OH what an adventure!
 I went past Brockhampton, Belas Knap and Sudely Castle, some of which you can see here?





 It was a lovely drive home in the hot sunshine and although I was tired, the countryside views were invigorating and I long to come back and walk in such countryside.





 I was much inspired by this pendant and made something a bit like it, but it wasn't dry enough to take home so I am awaiting it's arrival in the post?
 If you like it too you can see the courses here:
http://resin8.co.uk/classes-at-resin8-37-c.asp
Or there are classes in London too... see under the classes tab on the home-page.
http://resin8.co.uk/


 We made resin discs also and domed them, this was using both moulds and casting and using pendant blanks and filling them with resin, then later ''doming'' them.
We also learned to make our own moulds from scratch using Silicone and this was my mould master: a small rectangular eraser in it's ''bed'' ready to pour in the silicone moulding material.


 After pouring in the silicone: it's a pale blue custom colour for this tutor.
I will take photos of the finished mould, which I haven't yet done and share later.
But suffice to say it worked really well although the inside is dull due to using a non glossy master so my casting will be matt or need polishing if I want them to be glossy.
We also each cast a resin bracelet using Clare John's custom bracelet moulds and mine looks a little like this,  but again I haven't yet photographed it. We added inclusions such as sequins and beads and some were using glittery resin to make the bracelet rather than transparent resin colours.
We learned finishing, drilling and polishing tricks and our finished pieces were just so exciting and quite a surprise in most cases!


 This is the tutor's bracelet from the side...

 And one lady's bracelet was all transparent pink in one half and pearly swirly pale pink in the other?
 This is my version when I was adding the doming layer on day 2...
All glossy and wet looking, but it;s now dry and just as glossy!
 I made some red transparent discs with foil and spit-ring inclusions and here I was adding the doming layer to finish.
Also we added pendant hanging bails to some of our discs.
It was such tremendous fun but now I need time and a clean clear working space to play a lot more and make some funky contemporary jewellery pieces!

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