Finally. After a lack luster spring, northern gardens like mine are blooming away. This is the time to harvest and make real flower jewelry!
I have written a number of tutorials on how to make real flower jewelry over the years. So this is a round up of some of my most popular posts...sweetened with a giveaway from Fran Valera of Little Windows (Resin Jewelry Making Supplier). Note : All readers can get a 15% discount from Little Windows- use this code BG1516).
Little Windows will be giving away a 6 oz set of Brilliant Resin .This Californian-made resin is superb for making glass like resin jewelry. I have used it for years and love it. It is totally clear both before and after you mix the two parts together. Brilliant Resin has a long shelf life i.e. it doesn't yellow for a long time. But no resin lasts forever, so use resin up sooner or later.
Brilliant resin is also a low bubble producer. I follow Fran's recommendation to give Part A a quick zap in the microwave before mixing with Part B. This helps reduce bubble formation.
Brilliant resin is also a great doming resin. You will see it mound up.
There are two styles of real flower jewelry. Either way, the flowers (and leaves) must be totally dry before you encase them in resin. Otherwise, the organic material will rot.
1. Pressed Dried Flower Resin Jewelry
The traditional way of pressing flowers is to sandwich them between paper and adding heavy weights on top. This obviously takes several days which alas, means the flowers and leaves would have lost some of their color.
Today we have the microwave method of drying and pressing flowers! It is fast and easy. By drying rapidly and then moving quickly to resin work means the colors will look fresh.
In my tutorial on How to Press Flowers Using a Microwave, I demonstrated how to do so with and without a microwave flower press. I got mine from Lee Valley.
But you can also purchase another microwave flower press called Microfleur from Amazon. Vicki Entrekin (Etsy | Facebook) who is a regular blog reader, sent me the pictures below of her results using Microfleur. Thanks Vicki! Your pressed flowers - especially the roses - look lovely.
She said, "I really love the way it works. If you don’t over cook it, you can retain the colors." It goes without saying that you do have to experiment as smaller flowers will need less time than larger ones. And not all flowers will fit molds and bezels if you intend to use them for jewelry making.
Check my full tutorial on Pressed Flower Resin Jewelry I which shows you how to use Brilliant Resin, molds and bezels.
There are different kinds of flower pigments. Some will fade faster than others. So try and get freshly pressed flowers into resin as soon as possible. There may also be flowers which just won't work. Experimentation is necessary.
See my Pressed Flower Resin Tutorial Part II | Tips and Tricks on how to protect pressed flowers from the resin and to deal with faded flowers. You could try spray glue instead of using Mod Podge as a sealant.
2. 3D Real Flower Resin Jewelry
The other style of real flower resin jewelry is to put them in deeper molds. So you will need to bury the whole bloom or leaves in silica gel crystals. You can buy silica gel crystals for drying flowers. But I used a different route - simply with an inexpensive batch of crystal cat litter.
Again experimentation is necessary - as you can see from my tutorial How to Dry Dandelions and Flowers with Crystal Cat Litter, I had some interesting results!
Once the flowers are dried, I then embedded them in resin. The dandelion clocks (the post flowering stage) were my favorites in this How to Make Real Flower Resin Jewelry tutorial.
Giveaway
If you'd like to win this giveaway for a 6 oz set of Brilliant Resin, please make a comment below. Make sure you leave contact info below if you do not have an online shop or blog.
Email subscribers need to scroll down the post they receive, click on Share Comment and enter your comment. Pick Name/URL. If you don't have a store or blog, leave the URL blank.
This giveaway is for US and Canada only.
Extra entries if you become or are a blog subscriber or follower etc. If you also do shout outs about this giveaway, those will count as additional entries too! Please say so in the comments. (The exception is Facebook - just like/comment on the giveaway status there!!)
It ends in a week's time at 6 pm EST Monday, July 1, 2019. I will pick the winner randomly and announce the results as soon as possible after. So be sure to leave a contact email if you don't have an online link or make sure you come back and check! Otherwise I will redraw in a week. Good luck!
Before You Go :
- Easy No-Resin Real Flower and Leaf Jewelry Tutorial
- Easy Sea Shell and Sea Glass Resin Coaster Tutorial
- Translucent Screen Printed Resin Jewelry Tutorial
Disclosure
This blog may contain affiliate links. I do receive a small fee for any products purchased through affiliate links. This goes towards the support of this blog and to provide resource information to readers. The opinions expressed are solely my own. They would be the same whether or not I receive any compensation.
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Original Post by THE BEADING GEM
Jewelry Making Tips - Wire JewelryTips -Jewelry Business Tips
Would love to win this... thank you for the opportunity!!
ReplyDeleteI would love to learn how to make resin jewelry with embedded flowers or images!
ReplyDeleteMy roses are all in bloom, i'd love to preserve some!
ReplyDeletewow it would be so awesome to win this I have wanted to try using resin but it is a bit pricey I am retired so other than living expenses I never have extra to try something like this.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely love nature, from flora to fauna. The ability to capture even a small part of it, holds a very special place in my heart.
ReplyDeleteTo win something like this would certainly fulfill my dreams.
Thank you for the opportunity.
celticartwitch@gmail.com
I have tried to press flowers over the years in books and salt, but it didn't work and I thought I was never going to be able to do it. The kitty litter shocked and amazed me. So cheap and easy to use. I want to go get some right now to try it. I have also never heard of putting resin in the microwave to cut down on bubbles- genius idea! I have always wanted to do resin pendants with my grand-kids' pictures and this seems like it would work perfectly for me, since it is so clean, a low bubble producer, and easy to use. I would love to win this and create my mementos and keep my grand-babies with me all the time.
ReplyDeleteLori Mahan
lorimahan71@gmail.com
fan and faithful follower
Have not tried this "Brilliant Resin" yet. Thank you for the discount code and lots of info on drying flowers! Would love to see how this resin compares with others I have used.
ReplyDeleteLorraine Gonda
lorgonda@gmail.com
Just recently started working with Resin. Love the clarity of this resin as well as the advice for drying flowers while retaining their color. I do place my resin in heated water prior to use, to eliminate bubbles, but never thought to microwave it directly. I'd be thrilled to win this package. The ideas are already starting to flow.... Audrey
ReplyDeleteI love Little-Windows resin. So easy to use, great results every time. I use the Microfleur to dry my botanicals.
ReplyDeleteswillert@new.rr.com
I would really like to try this using flowers from my garden. So many small ones right now. Just found this site a short while ago and am enjoying it very much.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the review. I might have to try it. In case I do, please sign me up for the give-away. When I win, I'll be ready to go.
ReplyDeleteI bought a package of resin several years ago and was not successful at using it. I'm ready to try again!
ReplyDeleteStrangely enough - I am just putting in my garden this week. We've had snow - rain - more rain - and even more rain with low temps nearly every single day. You said summer?
ReplyDeleteLove it. I'm a total resinholic!
ReplyDeleteThis would be great fun as my garden is taking off nicely. marytown79@gmail.com
ReplyDeleteI remember pressing flowers when I was a child. I would go out into the woods, picks some small flowers and press them between the pages of a phone book. Never did anything more with them. I wonder what ever happened to those little flowers. I would love to learn how to do this now with the microwave method. Seems interesting.
ReplyDeleteWhat fun it would be to preserve some of my garden flowers this way. I would get to combine my love of gardening with my jewelry making! Thanks!
ReplyDeleteI have very recently been exploring and learning about resin craft on the internet to see if I might be interested enough to invest and give this medium a try. Answer is yes I am! Winning this would definitely help me out. Thanks for the opportunity. dcburrow@roadrunner.com
ReplyDeleteI love Little Windows resin but have never tried it with real flowers—beautiful! Thanks! Facebook follower and blog subscriber- katrina@katrinapeebles.com
ReplyDeletei would love this . i bet this would look cool with pressed leaves in the fall. I am going to share on everything daily.
ReplyDeletei shared on fb https://www.facebook.com/ranadurham87/posts/2326475644234571
ReplyDeleteMy email address is ranajeree@gmail.com - i really want to try this out. i bet this is cool in the fall with leaves.
ReplyDeleteI would love to learn how to do this! Thanks for the give away! amandam@pobox.com
ReplyDeleteJust started jewelry making with dried flowers and resin. So much fun. Thank you for posting tutorials.
ReplyDeleteGood timing - would like to try this brand.
ReplyDeleteI have been put off from doing resin applications after reading the difficulty of using other resins. I would love to try this one and thank you for the giveaway. Blog and facebook follower. tigers628@hotmail.com
ReplyDeleteI would love to learn how to do this! Thanks!!!!!
ReplyDeleteAs I don't do much with resin, I primarily use the UV type. I would love to delve into "real" resin and this looks like a good one.
ReplyDeleteI have been doing more with resin and I love it! I would love to try using it with flowers. Thank you for this opportunity!
ReplyDeleteI use resin and alcohol inks to make jewelry (among lots of other techniques!). It would be interesting to add dried flowers over the alcohol ink backgrounds. Thanks for the tutorials, and I hope I win the resin . . .
ReplyDeletelaughingbird@live.com
Wow Pearl, super cool giveaway! Pressed flowers remind me of my mother. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteI would love to try this resin. I've used resin in the past, but not this brand and I love to experiment!
ReplyDeleteI have never tried making anything with resin so this would be AWESOME to win so I could try it out thanks for the chance to win it!
ReplyDeletesally0630@yahoo.com
Im an email subscriber
ReplyDeletesally0630@yahoo.com
pinterest.com/sally0630
I would love to have this. I can think of a million things to put in resin and then bead something up to go with it or around it. Thank you Pearl for the opportunity to win this.
ReplyDeleteI remember being a kid and my grandma always pressed flowers and use them in crafts she did. I've never used resin and would love to give it a try.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDelete