Starsha Grace, the  Florida based designer behind TheSlugandKraken is an artist and sculptor with a creative passion inspired by nature especially the ocean.

She explained :

Diving has consumed my imagination since I began dipping beneath the waves, and Lately I've been compulsively creating things related to my obsessive love of the ocean!
Her resin based jewelry designs are amazing. She has many collections in her store all demonstrating her artistic talent with this technique.  

It was hard to pick my favorites. There is her beach collection as well as the pond life one which features koi fish and betta fish. Such colors and attention to detail.  I also adored her bright and colorful nudibranch/sea slug collection.  Her packaging material even includes zoological information!



Starsha told me :

I make a lot of my own molds, but not all of them. Geometric shapes, dish bases and things are easy and often more economic than making your own. 

The silicone to make molds is astronomical, and costs are rising because of the pandemic. My last gallon I just got, to make the tentacle and snail molds I’ve been working on was $250 for the gallon kit. So for the basic pieces, especially simple shapes, I go commercially available! 

All my animal molds though are made here. Some of them are cast from 3D prints, some from recasts of other molds I’ve got (the goldfish and koi fish are commercially available). I do have exclusive animals that are mine since I’m a sculptor, and I’ve sculpted, and made the molds for them in the house. All the nudibranchs, my octopuses, jellyfish, the tentacles and the like, and the really weird dudes are exclusives.

She also has superb eyesight! Some of the tiny elements like the dolphins for example, have to be carefully painted which is no easy task. 

I asked her what sort of paints does she use on her resin work. This is her answer :

I use a variety of paint, sometimes basic acrylic. Heavy body liquitex for some finite detailing, pearly Metallics from jacquard for metallic colors, and most of all Createx transparent. Because I do so much glow in the dark, I want to maintain as much of the glow as possible through the paint. Regular paint is opaque, but createx produces a line of transparents for airbrushing. I use those for any air brushing and often for brush work too!

She is also incredibly productive - a one woman show!  Starsha added she could do with "more space, since sculpting requires an entirely different set of tools and supplies, and I have limited table spaces that are always occupied!"

Check out her Instagram  and her Facebook where she shows about her processes. She is very helpful to newbies and tries to help out others venturing into resin work.  Did I mention she is also a thoughtful shop owner who somehow found the time to reply to me in depth?

Browse her shop and you'll be amazed with her large colorful collections!














Tentacle fake gauge earrings







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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