Nunn Design Art Day! Creative Play Results in 3 Fun Techniques Using Excess Resin

Quarterly, the team at Nunn Design puts the phone and emails on hold to take time out to create using Nunn Design Findings.

Here is some of the creative play from our latest Nunn Design Art Day. Both Cheryl and Kathryn focused on how to create fantastic and fresh jewelry using excess resin!

Kathryn’s Resin Mosaic Tiles Embedded into Crystal Clay

Kathryn is the master of making something amazing out of waste or items that are free. She is the ultimate recycler, hunter-gatherer and creator of beauty.

For the creating of these pieces, Kathryn gathered all of the left-over resin as the team explored various techniques during art day. Prior to the resin hardening in the cup and being unusable, Kathryn scooped the excess resin from the cup and spread it out evenly on a Ziplock bag. The resin was about 1/32” or 1/6” thick once she had spread it around with a stir stick on the bag. She then let the resin fully cure.

Now here is a trick that I haven’t yet tried but I was delighted to learn about. After the resin was fully cured and actually brittle, Kathryn placed the resin next to her studio space heater to warm up. She also has inserted the cured resin into a UV Lamp to warm it up. By warming the resin, she was then able to cut it into mosaic like tiles using a pair of scissors.

Next Kathryn mixed up a batch of black Crystal Clay and embedded it into some bezels. She then laid the color resin mosaic tiles into the Crystal Clay, evenly pressing the tiles into the clay so the surface was smooth and level. For the bangle bracelets she was able to slightly sculpt them into a curved surface.

After the mosaic resin tiles and bezels had a good wipe down with a wet-wipe, she let the Crystal Clay fully cure. Once cured she then used a fine grade of wet sand paper to give the surface a slightly matte texture.

I love this look and am excited to explore this technique. My only regret is I tossed a bunch of excess resin that had become brittle! I didn’t know the tip about reheating the cured resin!

Cheryl’s Soft-Cure Stage/Pulled Taffy Resin on Curved Channel Bracelets

Cheryl created these amazing bangles and cuff bracelets using excess resin right at the “soft cure phase.” The tricky part of doing this technique is knowing just when to work with the resin. It can be very problematic and the results were not consistent for her.

With that full disclosure, here is what Cheryl did to create these amazing bracelets. Like Kathryn, Cheryl spread the excess soon to harden resin on Ziplock bags. She then set her timer for 4 hours, but was often double checking to see if the resin was “cured enough so that it isn’t a sticky mess, but soft enough so that it is easily to sculpt.” The timing on this just wasn’t easy to nail down. She couldn’t determine the “optimal window of use.” As you can guess, that is problematic, but if you are one of those people working in your studio all day anyway, just keep checking. Once it hits a certain cure stage, your window is very limited. BUT, what we haven’t explored is Kathryn’s technique of reheating the resin.

Once the “optimal window of use” was met, Cheryl rubbed Gilding Flakes onto the slightly tacky soft cured resin. She then pulled and rolled it into a long strip and embedded it into the channel bangles and cuff bracelet.

Kathryn’s Faux Kintsugi Colorized Resin, Crystal Clay & Gilding Flake Pendants

More creative play from Kathryn! For these pieces, Kathryn poured white colorized Nunn Design Resin into the bases of the bezels and let cure. Once the resin was cured, she used a drill to create little crevices in the resin.

Next she mixed-up some white Crystal Clay and pressed it down into the crevices. After wiping away the excess Crystal Clay with a wet-wipe, she then applied some Gilding Flakes on top of the Crystal Clay and let the clay cure. Where there was no Crystal Clay for the Gilding Flakes to attach to, those areas were left just with the white resin, but the crevice areas were filled with the color of the flakes.

For this one, Kathryn pressed black Crystal Clay down into the crevices that she drilled into the resin. She then coated the surface with a clear Nunn Design Resin.

Amazing stuff! I’m so grateful that I have a great team that is consistently inspiring each other! There is always something new to learn!

Shop Wholesale

Shop Wholesale the Supplies:

• Nunn Design 2-Part Resin
• Castin’ Craft Opaque Pigments
• Nunn Design Bezels
• Nunn Design Channel Bangles and Cuffs
• Crystal Clay
• Gilding Flakes

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