Dried Flowers & Resin, Nunn Design Online Classes, Tutorials
Dried Flowers on Flat Tags with Resin Tutorial + Video
Nunn Design has several tutorials on how to incorporate organics into resin, already up on the site, but this tutorial will cover using dried and pressed flowers on Flat Tags with Resin.
In this tutorial you will learn:
• Tips on drying and pressing flowers
• How to prevent air bubbles
• Tips on what to do with spilled resin
Fast & Long Video Tutorials!
Watch this Fast Video For a quick overview of the technique!
Watch the full tutorial video where I walk you through the whole process.
Nunn Design Supplies:
- Nunn Design Flat Tags (Flat Tag Grande Circle Eclipse, Flat Tag Grande Half Circle, Flat Tag Large Inverted Triangle & Flat Tag Small Marrakesh)
- Nunn Design 2-Part Resin Kit
Other Supplies:
- Dried and pressed flowers
- Resin Spray (for some flowers)
- Wet-wipes
- Toothpicks
- Stir Sticks
- Mixing Cups
- Business Cards or glossy card stock
- Rubbing Alcohol
- Plastic Bags
- Q-Tips
Tools:
- Scissors
- Tweezers
- Needle Nose Pliers
How to:
Step 1:
To ensure that your dried and pressed flowers are ready for resin, please read A Beginners Guide to Drying and Preparing Organics for Creating Resin Jewelry. The preparation of drying and pressing of your flowers is a critical step for avoiding bubbles in your resin.
Step 2:
Some dried and pressed flowers will become totally translucent when exposed to resin. If you want to reduce your risk of this happening, you may want to get in the habit of spraying Castin’ Crafts Resin Spray on all your flowers before embedding them into resin. The resin spray is very fast drying, easy to apply and will seal your dried and pressed flowers nicely.
Place dried and pressed flowers in a cardboard box with high sidewalls and head outside when it is time to spray. Spray the dried and pressed flowers on one side, then turn over and spray the other side.
If you don’t want to go this route of purchasing resin spray (sorry, it is expensive for us to ship this, so we don’t offer it on our site), you can have some extra dried and pressed flowers at the ready incase the flowers that you wanted to use become translucent and aren’t working for you. Because there are a gazillion options of flowers (well, maybe not that many) it is way too hard to know what will work for sure and what won’t. You will have to experiment.
TIP: This vendor has free shipping on Amazon.
Step 3:
Layout the various Nunn Design Flat Tags, and the dried flowers you would like to work with, onto your work surface. Select organics that will work best with the various sizes of the tags.
Step 4:
Use a pair of flush cutters or scissors to trim your organics to prevent from any overhang off the sides of the flat tags.
TIP: Work with organics that are pressed flat. If the height of the organics is too high, the resin won’t be able to “dome” over the top of the organics and the organics will protrude out the top.
Step 5:
The Nunn Design Flat Tags are oxidized to provide the antique look to the precious metal plating. The oxidization, when it comes into contact with the resin, could change the color of the resin. To avoid this, clean the flat tags thoroughly prior to application of the resin.
Dip the tip of a Q-Tip into rubbing alcohol and clean away any of the blackened oxidization from the tags surface. Shoot, I just clean the whole things for kicks.
Step 6:
I tend to work in a small area (typically my kitchen table), so I like to work on a surface that projects can be easily moved around and not disturbed. Place some business cards or some heavy card stock onto your work surface, making it easy to move the pendants without getting any resin on your fingers.
Step 7:
Read the resin instructions for safety concerns regarding the Nunn Design Resin.
When I work with resin, I always:
- Place a large plastic bag over my work surface and tape it down.
- I make sure I have ventilation in my workroom.
- I wear gloves.
- I wear glasses (readers because I can’t see anymore. Plus it protects my eyes!).
- I have a pile of wet wipes handy.
- This is a great blog post that covers 20 Habits for Successfully Using Nunn Design 2-Part Epoxy Resin. Even if you are a seasoned resin mixer, this might be worth a read.
- You can also watch this great video on How to Mix Nunn Design Resin!
Step 8:
Place one cup (included in the Nunn Design Resin Kit) onto your table.
For curing purposes, it is very important that the resin be an exact 1 to 1 ratio of Part A and Part B. I suggest getting your eyes level with the resin so you can see the lines on the measuring cup.
Pour Part A of your resin kit up to the ½ fluid ounce mark on your measuring cup.
Pour Part B of your resin kit into the same cup until it is filled to the 1 fluid ounce mark. It is important to pour Part A first and then Part B. It is some chemical thing about the part A being heavier or something.
Step 9:
Set your timer for 2 minutes. Using the stir stick from your kit (a popsicle stick or coffee stir stick will work great too), slowly and carefully stir your resin scraping the sides as you stir. Stir for a minimum of 2 minutes. If your resin is still cloudy continue to mix until clear.
After mixing is complete and your resin is clear, scrape both sides of your stir stick on the edge of your resin filled cup.
Step 10:
Once your resin is fully mixed, drizzle a small amount onto a plastic bag. Use a toothpick or a pair of tweezers to place your dried and pressed flower into the resin, thoroughly coat the flower with resin on both sides. By doing this additional step, it helps eliminate some of the air bubbles that can get trapped in the many crevices of your flower.
Step 11:
Drizzle a small amount of resin over the top of the flat tag prior to placing the dried and pressed flower onto the tag. This will provide a bed of resin for the flower to rest onto. I have found that this also helps with eliminating the chances of air becoming trapped.
Step 12:
Use a toothpick to move the resin around on the flat tag. You are mostly interested in having resin be under the dried and pressed flower position on the flat tag. Place the resin drenched dried and pressed flower onto the flat tag. You can do this with a toothpick or pair of tweezers. Once the flower is on the flat tag, use a toothpick to move the flower around until they are positioned just as you would like them. Continue to poke and press the flower down into the resin, hopefully dislodging any potential air bubbles.
Step 13:
Once you have agitated your resin around the areas of the flower, drizzle more resin into the flat tag until it is domed. Use a toothpick to pull the resin out to the edges of the tag.
Step 14:
Use your toothpick to drag resin up and around the hole of the flat tag. If the hole becomes filled with resin, use two toothpicks to move the flat tag slightly. This will break the seal in the hole and the resin will drain out.
TIP: If you have resin that fills into the hole, here are two solutions to address this:
Move the flat tag onto another area of the card. This will break the tension of the resin in the hole and the resin will drain.
If you can’t get the resin to drain from the hole, let the resin cure and then drill a hole. I wouldn’t recommend using a hole-punch; I have damaged the resin around the hole many times.
Step 15:
You will want to ‘babysit’ your resin for the next 1 – 2 hours. If you see bubbles rising to the surface, using your hot breath – breathe on them. It isn’t a “blow” sort of breath – more of a “huff” sort of a breath. The hot air will make the bubbles expand, rise to the surface and pop. As the resin starts to set-up and become thicker, it will be more difficult for the air to rise to the surface. Make sure to check in on the curing resin and double check for air bubbles.
If you do have some bubbles, use a toothpick to gentle drag them over to the sides. This agitation process will help them to pop. When the resin is thick and taffy like in texture it is time to let it be. If you attempt to pop bubbles at this time, you may end up with a gooey mess.
Step 16:
Let the resin cure. It will start to be hard to the touch as early as 12 hours, but the resin will continue to cure up to 72 hours.
Here are some additional Trouble Shooting Tips!
TIP: Here is an example from another tutorial showing the organics protruding out from the resin. If this was to happen to your tag you may apply another coat of resin over the top of dried and pressed flowers to make sure they are protected a wee bit more.
TIP: If you have resin that has over-poured off the flat tag and onto the card, let it go. Wait about 6 hours until the resin is at its “soft cure” phase. It will be easy for you to trim away the overspill by cutting it with scissors or flush cutters, or to peel it off the sides.
I bet you are curious on how I managed to get white resin on the backside of my clear resin pieces. Let’s just say it involved a BAD KITTY!
Download PDF Tutorial: How to Make These Dried Pressed Flowers on Flat Tags with Resin
Learn More!
You might also be interested in these blog posts:
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