I get in the habit sometimes, of thinking it's not worth making if I'm not going to sell it. I was at Michael's a couple weeks ago, and I hardly ever buy beads there because I can get them online so much cheaper...but while browsing the sale rack, I found some resin beads for 99 cents! I bought two matching sets- the donuts, and some gorgeous aqua stick beads (to be featured at a later date!) I was inspired to use some of the Swarovski siam flatbacks I have left over from my sister's wedding last summer- don't ask, but I'll tell- I hand-cut 1,000 flowers, and hand-glued 1,000 crystals into the center of those flowers for those 100 invitations. Swarovskis come in 1,444 packs- so I had 444 left over! They look so nice on these new earrings, floating above the surface of the resin. So I spent some time today bringing these to life....First, I spent some time looking at them and thinking. Of course, my thoughts went to polymer clay. The pendant below, which features a beautiful stamp on the bottom layer, then some handpainted ink to extend the design and color the flowers, several layers of poly-juice for shine and dimension, and finally glitter and a Swarovski on the front. I have to wait for the glue to dry before brushing off the excess glitter, there will just be a tiny bit for sparkle when it's all done. But I am pretty excited about the idea. It is a deep design, with things happening in all the layers and I think it represents a new direction for me. I have been playing extensively with Magic Transfer Paper lately, as well as with real paper- and I have been creating some tiny designs that I think are going to end up as embellished transfers, layered like this one. Today was a testing day. I ruined several pendants, made some molds, tested my inks and embossing powders, and generally made a mess. But I finished with this pendant and my new earrings, so all-in-all, not a bad day!
