I have a few suncatchers / ornaments on hand for last minute holiday gifting. Drop me an email, message me on twitter or tag me on my facebook page (see social links down on the right) if you would like to see them. Rectangular ones cost $25 each and are generally between 6-7 inches tall (including hanger) and square ones cost $15 each and are generally around 4-4.5 inches tall (including hanger). I also have some coasters available. I’ll try to get some good photos of them this week.
Tag: christmas
Charleston Holiday Market!
I had a busy first day at the Charleston Holiday Market today (you can get a coupon for a dollar off admission if you visit their website). I will be there from 10am to 6pm tomorrow (Saturday) and 11am to 5pm on Sunday. I don’t think I will have a single coaster left by this time Sunday. My Beach Window went to a loving home, and several ornaments did, as well. Since this is my first time participating in such a large show, it is a great learning experience!
The best part is that I will have a whole year to prepare for next time; I will know what items resonate with people most and be able to work on similar projects. The date for this creeped up on my quickly because I signed up late in the game, but I will have plenty of time to prepare for next year. Since all of my projects (coasters, ornaments) take at a minimum 2 days to make (windows much longer), I can’t quickly make more. That is part of what makes them special, though! I still have some coasters, plenty of ornaments (both glass and resin) and several window mosaics for the rest of the weekend, though. Come on out to the Convention Center and visit – it’s a great time! Another bonus is that my booth is right next to Mountain Mist – I love their products (especially anything in Orange Blossom scent). My family thinks I will spend all of my earnings in their booth, though.
If I sell out of anything you really like, I can make more – just send me a message. My items are all one of a kind, but I can make something pretty close to what I made before (especially in glass – the coasters are more difficult to reproduce).
Yesterday’s ornaments!
I finished these yesterday and they cured overnight – here’s how they turned out!
Still prepping
In preparation for this week’s Charleston Holiday Market, I’m really pushing the limits on how many individual items I can pour and decorate at the same time. If it goes well, at least I will have all year to prepare for the next one! I finished shaping the stained glass items for this batch of ornaments and was able to pour / decorate the resin this evening.
Many thanks to my husband for taking care of dinner while I tended these – I really need a solid two hours after pouring the resin to work with them, which can be hard to find between my regular work and carting my teenagers around to their various obligations. I had a few issues during the pouring (pouring too much resin, a couple of the ornament hooks came loose, etc). I think they will turn out OK, though. I’m pretty sure I will be spending a chunk of time tomorrow cleaning up cured resin drips from the back sides of these ornaments, though.
I used some different glass for the holly ornaments I made today (on the left). The glass on the right is the sparkly green I love for so many different projects. I’ve made several tree / wreath ornaments with it. It’s really great for hummingbirds, too!
I went out of my usual habit and made some new designs for beach themed ornaments – the heart is made of resin and sand that I molded a few months ago. They both have recycled clear glass bases (the squares), sand, and blue shell chips for the water effect. Great for anyone who loves the beach!
Prepping for the Charleston Holiday Market
I’ve had a lot going on the past couple of weeks and I haven’t been able to make as many new small items as I expected for the Charleston Holiday Market that is starting on Friday. It’s a pretty big event, much larger than any I’ve ever done before, so it should be a learning experience! If you click on the link, you can get advance tickets for $2 off, or a coupon for $1 off admission. I was able to finally pour the resin on several new ornaments as well as the second layer of resin on a few resin ornaments and a coaster today, though.
I use stained glass for the leaves, berries and snowman and clear glass that is recycled from old windows to make these festive ornaments. I cut the glass for these ornaments and glued it down yesterday, so today it was time for the resin layer. After mixing, I pour a blob of resin on each ornament. A little goes a long way, and too much makes for more difficulty with drips, so it’s better to use too little and then add more later. I went a bit overboard with a few of these and had to wipe away a lot of drips. That also causes some of the resin to form on the underside in such a way that I have to scrape it off with a razor blade later, which is tedious and a little dangerous if you’re clumsy like I am.
I used a sponge on a stick to spread the resin around so it covers all of the top surface of the ornaments. The resin will settle itself down and look smooth once it cures, so I don’t worry about the streaks left by the sponge. I do have to use a heat gun a few times during this stage to remove bubbles. They are worse in the deep molds for the beach themed resin ornaments and coasters than the thin layer on the stained / recycled glass ornaments, though.
After the resin is spread, I place the glass blobs, chunks and chips I like to use for decoration in the resin. I also poured a little leftover resin into three new coaster molds that I decorated for the first layer of some more coasters.
Some finished ornaments
This post is just photos of the glass ornaments I’ve finished over the past few weeks. Enjoy! I will have these at the N. Charleston Farmers Market this Thursday (Halloween!) and at the Charleston Holiday Market at the N. Charleston Convention Center November 8-10.
More (adorable) ornaments
I’m on a roll with the ornaments. Yesterday I spent all day cutting and gluing these together and had every intention of pouring the resin, as well, but I got the idea to make tiny wreath ornaments and all the tiny pieces took an extremely long time to cut and place, so I gave up and poured the resin today.
I really like these tiny ornaments, I think they are between 1-2″ (have not measured yet). I am using mica chips for the first time under the little cardinals. Can’t wait to see how they turn out!
I used 200 ccs of resin for this batch, which was enough to add one extra coaster to the day’s work. I might have had just enough for the first half of one more coaster, but I wasn’t confident in the amount and didn’t try for two. I will have to pour another layer of resin on both the circle and heart shaped ornaments as well as the coaster.
I decided to try adding all the layers to this coaster in the first half, though there was a time lag between the heavy shells / shark teeth, then the sand and lastly the water layer of blue shell chips, which were last and the resin was pretty thick by then.
Second stage of ornaments
Today I finally got enough time to pour the resin on my next batch of ornaments. I prepped several a few days ago, but it takes a couple of uninterrupted hours to do the resin stage properly, and today was the day.
I had to cut and grind a few more pieces of glass for the red berries and the carrots for the snowmens’ noses. After that I was ready to pour the resin. It’s really more of a drizzle than a pour, then I spread it across the surface of the ornament with a sponge on a stick. After that, there is a lot of scraping of drips off of the backs of the glass. Any drips that I miss will require some sanding after the resin cures, but I really prefer to take a proactive approach and just remove the drips as the form whenever possible. I also use a heat gun at this point to remove bubbles.
Snowmen and Greenery
To make these snowman, tree and leafy ornaments, I start with white and green glass and cut it down until it is close to the shape I want. I then grind the pieces to smooth them and make them look more like the desired item (snowball, holly, mistletoe). It will be interesting to see how the texture of the green glass looks after I pour the resin. Past experience has shown me that the texture will be mostly lost once the resin is applied, but I haven’t tried it with this glass yet.
Here is a snowball in the making on my glass grinder. Yes, I do slice my fingertips while I grind the glass – I try to do a quick once around all the edges to minimize the damage to my fingers, but they still get a bit of wear and tear.
Once I have the larger pieces of glass ready, I glue them to the clear glass ornament bases. I glued the ornament hooks on the bases yesterday.
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I will pour the resin and add the detailed accents and some more small glass pieces for red berries at the same time. I like to add crushed glass “snow” under the snowmen and trees, and clear glass flakes to the backgrounds. I might cut some red berries for the holly from glass (like I did for the mistletoe), as the red balls of glass I have might be too small in proportion to the leaves I cut. I was hoping to pour the resin for these today, but I just ran out of time.
More small things
I needed to finish the second snowman ornament I started yesterday and use up some leftover glass, so today I made some smaller ornaments with Cardinals and some greenery, plus a few resin ornaments.
Next I poured the resin, then added the glass chips and chunks for the snowy effect in the background. I always elevate the pieces on a silicone mold so I can wipe off drops while the resin cures. I have tried using painters tape around the edges of the back side, but it’s more trouble to me than doing this and I get better results.
I also poured the first layer and decorated a few more resin ornaments. I am using greenery from my yard and some store bought berries, as the ones from my yard don’t look as nice in the resin. Also some shells and beachy items.
