Tag: memory

3D Tree candle holders – reveal

I finished all three tree candle holders today – here are snapshots of the finished products. Overall, I like the tree that’s standalone (not on a rectangular base) the best. I had a hard time keeping the resin tidy looking on the rectangular glass pieces with multiple stages of pouring.

  • Tree candle holder with resin base.
  • Side view.
  • Rectangular tree candle holder.
  • Rectangular tree candle holder.

3D trees – final step

Today I was able to complete what I think is the last step in the 3D tree experiment. For the standalone tree, that was to add and decorate a base. For the two rectangular trees, it was to decorate the unfinished half. I also was able to pop the memory beads and kitty shaped mementos I made with our cat Neo’s ashes out of their molds.

  • Memory beads (ash)
  • Cat shaped mementos in ash

The rectangular trees had quite a bit of drips on the unfinished edge, despite my efforts to prevent them. I was able to remove them with a razor blade.

Lots of drips

Once I cleaned up the edges a bit, I laid them out on the work surface, ready to coat with a thin covering of resin.

Applying the resin using a sponge stick
Close up view

Once the resin was in place, I sprinkled the glass chips / chunks onto it.

Glass decorations in place
Front view

Next I turned my attention to the standalone tree, which needed a base of resin poured and decorated.

Resin poured and glass chunk “snow” in place inside the mold

Tomorrow we’ll see how they look! I think if I do more of these I will use colored glass for the backer that matches the tree glass instead of the clear, at least behind the tree itself. It’s hard to cover all of the possible gaps between the branches otherwise. So far I like the look of the standalone tree best, but it also has sharper edges.

Crossing fingers – 3D pour

I spent the past few days mulling over how best to pour the resin on these projects, and came to the conclusion that it would have to be in stages. Today is the first stage, which is an experiment. My plan is to coat the trees with a thin coat of resin and possibly decorate one side of each of the rectangular trees. The second stage will be (for the rectangular trees) to pour another coat on just the undecorated side and decorate. The second stage for the stand alone tree will be to pour and decorate the base that will serve as the candle stand as well as provide stability.

Projects are laid out on a silicone baking mat.

It’s cold out today and my work area is only 60 degrees F. My resin likes it to be a minimum of 70 degrees, so I used my heat gun to warm each part of the 2 part resin prior to mixing it.

80 ml of resin is mixed and ready

I ended up elevating this one higher off the mat on top of a couple of silicone measuring containers to help me manage the drips on the edges.

First coat is drizzled onto the tree.
After the initial coat of resin, I repositioned these two in order to decorate one side.

I continued trying to touch up bare spots and wipe off drips with my sponge on a stick. I repositioned these two and sprinkled the glass chips / chunks I am using to decorate the background and base of the tree. Above you can see the glass chips in place on the left hand piece.

Finished with one side for each rectangular tree.
  • Close up of the left hand piece
  • Close up of the right hand piece
  • View from the bottom edge – propped up to keep the glass chips from drifting.
  • Side view

I had enough resin left over to make some memory beads for our beloved cat, Neo, who passed away in November. I’m also trying some cat shaped mementos with his ashes.

  • Neo’s memory beads
  • Cat shaped mementos

In addition to scraping the drips, I periodically blew all of the above pieces with my heat gun to remove bubbles and also to warm the resin, as my working area is only 60 degrees F today!

A few things completed

Here is some of the fruit of the labor of prior days. The sun mosaic is complete, and I have 8 coasters and some beads ready, as well.

Here comes the sun!

I had a new request for some memory beads, but I’m not yet sure what type she will want. Since I had some resin handy, I just made a selection of beads. They turned out pretty well!

Rondelle (6 mm hole), rondelle (5 mm hole), ball beads.

The coasters I made with the quick layering technique turned out OK. I think next time I will swirl the water pigmented layers a bit. I was hesitant to do that because the layer underneath wasn’t cured, but I think the pigments need to be moved around a bit more. I also think the look of the bubbles at the edge of the water are improved with this technique.

Quick layered coasters.

Ash Memory Beads

I’ve spent the past few weeks working on the ash versions of these memory beads. This is another new material to get to know, so it has taken some experimenting.

These are from my original rondelle mold. They will be finished with a stainless steel grommet in the hole.
Before demolding the beads – ball beads on top, rondelles on the bottom.
Original rondelle without the grommet
Original rondelle with grommet.
Original rondelle with grommet, on silk necklace.
This is my new rondelle mold. These look great, even without the grommet, and also the center hole is slightly larger than my original rondelle mold. Unfortunately, this mold isn’t as sturdy as my others and one of the molds tore a bit when I was demolding these.
New rondelle.
All the new rondelles demolded.
Ball beads – I tried layering these with clear resin, letting it cure, then adding the ash infused resin on top. Overall, I think the full bead is a better effect, so I don’t plan on layering like this again.
All the ball beads demolded.
Ball beads – varying layers
Ball beads – varying layers.

Something for my sister

My sister has been hanging on to this hair from a friend’s horse for a while now, so I’m trying to make some memory beads with it for her. 🙂

Precious!
The center bead has less hair than the other two.

 

My workspace gets pretty messy

 

Trying out some glitter in the bottom center mold, though I’m pretty sure it will sink to the bottom (I likely will need to pour beads like this in layers). This is a new mold that appears to have a faceted look that I wasn’t expecting. Guess I will soon see how it turns out!

 

I think I like the look of just two or three hairs in a bead rather than a larger amount, but this hair is a light cream color with just a few darker strands, and I thought it might not show up as well as darker colors, so I tried to make a variety.

Memory Bead Projects

I’m getting more comfortable making the horsehair memory beads and even got some new molds. So far my favorite beads are the large ball and the large rondelle. I decided to see what I can make with the memory beads that would be a nice keepsake. The keychains and necklace only work with the large hole rondelle beads; the keepsake clips / keychain charms work with the regular round beads. Which ones do you like? (scroll down & click on the thumbnail image to enlarge the gallery images)

I made a selection of clear beads and a few with horse hair. The green beads with the flowers were purchased.

Just a snapshot to give you an idea of relative sizes
Top bead is large round, the other three are the large rondelles. The clear bead at the bottom is to show what the rondelles look like without the metal ring in the center hole.
Closeup of the necklace with accent beads
One bead necklace

Prices are on my “Available” page. I’m working on adding colors to my plain accent beads so there are some more colorful options to choose from. I’m also thinking that these projects are straying pretty far from my intent for this website, so I’m in the process of moving them to their own domain / website – stay tuned for that!