With July 4th around the corner, I thought some patriotic jewelry was in order.  I am thrilled to write about Magic Gloss, the resin product I used to create the glass dome effect seen here.  Read the following detailed step by step and you will be able  to create your own funky patriotic pieces.

Supplies:

• Magic Gloss resin by Lisa Pavelka

• Red, white and blue cake sprinkles, or colors of your choice
• Jewelry Bezels
• Play dough
• Ceramic tile or other flat, transportable surface
• Toothpicks
• Sunny day, or at least a 9W UV lamp

Instructions:

• I will show how I did the circle earrings.  The pendant is the same process.  Begin by placing a glob (real technical here) of play dough or clay on your glass tile.  This will hold your bezels in place and keep them flat for the resin to cure evenly.  This is so much easier than not doing this, trust me.  My pieces look tons better and are way easier, especially since you will most likely be taking these outside to cure by the sun’s rays.  You don’t want them sliding around everywhere.

• Put your sprinkles in a small cup to make it easier to pour into bezel.  They will still go everywhere!  Fill just enough to cover the silver in the background.  You don’t want the sprinkles above the rim of the bezel.

• Now the fun part; Magic Gloss.  Here is why this product is AMAZING (no, I am not affiliated in any way whatsoever, I just love it) – it is a one step resin that cures in 15 minutes with UV light.  No mixing, no odor, no waiting for 3 days for your pieces to cure.  It is quite easy to use.  Just add a few drops at a time to the center of your piece.  With the sprinkles, I add a small amount of resin and mix it all around to coat the sprinkles so they don’t float up while resin is curing.  I decided to do a dome effect on these pieces, which I do in layers.  So, when the sprinkles are coated, take the tile with your piece outside and let it cure in the sun for about 10 minutes.  Bring it back in and add your resin dome.  Just add a drop or two in the middle (depending on how big your piece is) and pull it to the edges of the bezel using your toothpick.

Second coat of resin

• Take the piece outside to cure and that is it.  You can do more layers of resin if you want to have a drastic dome effect.

The only downside to this resin is the cost, and the dependency on UV for curing.  I find the benefits way outweigh these.  If you have every worked with 2 part resin, you will understand how awesome it is not to have to mix and the mess that comes with that whole fiasco.  Also, I had no problems with air bubbles.  AND you can work with the stuff as long as you want .  It will not start to set until you expose it to UV, so no pressure to get it all done in 20 minutes. You can purchase Magic Gloss at Michael’s or Joannes for around $10 per one ounce bottle.  I found it on amazon, here,  for under $6.  I am on my first bottle and have made about 10 pieces so far.

Give it a try and let me know what you think.  Here are my finished pieces…