Bezel Wire and Resin - A Tutorial For Experienced Resin Users

 Bezel wire can be twisted into interesting shapes.  For this project I formed a heart shape and then pressed it into the double-side tape you see in the picture above.

 I gathered some Luminarte powder pigments and mixed a small batch of Jewelry Resin.

 I made small dollops of resin on my non-stick craft sheet.  Then I added some pigment to it.

 The coloured resin I then dripped onto my double-sided tape base.

 A second colour was made.

 And then a third.

 These colours were also dripped into the heart shape as shown.  I added some extra uncolored resin to ensure that my heart would be secure when my first pour of resin cured.

I consider this my "First Pour."

My last step was to place a wood rubber stamp onto the heart shaped bezel wire to ensure my heart would cure completely flat.  If I pressed my wire into the double sided tape correctly, the resin should cure within the wire shape.

Here is my heart shaped bezel on the morning of DAY TWO.  After twelve hours you can easily see where I poured in some coloured resin and a little clear resin in random locations.  There are a few areas at the base of my shape that have no resin...it is just exposed double-sided tape.

 I am now adding a "second pour" of Jewelry Resin to just make sure the entire bottom is definitely resin.  My resin bottom layer is only about 1/10 of an inch high.  It is a very thin pour designed to just ensure my bezel shape remains solid and that resin is not seeping out through the bottom.

 I also dropped in a few glass beads.  I let this heart shape cure for an additional 8-10 hour.  

DAY TWO EVENING I added paper and embellishments.  You can see my mod-podge which is gluing everything to that first thin resin bottom.  I worked carefully because the resin in the bottom is relatively hard, but it still needs a full 48 hour cure.

 After my glue was dry I was able to see how my mini collage was looking.  At this point I added in some paint and glitter.

Now I prepared my "third pour" of Jewelry Resin.  You can see that I did not pour my resin to the brim.  This will allow me to work on one more level.  I'll show you that next.

 Here we are, mid-week and day three of my complex bezel and resin project.  Yesterday's pour of resin has cured for 24 hours and there has been no seepage through the bottom of the wire.  That is great!  I took out my gel markers for one more round of surface marking.  

I am looking at my piece to see if there are any areas I want to highlight or add paint or glitter to at this stage.

 The next step is to make a final pour of Jewelry Resin to ensure that the whole bezel is covered evenly.

 There was a small over-pour going on at the front.  I am going to leave this alone.  It will cure in place and in a about 12 hours I will be able to peel it away from the edge.

 Remember!  Resin does not like the cold.  

Now that the air conditioning is on in my home my studio is very cool.  I am keeping a desk lamp on so that my work area is warm.  Tomorrow I will peel away the double sided tape to reveal the open back!

When I left you yesterday my resin filled bezel heart was happily curing on my warm desk.  Today I removed the double-sided tape back.

The back looks great...just what I was hoping for!  You can see that the extra over-pour of resin (see yesterday's post) peeled away very easily.  What you can't see is that the back of my piece now has a very thin layer of sticky residue.  The double-sided tape leaves this behind.  In the past I have tried using all sorts of glue and residue removers to get it off...none very successfully.  So now I do something better.....

I made one final little batch of Jewelry Resin.   I painted it on as a glaze layer right over the entire back of my piece.  No more sticky residue, it is under the new glaze layer!  I will let this cure 24 hours and then I will design my final post with a finished piece of jewelry to show you!

 This is now my best resin sample ever!
This is the fifth post in a series I started Monday. 

 Yesterday I showed you how I applied a glaze layer of Jewelry Resin to the back side to cover the adhesive residue.  It worked perfectly and you can really see how my coloured resin is now showcased from the back.

 I am so happy with my collage elements and coloured resin!
The bezel wire shape is perfect!

 Now I had the fun of assembling the my art into a wearable piece of art.  To do that I gathered two strands of beads and a Fiskars hand drill.  This hand drill allowed me to carefully drill two small holes through the pendant to attach my gold jump rings.

 I am over the moon with my final necklace!!
I can't wait to wear it!

Tutorial by ResinCrafts