Leaves in Resin

I'm not quite ready for winter to come, as much as I'm loving all the chunky knit sweaters and cozy tights everywhere. I've been collecting and drying out leaves, which are now beautifully displayed in resin!

I love these! And when I say that, I mean it. Out of everything I make, it's rare that I make something that I'm as happy with as these. Perfectionist to a fault, possibly, constantly wanting to do better. There was actually a fifth but the oak leaves dried a boring brown and left the rest of the pendant looking flat. I didn't even finish it and it went in the garbage.

They're crystal clear and super colourful. I can't wait to get a few more mold shapes (I have no idea what happened to my rectangular one...) as I feel these would look great in an assortment of shapes and sizes. Also, their colours are going to hold me over all winter when it's cold and I'm longing for my favourite season to come back again.

I took all my leaves and tucked them into the heaviest book I own (The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy), and left them pressed between parchment paper for a few days. Once they were done I put them right away into resin in hopes of preserving as much color as possible. I'm not sure what these will do long term, but for the time being I think they look wonderful.

Fresh out of the book!

The obligatory work in progress shot.

Pow! Bam! Kaboom!

So it seems I've gotten into the comics again, this time with some fun and funky necklaces. I've ran out of resin (such a horrible feeling) so I can't finish these until I get some more, but I have one finished and ready to be strung somehow.

Not sure what kind of chain I'll put on it yet..

I've got a whole bunch of these drying and awaiting their next coat of resin.

Lets Fall In Love.

The second day of (one of my) new jobs was stock day at the candy store, where we had to put out all the new stuff. I saw a wonderful piece of packaging that I turned to my co-worker and asked if I could keep it. The look on her face is one I get fairly often and I find it quite hilarious. "Yeah.. That's garbage.." And I'm thinking 'Yes, of course its garbage. And I want it. But I'm not going to just steal the garbage from the store now am I?' Oh my!

It looked like a perfect mold for something I wanted to try with resin, layers with things between it. It works pretty well but was somewhat of a one off, even with mold release sprayed twice inside it I had to rip the plastic apart to release the resin, it didn't pop out like I had hoped (I wonder if its the spray? It doesn't seem to work too well with my other mold either..). I really should just invest in a quality silicon moldbut why do that when there's all this garbage that's free?!

...I'm not cheap, I swear.

Regardless, I think these could be really fun, they're the perfect size and shape for what I want to do.

I'm thinking of adding one other color to the piece in the corner, but I haven't decided yet. You know, before I tear it to sh**.

Inside is a (mostly eaten) leaf I painted silver. That I picked off the ground while walking home the other day.. Oh, what the world must think of me..

I would just like to add how much I'm digging this song, Lets Fall In Love by Mother Mother, who are releasing a new album next month. I'm super excited about this as they're one of my most favourite bands ever :).