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Hi this is Julie for Beadaholique.com
and I'm gonna show you how to make a cufflink that looks like it's been enameled
this is one of my favorite projects I've done in a long time. I have this
cufflink bezel which is this right here and I've taken
a little pirate charm, I've snipped off the loop
and then I painted the back of my bezel black
and then filled it with resin. It has this great old enameled look
and I think that it just pops. I love this project and it's not hard to do
the tools you're going to need is a pair of really good flush cutters. Something
that's going to allow you to snip off the loop
of the charm. Then you need
a paintbrush, you're going to need a stir stick,
a measuring cup. It's got little measurements on the side and then you'll need
some
resin. I'm using Ice Resin. I really like how it domes
which is what I need for this project. I'm going to be using
Vintaj metal patinas in onyx and then I need
these two little spools of wire. These can be
anything that you have around the house that is going to allow you to place
your cufflink across them
so that when the resin is drying it can stay in an upright
position for at least overnight. To begin
we are going to take some of the Vintaj onyx patina
which is basically black, put it
on little plastic bag just so that we don't make too much of a mess
we're just gonna paint the
interior surface of
the cufflink bezel and I'm gonna paint
all the walls as well
as the back
so we don't want any silver to show and I'm gonna go around the top
make sure I paint that top lip
as well
and if some spills over while it's still wet, just take your finger
wipe it away
so I've got the first coat done. It's going to take two coats because I don't
any of the silver showing. Right now you can see I have some streaks
so I'm just going to place it
on my little platform and let that dry for about 15 minutes and then I'm gonna come
back into my second coat of paint
time for our second coat of black paint
same process as before
just you're painting a second coat so you don't show the streak marks
let this dry now
for about 15-20 minutes and then we're going to go ahead and place our little
pirate in the middle,
glue him down, let him try and then we can go ahead and do the resin
now we need to go ahead
and put our little pirate charm into our bezel setting
if you're doing two of these make sure that they're the same orientation
which they are. Now I have a really nice pair flush cutters here and I just want
to be able to snip off
my loop. Right up against the top of the head on the pirate charm
or whatever charm you're using. Just make a nice clean-cut
and do that on the other side as well
now if there's any rough edges go back in with your flesh cutters and just trim it
up
the beauty of this is your gonna be setting this guy down
into the cufflink which has a nice depth to it. You're not gonna see those little
silver
edges where the pewter is showing through. Take some E6000
it's a great glue. I just have a little piece of wire as an applicator
grab some glue
on the tip my wire. Flip my charm over
place the glue on the back, you don't need a lot a glue
flip it over and set him down
in the center
of our bezel
return him to whatever platform you have that you're using to keep
it upright while it's drying and let him dry for
a couple hours before you apply the resin. It's now time to add our resin to our
cufflink
to do so I'm using Ice Resin because I like how it domes
I have a little measuring cup here and a stir stick. It's an one ounce cup
I'm going to fill it with half an ounce of part B, the hardener
and half an ounce of part A. Be careful with your measuring
the exact measurements are really important
for the resin to cure properly
once you've measured equal amounts you're going to stir it
for approximately two minutes until all the striations are gone
and then you're going to let your resin rest for five minutes before you
pour it
into your bezel setting
when you pour your resin you wanna be really careful with it, so you're gonna
want to keep
your cufflink on a level field and here I just have
again balanced between my two spools of wire and this is going to be the trickiest
part
you're going to be very carefully pick up some resin on your
stir stick and little by
little you're gonna drip it into the bezel going over-the-top
of your pirate charm. Do not rush this process
because you don't wanna over fill your bezel and have your dome collapse
just gonna go fairy slowly
and that spreads out to the sides
Our goal is to cover the entire pirate or just have the tiniest little bit of
his head sticking out of the resin. So once you think you're almost there
take a step back and look at it from the side. You can't see this on
camera. I'm going to hunch down and look at this on
eye level right here to see how high my dome is and see how much of my
pirate is still sticking out of the resin
I can tell I have a little ways to go
not much though. I'll do one drop
I've got some on my beading mat. I'll do one drop
and take another look at it eye level and see if I need to add anymore
and I can tell I need not even a full drop. I just need a little tiny
dribble
there we go
I'm going to call that good. I do not want that dome to
collapse. I'm going to let that sit. If I need to I can take a little torch
or a barbecue lighter to the top of the resin and get rid of any bubbles
actually I think I'm gonna be okay. I don't have any bubbles on this one. You can
also try getting up really close and breathing hot breath
onto the resin. You don't wanna blow the resin but just you can let out like
a
hot breath and that will sometimes pop those bubbles as well
of course don't touch your lips to the resin, don't get anywhere near
touching it but just breathe on it where is that heavy hot breath and that will sometimes
pop
those bubbles as well. Once you're happy with it you're just going to let this cure
and then you'll be ready to wear your fun new pair
of pirate cufflinks.
Go to www.beadaholique.com to purchase beading supplies and to get design ideas!