Thursday, July 11, 2013

The tell-tale heart - a cuff in the making


Hey all! I've been learning and playing with our Instant UV Resin recently and having loads of fun. I'm the first to admit I'm way behind when it comes to resin. I know it's been around for a while and I've seen some beautiful pieces created using resin. So let me explain my first attempt to you.

Linda Neff
linda-neff.com
I gathered my supplies:
Piccolo Instant UV Resin
Piccolo Pure Gold Sparkle Glitter
Piccolo Heart Buttons (these are brand new!)
Piccolo 3D Enamel Gel in Buttercream
Piccolo Glastique Gloss Finishing Glaze
UV Lamp
Claudine Hellmuth's Studio Gesso
Ranger Non-Stick Craft Sheet
Karen Foster Floss
blank cuff


I began by coating all my Piccolo bookboard pieces with Gesso. This provides a primed, clean and ready surface to accept whatever I want to use to on them. I applied Glastique Gloss to the larger of the solid hearts and adhered a piece of vintage index page to it. When it was dry I sanded the edges and inked them lightly with a brown ink.


The heart was then coated with a layer of Piccolo Instant UV Resin and placed under the UV Lamp to cure. With the lamp it was cured within a few minutes. Natural light can be used to cure the Piccolo Instant UV Resin if you do not have access to a UV Lamp. It adds a really nice acrylic-like coating to the piece that provides a solid protection surface - and it shines!


I coated some additional hearts with Piccolo 3D Enamel Gel to add a touch of color, but in the end opted not to use them (they'll be ready for another project). After using Piccolo 3D Enamel Gel in Buttercream to coat a flourish piece and a few more hearts, I stamped over the surface when dry with Ranger's Coffee Archival Ink to add some texture. The pieces were also coated with Piccolo Instant UV Resin.


While the pieces were drying and/or curing, I cut and glued a scrap fabric piece to the blank cuff. I left the edges unfinished which add to the vintage look once they begin to fray. I secured the heart buttons to the covered cuff with Karen Foster Floss. Midway through the project I decided I really preferred only three of the buttons on the cuff so chose not to add the rest.

This project was really easy to put together. The resin coatings on the pieces provide protection and dimension and I have a casual cuff that looks great with any summer outing!