The end of 2012... and new hobby!

I have loved playing around with wire for the past few months though recently I have been trying out something new.. Something that I recon should go great with wire wrapping. At the moment I am just experimenting with some basic techniques. So this new mysterious hobby is........... Resin jewellery!

What I love about resin is that it is really versatile and is great to use with different little bits and bobs.. If you have a favorite flower, picture or symbol you can easily "drown" it in resin and it will for ever stay in there. You can also use different techniques to colour the resin and make bracelets, cabochons or lovely pendants.
So far I have only finished a couple of pieces which I am very happy with.. But it seems about right with me, as I am never completely happy with my pieces of work. Having more time to perfect the craft would be useful though.

Recently I have been looking into steampunk style jewellery and got a couple of ideas of how to combine different techniques to create some cute little items. I have taken some cheap pocket watches and opened them up to remove all the parts inside. By using some watch spares and combining them with resin I have created this beauty. I've been wearing it to work and got a few compliments from my colleagues and friends. Definitely need to stock up on more pocket watch shells to make some varied designs.. Here are some pics.

Today after a trip to The Range (Shop in the UK which sells some random bits of arts & crafts related stuff, as well as other things for home, etc) I purchased some new items that I can incorporate into the jewellery. Some art paper with Steampunk style prints and some fabric dye for resin colouring. After playing around with some blanks here is another little item I made:

After taking pictures of both necklaces I have realised that there are quite a few bubbles in each though.. So next time I will look into using blow dryer to hopefully get rid of them.. Watch this space! If anyone wants any tutorials on this please let me know! My other half also got me a Macro lense (Yipeeee!) for my camera for Christmas so I will be using it to take some higher quality pictures of the items. Also considering making a light box to properly light them as well.

More importantly HAPPY NEW YEAR! Hope 2013 will bring you guys a lot of happiness and creative inspiration. I sure hope it will bring me some! ;)