There are so many ways to make your own buttons using Brilliant Molds or a Silicone Doming Tray. Insert button shanks into setting resin or drill any hole size once your resin has set up.
Tutorials for each of these projects are in the following videos:
Silicone Cabochons Mold Tutorial
and tutorials for the basic techniques of Casting, Doming, Layering, and Embedding just about anything are FREE in our F.A.Q.'s section.
For these projects you'll need:
Have fun and send me pics of your creations!
I'm loving this new technique for turning bits and pieces of fabric into jewelry, buttons, pins, magnets, all sorts of shiny treasures! It's easy to do and super-versatile. I'll let the images do the talking...and the how-to video!
You can also use a photo of fabric, which allows you to duplicate, resize, or manipulate if needed to coordinate with your pieces:
We've also made some lovely buttons with fabric scraps using our Silicone Cabochons Mold:
If you have more questions, please check our FAQ center.
Scroll down for a fun video that shows you how to create a variety of double-sided domed pieces, with step-by-step instruction. Glue 2 domed photos back-to-back to use as charms, bracelets, keychains, pendants & more :)
Add any finding, like these keychains available in our shop
Here's a great example from our "Movie Themes" video, this photo shows the front and back of a fun charm bracelet"
You'll need: brilliant resin, doming tray, special photo paper, double-stick adhesive, drill, ZapAGap, and findings of your choice.
At the Quilt Festival in Houston we met Jeannie, an incredible woman who has created software that turns your pix into kaleidoscope patterns.
Download the graphic below, used to create earrings which were showcased in Beadwork's Handcrafted Jewelry Magazine!
Traditionally used with fabrics (quilting+), and paper crafting, Jeanie's kaleidoscope software can keep the people in your pix as the focus, or turn them into patterns. These ones were reduced, printed on LW Special Photo Paper, then made into Little Windows pendants using both the Casting and Doming techniques!
HOW-TO: Lightweight and waterproof, these gorgeous earrings are made by coating kaleidoscope images with resin. You can make them any size and shape you like!
Materials:
Tools:
Finished Size:
Tips:
Print & Prep your images:
Coat with Brilliant Resin:
Make your earrings!
Fran Valera is a resin fanatic, and the creator of Little Windows® Brilliant Resin & Photo Jewelry. A designer and product developer in Southern California, Fran loves teaching others about the unlimited ways to use resin. You’ll see more of Fran’s work and find lots of inspiration at little-windows.com/blog
Resources: Brilliant Resin, Special waterproof photo paper, doming tray, drills are from little-windows.com. Kaleidoscope image was made with Kaleidoscope Kreator software that converts any photo into a kaleidoscope design: KalCollections.com Contact your local craft or bead store for ear wires or headpins.
On my last trip to the Rose Bowl Flea Market I found some awesome old watches - cheap because they were broken. I didn't care because I just came home and cracked them open, exposing the most amazingly intricate gears and parts, still brilliant even after 40+ years. Here are a few of the pieces I created from our finds, but I can't decide what to make with them, ...necklaces? ...a big chunky bracelet? ...bookmarks? hmmmm...... have any ideas?
I used the Medium Circles Mold and layered bits and pieces in our brilliant clear resin, to create floating dimension that is altered by whatever is placed behind it. Sort of like a window back in time.
I guess this falls in with the Steampunk trend, which is pretty popular in spots. In case you’re interested, here’s a bit from Wikipedia that sums up this funky fashion genre:
“Steampunk fashion (is a take on Victorian Fantasy, which) may include gowns, corsets, petticoats and bustles; suits with vests, coats and spats or military-inspired garments. Steampunk-influenced outfits will often be accented with a mixture of technological and period accessories: timepieces, parasols, goggles and ray guns. Modern accessories like cell phones or music players can be found in steampunk outfits, after being modified to give them the appearance of Victorian-made objects. You’ll also see the influence in neo-Victorianism, and the romantic goth subculture.”