Kevin's Gang & Diamond Resin with Nikki K

Morning everyone,

It's my turn to share another jewellery make with you, and I had so much fun making this one! I absolutely adore the 'Kevin's Gang' and 'Duke's Gang' stamp sets from IndigoBlu, and decided to use Kevin's gang in this piece.

I stamped onto dictionary paper (the cat pages!) with black Versafine, and coloured my gang in with Sleeping Beauty, and Emerald City paints, watered down so the pages still showed through. These paints are so good the shimmer is still vibrant even watered down.

I then took some 0.6mm silver plated jewellery wire, and laid the picture flat on the table, and eased the wire around the cat shape by holding one piece down with my hand, and just gently  moving the wire with the other hand. It's easier than it sounds!

I cut the wire and wrapped one side around the other, creating a spiral tail. The cat shape is then finished and ready to glue down. Make sure it's as flat as you can get it, just work it a little to flatten it.

Using the new Slap It On Gloss, put a generous amount on your paper, and around the bottom edge of the frame, and glue the two together, and coat the whole of the paper to seal it. This makes it stronger and stops the resin seeping through the paper at a later stage. In this case we don't want the paper to go see through.

When it's dry, cut around your cat shape, you can leave a little border or take it right to the wire, or use a file at that stage if easier. Give the cat another coat, front and back, of Slap It On Gloss.

Repeat with all your shapes, until you have your 'gang' all ready to go.

Take your Diamond Resin, and mix one part A to one part B, in the mixing cup provided. Stir for 2 minutes, it will go cloudy then clear. If you have bubbles, leave it for a few minutes, and they should start to dissipate. Don't worry however, as when you spread the resin, it will clear further. You have around 45 minutes working time usually, although this may be less in warmer conditions.  

When the resin is mixed, add it to your shapes with a lollipop stick, being careful not to add too much. A thin layer at a time is fine, I usually leave it overnight to dry, then come back and do another layer. I did this on the front and back of all my cats, to make them stronger. There are probably four layers on each cat. You just need to leave them to dry overnight between coats.

Here's the gang together :

I then took some chain, and some beads, a clasp and jump rings, and proceeded to put a necklace together. You could use the two cats with opposing tails as earrings, but I decided a full jingling necklace was needed. Here are the finished results; hope you like them.

Can you see which dictionary pages I used?

Thank you for joining me today; hope to see you again with another Diamond Resin creation.

Best Wishes,

Nikki K.

xx