Resin Earrings

One great perk of marrying a dental student is access to unusual craft ideas and tools. Last week, Chad brought home some "Ortho Clear" and "Ortho Resin" and we made earrings. Well, we are making earrings. I actually need to put the posts on the backs still. (Or maybe make them into necklaces? We're on the fence.)

Step 1: We started out with a concept--little piano keys drawn on paper with a pen. We sprayed the paper with a clear finish because Chad thought the resin might make the ink spread and ruin the image.

Step 2: We had some thin metal strips to wrap around the outside of the paper (I wish I could explain that better...basically, the paper is flat, but we wanted it to be suspended in the resin so we needed something to hold it all together.)

Step 3: Sprinkle ortho clear (a powder) into the mold a little bit at a time, followed by the ortho resin (a liquid), which solidifies the powder and causes it to dry clear. Repeat this step until you've achieved the thickness you want.

should have had the mask over my mouth--the resin stuff  smelled pretty toxic.

don't I look like I belong in a dentist's office?

putting his skills to good use.

pretty cool, right?

It was a fun way for me to play around with some of the tools Chad gets to use at school. And now I get to wear little pianos on my ears! Awesome. I would love to find out what the non-dental-tool equivalent of these products are (I'm sure similar things exist in the crafting world). If you know, do share!