Resin Cabochon Jewelry with Fused Dichro-ISH Films #resin #resinjewelry #jewelrymaking #earrings

I'm so excited to show you how to make these gorgeous pieces. So much color held in one little dome. These are pretty easy to make and they're even more beautiful in real life. I've shown you fused dichroic films in the past, but I'll be using a different technique in this video. Here are some of the projects I'll be making today. You're going to get incredible color and this technique is super easy. Here's what you'll need to make them. Brilliant resin in any size, any of our super shiny molds. I'll be using the large and small tray from our silicone cabochon set. Dichroic films. I suggest the jumbo pack. It's the best value. And if you're like me, you'll want to try a bunch of things. A heat gun that has a low setting. A large silicone doming tray. A piece of cardboard. A level. You'll need some scissors and a safe workspace that protects your surface and your projects as they set up. You'll find all of the supplies at little-windows.com. I've got safety tips at the end of this video to help you with your projects. I'll start with my dichroic films and large silicone doming tray. This protects your surface from heat and your films won't stick to it. These are small pieces of the seven different colors of dichroic films that will come in your pack. You get super colorful reflections with this film. Let me show you how to fuse your dichroic films to make all sorts of colors and patterns. Place your film on the doming tray and start heating it. Color changes will happen as the film forms peaks and valleys and shrinks up a bit. I'll press cardboard on my film right after heating to flatten the sheet. Now I'll fuse two different colors together, working from one end to the other, angling the heat to add ripples and interesting formations. I like to offset the films a little bit so I can see which colors I use in case I want to recreate that look. Once you fuse them, it can be hard to tell. You'll get so much variation depending on your color combinations. Now I'll try three layers. Flip it over and fuse the back layer. This is like the one I used in my linkable segments video. There's a link below and at the end of this video if you want to check that out. See how thin and flat this is? That's just what you want. You can use objects to resist heat in portions of your film. To make this work, the film needs to be able to crinkle up toward the object. This is the film I used in this necklace. If you want to see more options for combining these films, make sure to watch my dichroic fusion video. I'll put a link in the end and also down below. My silicone cabochon mold set came with three trays. I'll be using the largest and the smallest in the set. Here I'm using one of our new larger reusable silicone measure and mix cups. These are perfectly designed for resin quality silicone that won't break down as you use them over and over. The measurements are printed on the outside. One panel is made for 2 to 1 mix ratio resins. The backside is straight milliliters. The panels are totally clear so it's very easy to measure. We'll cover up these clear castings and let the resin set. Now I need to make room to cut my fused films. I love how these stack. I keep a piece of black paper handy to simulate the black resin so I can see how each piece will look with or without a dark background. They pop out easily and they're so shiny. You can make a bunch of these ahead of time and then apply different materials to the back. I'm going to make four pairs of earrings. I've cut these shapes out of different colors of film. These pop out easily and they're so clear and shiny. Brilliant resin will magnify whatever you put behind it. You can create larger and smaller, thicker and thinner pieces. Depending on how much resin you pour, these two castings were made from the same size cavity so you can see what a difference you can make by how much resin you pour. Let's cut our film shapes for these ones. I'll move my cabochon around on the film until I find a section I like. Trace around with a sharpie marker. That tracing is going to be larger than the shape so we want to cut well inside so that the film shape is smaller than your casting. This allows the resin to flow beyond the edge to seal it to your base. These pieces are ready for resin. You need to hold your castings in place while you apply the film to the back. One thing you can use is a smaller size of cavity than the one you use to make your casting. When you're pouring resin, you want to make sure that your pieces are level. The smaller pieces are too small to put the level on top so you'll just need to eyeball those ones. I'll mix a small batch of resin in my EasyBatch cup and apply a little bit to the back of each piece. Carefully pull the resin out to the edges. Place your film at an angle and watch it bond with the resin. Make sure your film is centered on your casting. If it moves, you can scooch it over. For these ones, I only need a couple of drops of resin. You'll see each of these film pieces is cut smaller than the shape it's mounted to. Another way to hold your pieces in place while you dome the back is earthquake putty. Roll a small amount, push your piece down into the putty. Use your level to be sure it's straight. Make sure you're protecting your surface. I'm working on the base of my creation station so I don't need to worry about the earthquake putty or any spilled resin. You can see how strong this putty is. It's great for holding things in place. And it's reusable, so just put this blob back in the package. And if there's any residue, you can just wipe it off with a dry paper towel. That is beautiful. Look how the rainbows are magnified. I have some bubbles trapped here because of the way that the film was wrinkled. But in this case, I kind of like them. Oh, I love how these turned out. These little domes really catch the light. I think these will make beautiful earrings. Such a simple process and each one looks like a tiny little world. This is from the film that I fused using the jars. So part of it is flat and part is crinkled up. It makes a crescent shape, which I love. Hmm, should I leave it clear or put black behind? Here's another one that's much more orange and gold. This one's really dramatic with black behind, but I kind of like it without. It has a darker background anyway. I think I'll dome this with clear. This piece looks like an alien landscape. Now let's turn these into jewelry. One way you can do this is by drilling through your pieces. In this video, I'll be attaching all my findings with resin. On this one, I followed the wrinkles in the film and painted selected areas in black. I used black nail polish, but you could also use black acrylic paint. I've secured all of these pieces using little blobs of earthquake putty. I'll check to make sure they're level and then dome up the back with resin. I've arranged these castings on my creation station base. The bottom ones will have clear resin on the back and the top ones will have black resin. The film may be sticking up in parts. Make sure to draw the resin all the way to the edge so you have a smooth finish. To make black resin, I'll add a couple of drops of my black colorant. Make sure to shake this really well. It blends easily without adding bubbles. I only added a couple of drops here so it's not as opaque as I usually make. I'll use my mixing wand to make sure the black resin gets pulled into all the little dips and is smooth around the edge. I'll let my resin thicken up for about an hour and then embed my findings. On these earrings with a clear back, I'm using clear earring posts. This way they won't show through. On here I'll insert a flat back bail. And I've got two large jump rings that I opened just a little bit that I'll line up with this black stripe. I bent this design out of purple wire and I'll lay that into the black resin. And another flat back bail on this piece. Since I only put a thin layer of black on this piece, I'm using my level to support that flat back bail while it sets up. I'm using stainless steel posts on the ones with the black backing. Look at these beauties! They're going to change depending on the angle of light and the type of light. I think these are my favorite. And they're lightweight and waterproof. You can apply the same technique to gauges. This one still has some earthquake putty residue but look at the color! That is gorgeous. You can see that the bail is very secure but when I put it in it pushed a little resin to the front side. I'll hide that blob with some dangling crystals. The pink film in here shifted completely with the black backing. There's a large bubble that got captured by the wrinkles in the film. I love how that looks. There are areas where the light is coming through the back that gives it even more interest. It reminds me of a monarch butterfly wing. This is my piece with the embedded wire. That's now formed a bail and I can attach a chain to both sides. This piece is so interesting. It's going to change look depending on what color you put it on. So if it's against your skin or against a different color of shirt fabric it's going to look completely different. I did kind of a messy job with the paint but it doesn't matter. The jump rings are secure. Each one is different. Each one unique. But they all catch the light in such beautiful ways. If you like this look, I have lots more project ideas for you. Come to little-windows.com for the best resin supplies and help with your projects. And take a look at our resin project library. I'm not wearing gloves in this video. Brilliant Resin is the safest epoxy you'll find and I'm working in small manageable batches. But I always make sure that my space is well ventilated. If you have chemical sensitivities, if you're mixing larger batches, making larger projects, or using resin frequently, make sure to protect yourself with an organic vapor mask or respirator and gloves.