Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Final Ornament Thursday



Well, okay, I am posting this on Wednesday and not Thursday today. I have family arriving tomorrow, and I'm afraid I won't have time to post, so I'm doing it today. I can't believe it's the final Thursday before Christmas. I haven't managed to mail a single holiday card yet! Shameful, isn't it? I did, however, manage to make two quick ornaments. The first one, which I planned - is this snowflake ornament. I bought a sheet of small molds from Sherri Haab over the summer, and I never used it! I looked it over and the largest mold on the sheet looked about the right size for a small ornament, so I decided to try it. I think the directions are pretty self-explanatory on this one. Briefly, I made a snowflake out of extruded polymer clay and baked it per the manufacturer's instructions. I then coated the bottom of the mold (and this particular mold does not require a release agent, which is nice) with a thin layer of resin. Once again, I used UV resin, so I cured it under a UV light for a few minutes. I added another layer of resin, then dropped the snowflake and cured the resin again. I added a final thin layer of resin to finish. I drilled the hole in the top with a 3/32" bit in a drill vise and put a heavy jump ring through the hole. I finished with a scrap of blue ribbon. After finishing this, I had a little resin left over, so I decided to make a second one:



This one was even easier, as I followed the same steps as above but filled it with crayon shavings from a few broken crayons that the Short One had in this art table drawer. (I had in mind those art projects we all did as kids where you put crayon shavings between pieces of waxed paper and then had an adult iron it. Remember those? Do kids still do this in school? I guess I'll find out pretty soon..)

If you wanted to embellish these further, you could drill a quarter inch deep hole through the bottom of the ornament and epoxy in a piece of wire to add wire-wrapped elements. Oh, and you could sand the edges of each ornament with fine grit sandpaper underwater. I didn't do either, as I ended up being a little short on time (sorry!), but, yes, they would look more finished if I had done this.

But wait, there's more! Please visit the fab blogs of the other participants of Ornament Thursday for more holiday goodness:

Christmas cookie - Jennifer Heynen
Christmas tree finger labyrinth - Hali Chambers
Ring in the New Year - Kriss Cramer
Quilty pieced snowman - Linda Augsburg
Simply striking sparkling spheres - Margot Potter
Beaded memory wire - Elaine Luther
Wire & beaded tree - Lynn Kvigne
Beaded sun catcher - Debba Haupert
Jolly and yummy ceramic candy - Melanie Brooks Lukacs
Beaded candy canes - Candie Cooper
Polymer clay gift tag/ornament - Heather Powers
Twisted blues - Lampwork Diva aka Cindy Gimbrone
Holiday spiral tree & party pixie - Art Bead Scene
Wire bird's nest - Rebecca Peck
Plush gingerbread doggie - Jenny Harada
Swell ornament - Alexa Westerfield
Holiday paper crafting - Brandy Lung Gill
Shaving cream & chipboard ornament - Michelle McGee
Easy needle-felted orb - Katie Hacker
Lisa Liddy's Lovely Ornament Lisa Liddy
Girlfriendology Ornament Girlfriendology Too

Well, that's it for Ornament Thursday this year! Once again, thanks to Katie and Candie for coming up with such a great idea. I've had a lot of fun participating and getting the opportunity to interact with such wonderful artists.

Thanks for stopping by!

16 comments:

Rachel said...

So cute I just love the snowflake. And your tree is gorgeous too. I do hope they still iron crayon shavings I had so much fun making those.

Kriss said...

This is really cute. I've enjoyed seeing your contributions. And I love the instructions included. Merry Christmas! Hope you family made it safe and sound and you can enjoy their visit.

Margot Potter said...

Oh these are so cute! Love them!

Happy Holidaze!
Margot

Katie Hacker said...

I especially love your crayon shaving ornament! That was one of my favorite projects in art class.

Katie Hacker said...

I especially love your crayon shaving ornament! That was one of my favorite projects in art class.

Linda Augsburg said...

Love the crayon shavings in there! The snowflake's great too.

Brandi said...

Love your snowflake! They turned out great!

melanie brooks said...

More nice ornaments Melissa! Love them both! You are good with the resin, wow!

Heather Powers said...

these are really cute! love the snowflake.

Lisa said...

Great idea! I've never used resin before...

JenniferJangles said...

You make it look so easy. I bought all the supplies to do resin a year ago. You have inspired me to give it a try.
Jennifer
Jangles

Hali Chambers said...

You make it sound so easy! I've never tried resin, but it looks like fun--and anything with crayons, count me in! :-) H.

Monkee Maker said...

Lovely ornaments, Melissa, that second one looks like lots of tiny Father Christmas's! (Sorry, Santa Claus to you ;)

Cindy Gimbrone said...

Clean, classic and beautiful!

Michelle McGee said...

Yours are my favorites this week!

Melissa J. Lee said...

So sorry - I just realized I never commented here after posting. Thanks so much for all of the nice comments. Resin is a little addictive. Jennifer and Hali, I hope you do give it a try - I know I'll love whatever you make!