My First Attempts at Magnets

These were my first attempts at joining glass to paper - with my first bottle of Diamond Glaze I made some magnets that I was (am!) very proud of.  They still grace my fridge to this day.

In those days, I'm talking about oh a good couple of years ago, all I could find were these glass drops, they were all uneven, full of bubbles and prone to splintering, but it was a revelation to me how they would transform a simple image into something that seemed to move as my eyes glanced over it - if I moved this way, the image would move that way, if I moved that way, the image would move here - now I know this as the dimensional effect of glass, and certainly round domed glass seems to show this more than square flat glass.  There is probably a very good scientific reason for it, but I won't go investigating.  I'm guilty of always wanting to know the why of everything, but sometimes it is refreshing to just enjoy without probing.

New In The Shop - Glass Coins!

Oh my - aren't these beautiful?

They measure about 24mm and fit into the 25mm trays I sell - they are lovely clear glass and the novelty factor here is that they are flat!  If the domed ones are not your thing, try these.  They will be perfect for jewellery and magnets.

Just arrived in the shop, they sell at £3.00 for 10.  Find them at the Jasmin Studio Crafts Shop.

Printed Mosaics for Jewellery

These babies will eventually make it into some of my pendant trays and will go for sale in my other shop - they are ceramic mosaic tiles which I have imprinted with various images from my collection.  I will offer a tutorial for these little beauties soon but for now, I just wanted to show them off, because I'm rather pleased with them!

How NOT To Make a Glass Tile Pendant Part 3 - Bubbles

How annoying is this?  You make a beautiful pendant, it is flawless, yet a few days later you notice that bubbles have set under the glass...  grrr.  This was not even an intentional mistake for blogging purposes! This was a piece I made for myself because I love the combination of the ornate vintage bronze tray and the red paper.

The papers were well sealed, and I had coated the tray with ModPodge to avoid the blue rinse.  So what went wrong?  Here is what I think - I set the paper to the tray, and then the glass on top, and generally, you need to glue the paper to the glass first.  I have a sneaky suspicion that because the tray is slightly ridged on the inside, tiny air bubbles were trapped under the paper, which surfaced through the layer of fresh DG under the glass but couldn't then escape because the edges of the DG had already dried.  Just my theory!

I get far better results when I glue the glass tile to the paper first, let this dry, and then attach it to a tray.  Bubbles are definitely less, but one potential problem with doing it in this order is re-soaking the paper from the back, but that can be lessened by using a different type of glue in the tray, such as E6000.  Again I recommend experimenting to work out which method is best for you!

I'm going to keep this piece.  The camera blows up all the little detail but I still like this pendant and it is not that obvious at first glance, so it will be my little flawed piece and I will still wear it!  And ssssshhh, nobody need ever know about the bubbles.  Wanna see a super close up?

 
(Amazing that this would have printed out as an A2 size ...I looove my new camera!!)

Just Arrived!

Just arrived at the shop - gorgeous new rectangular glass tiles! These babies measure 24x48mm and trays to match will be arriving in the next few weeks!! They look perfect with bails too - one for a vertical pendant, two for a horizontal pendant. Try them out! You can find them here.

Crafty Diamond Glaze Projects Video

Here is a useful little video tutorial by Judikins creator, Judi Watanabe.  Judikins are the makers of Diamond Glaze and in this film, Judi shows us how to make a resin pendant and how she makes glass tile pendants.  There is also a sweet little project for using Diamond Glaze to capture tiny glass beads inside a tray - mmm I must try that!



And hey, aren't we all glad we no longer have to cut glass at our kitchen table? ;)

How NOT To Make a Glass Tile Pendant Part 2 - the Blue Rinse

The picture says it all...  Just about everything is wrong with this pendant.   A good reminder of what not to do.

First of all, it is pretty obvious that I used far too much Diamond Glaze behind the glass.  In fact, I used too much behind the paper too.  There is so much that it still looks wet, several weeks after making it!

Secondly, the blue...  The whole picture turned blue!! The paper was one of my beautiful Chiyogami papers, bright with reds and pinks and golds.  And now it's just blue.  And this piece of paper was really really well sealed with a hundred layers of ModPodge! Any guesses what caused it?  Yep, the tray.  See the tray is bronze plated?  Bronze and copper platings react with Diamond Glaze and the outcome is that your images will develop a blue tinge.  Sometimes it is a nice blue tinge that can give your images a lovely vintage hue.  This is not in any way nice:

Two things to do here:  deconstruct and re-do!  If this happens to you, just leave the pendant to soak completely submerged in water overnight.  That will soften the Diamond Glaze if it hasn't completely hardened and you should be able to prise the glass off the tray by morning.  Wash the tray and glass thoroughly and dry before using again.  The tray will not discolour if it is completely submerged (as opposed to half-in-half out) and dried afterwards.

Before you use them again, one very important step - when using bronze and copper plated components, ALWAYS seal the trays well - so apply a good coat of ModPodge to all the parts of the tray that will come into contact with the Diamond Glaze and allow to dry.  Then you're all set!

How NOT To Make a Glass Tile Pendant Part 1 - the Runaway Ink

I have made a selection of mistakes to show you and to guide you through the main pitfalls you may encounter whilst practising this craft.  

First whoops:

 

This had the potential to be such a beautiful pendant - as it is, it has lost its sparkle and looks frankly a bit of a mess!  Main issue with this is that the ink on the pretty handmade paper ran like crazy...   If you use handmade papers this is something to watch out for, as the inks tend to run more than on machine printed papers.  And the blues seem to be more susceptible - at least on my Japanese papers.  So this attempt was made on purpose, to show what happens when you use papers directly without sealing them.

You see, Diamond Glaze is water based and it is also very runny - it will soak through most papers and if the inks are not waterfast the Diamond Glaze will grab them and run!   It seems to have even gobbled up the lovely golden details that bordered the flowers before:

And there is only one solution to this problem - seal your papers thoroughly before using Diamond Glaze!

A Vintage Image Feast

Today I thought I would share with you one of my very favourite resources for vintage graphics.  The Graphics Fairy is a blog, nay, a treasure trove of beautiful antique images - curated by the fabulous Karen who very carefully collects them, beautifies them and then generously shares them with the world.

The images are copyright-free for any crafting purpose for fun or profit, though please read the terms of use.

They are organised by category and in the blog you will find all of the vintage themes that you can see in the shops at the moment.

You want birds?
                 

After Eiffel Towers??

How about hearts?  of the anatomical kind of course.  It is after all, well past Valentine's Day.

Insects?  Deer?  Vintage postcards?  Coiffured ladies?? It's all there.
 
And this one will probably never fit in a pendant, but it made me smile - antique paper dolls where you be the hairdresser, and by the looks of it, supreme mood-maker - click on the image for a larger view and you'll see what I mean.

Just think of all the wonderful vintage style projects this amazing blog offers... 

Simply put, it is a thoroughly excellent resource. Thank you Karen!

Coming Soon to the Shop - the Shallows

These babies have just arrived and they will be making it to the shop in the next few days:

 

Gorgeous shallow round trays in silver plate, and antique bronze - and of these last, there are two options, smooth and serrated edge!   I can't wait to try them out.  The edge measures under 1mm so they'll be perfect for simply applying Diamond Glaze over a graphic.  I have sooo many ideas for them.  :)