An insight to incorporating zero waste to jewellery painting and finishing processes.
If you’ve seen my Heart Moon and Star Decorations at markets you might know that one of the reasons I make these is to use up excess paint from hand painting my jewellery to enable a zero waste approach with the paints.
Once opened, the pots of paint thicken over time, eventually becoming too thick to use on small pieces of jewellery. So I then get a bit messy with the paints, experimenting to use them up.
Below; pink and blue paints used in the Dusky Sky design, now too thick for jewellery. Then some decorations that I’ve made and the remains of some paint blobs that were too thick even for the decorations! And next some flowing designs transformed into blank greetings cards.
Below - all finished! Dusky Sky decorations, card and some beautiful jewellery. The cards are a lovely accompaniment to jewellery gifts.
The next image carousel shows paints from the blue and silver Ocean Collection. Plus some beautiful Heart Cards made from marbling the darker blue glass paint used in the design.
Below - Ocean colours in the finished decorations, marbled cards and Ocean Jewellery bestsellers.
And with the green and gold Forest Jewellery Collection; decor painting, pendant painting and a beautiful miniature landscape card.
And again - finished decor and cards with vibrant Forest Light Jewellery
The paints I use for the Moon and Stars Jewellery Collection include deep purples and various blues. Here I’ve used the excess paints mixed with some others to play about on card - this then becomes greetings cards, decorations and mounted hearts.
Using up excess Resin is another reason for creating the beautiful Decorations. Resin is what I apply onto the hand painted pieces, once the paint is dry.
First, 10ml each of two components (resin and hardener) are poured, then stirred for 3 minutes which creates a bubbly texture. I then use a kitchen blowtorch to remove the bubbles giving a smooth shiny surface, which then is covered and cured over 72 hours.
and although 20ml seems a tiny amount, the jewellery pieces are mostly small, so there is usually some resin left. This is when it’s handy to include some decorations on the resin tray, to help use it up.
So where can you get a closer look at these eye catching decorations and cards?
Hand painted cards are available on Etsy and at Markets.
A small number of framed Hearts can be found at the wonderful Heart in the Craft gift shop in Troon, Ayrshire.
And the Heart, Moon and Star Decorations are available at Craft Markets. Check out my market schedule here!
Thanks for reading this blog - have you seen my other Blog in the Circularity Series? It’s about jewellery items that are Seconds due to issues that arise in the painting and resin processes. Meanwhile, do share your thoughts in the comments - thank you!