How to Use Crystal Clay with Gilding Flakes and Nunn Design Resin to Create Mixed Media Charms

	Crystal Clay 2-Part Epoxy Clay Kit - Black 50g SKU: TRC-222 $15.99
	Nunn Design 2-Part Epoxy Resin Kit, Jewelers Grade Clear, 8 Oz Kit SKU: TRC-14 $44.09
	Nunn Design Mini Bezel Pendant, Crescent Moon 11.5x18.5mm, Antiqued Gold (1 Piece) SKU: PND-113 $2.69
	Nuvo Gilding Flakes. Metallic Foil for Crafts, Radiant Gold, 200ml / 6.8.fl.oz SKU: XTL-1287 $12.99
	Nuvo Gilding Flakes, Metallic Foil for Crafts, Silver Bullion, 200ml / 6.8.fl.oz SKU: XTL-1286 $11.99
	Nunn Design Open Frame Pendant, Horseshoe 20x49mm, Antiqued Gold (1 Piece) SKU: PND-147 $3.99
	Nunn Design Open Frame Pendant, Oval Point 37x51.5mm, Antiqued Gold (1 Piece) SKU: PND-913 $4.79
	Nunn Design Mini Bezel Pendant, Star 16x18.5mm, Antiqued Silver (1 Piece) SKU: PND-117 $2.69
	Nunn Design Bezel Lapel Pin, Mini Circle 12.5mm, Antiqued Silver (1 Piece) SKU: PND-08402 $3.69

Note: This audio transcript is auto-generated and may not be completely accurate.
hi this is becky nunn with nunn design guest designer for beadaholique.com design resin to create fun charms here's some of the pieces that you can create using this technique this is a little charm necklace using a couple of different little charms bezels from Nunn design the base of it is the crystal clay with the gilding flakes and then the Nunn design resin over the top of it here are other examples of how you can use the piece this technique I actually use the actual frame and then put the resin over the top on this particular piece here a pair of earrings just simple little post earrings that you can use this technique with and here's another example of a post earring or you can make all kinds of different charms and dangle them right off of the open hoops here's an example of how you can actually use them on a flat tag and do the same sort of technique here are some of the items that you will need for doing the technique using the Nunn design findings the crystal clay the Nunn design resin and the gilding flakes first you'll need to decide on some of the pieces that you would like to use of the Nunn design line here's some of the tiny little bezels that we offer you can also use some of the lapel pins for example and I'll show you how you can take off the backs and use and create a level surface with those but any of the Nunn design bezels flat tags rings even the bracelets will work for this technique the Nunn design castings are a lead-free pewter that we then plate with 24 karat gold 0.995 silver and copper and then we put on an oxidization onto the pieces to kind of give them that aged look sometimes that oxidization isn't the best when you're working with resin or with even the crystal clay so I like to clean all my pieces before I start to use the clay in the resin take a little bit of rubbing alcohol and a little q-tip and then just go ahead and clean the surface of the pieces to remove any of the oxidization I just go around the outside edge here because this is going to show when we have put the resin poured over and you can clean the back if you want to and then place those down on your work surface and do both of your pieces sometimes the oxidization is heavier than others on these pieces I won't worry about it too much but just you want to just rub it off because that will show when you put that resin over the top of it you can see how much of that is coming off on my q-tip after you've cleaned the Nunn design bezels with your rubbing alcohol you're ready to mix your crystal clay and then put on your gilding flakes crystal clay is a two-part epoxy clay that air dries you have approximately 90 to 120 minutes to work with it before it becomes very hard and you no longer can embed it or even move it you have about two and a half hours it says here but I find it's 90 to 120 minutes and then it is completely cured in 14 to 16 hours and there's no baking or shrinking so inside of your kit you'll have your clay it comes in many different colors we're working with the black it also comes with some gloves and it also has a beeswax toothpick inside of the kit you'll want to go ahead and put on your gloves when you open up your package and pinch off to size equal balls like you're seeing here another thing before you even mix your clay is you'll want to pull out your gilding flakes the gilding flakes come in little containers like this the nouveau gilding flakes and it's available in the copper I'm using a gold and they're also a silver open up your container and pull out when you open it at first these kind of fly about and you'll just want to go ahead and pin shaf I'll tiny little bit I just used you can get a toothpick and just wet it on the end and just pick it up really easily and place it onto your work surface or you can just go ahead and pick up a little piece and place it down on your workplace once you have all of your ingredients ready you're ready to start mixing your clay so with the two parts that are already pinched off move this little guy over here you'll want to whoop see I already have sittin on my finger you go ahead and just wipe that off with a wet wipe if you get some on your fingers you have your two equal size balls of the clay you should be wearing your gloves when you're doing this but as you can see I don't you're just gonna go ahead and mix this clay together until it is no longer marbled and it's completely blended together this clay is very moist but sometimes when you open up your package of crystal clay you might find your clay to be a lot firmer you can go ahead and put it into a warm water bath and let it warm up a bit before you mix it together when you're restoring your packages of crystal clay once you've opened them the part a and the B package you want to store those into separate packages our separate ziplock bags I find that that also helps with the duration of how long the clay will last for now my clay is completely mixed together and sometimes when you're working with the clay you might have a lot of the ink from the black come off on your hands and if that's the case just take your wet wipe and wipe your fingers thoroughly I like to wipe my hands often so that I don't get items either the clay or the flakes on to my bezels now I'm ready to put my clay into the bezels these pieces are really really tiny so you'll want to pinch off a very small ball of the clay you can see even when I'm pinched off even a pea-sized and made a very large portion of this so you'll want to have several Joe's ready so that you can utilize your clay or pinch off smaller balls once you have pinched off the ball this is even going to be too big but I want to show you what it looks like when you have too much you'll take off a ball roll it in the palm of your hand and your finger so you can get it to be a nice smooth ball like such and then you're gonna pick up your bezel and you're gonna press your clay down into it so right off you can see that I have way too much clay even with that small ball so you'll make it even smaller and if you're doing like a pair of earrings or something like that you'll want to make your balls up front so they're the same size in the same amount of clay it just makes it faster when you're doing a pair so now you can see I have a teeny tiny ball and now I'm ready to press that into the bezel and if I don't have enough I can add more to it now I'm using my finger I pressed it down flat into the bezel and you can use your finger to move the clay in the direction that you want so like I'm pulling it down this way and moving it down into this corner and over into the side so I wanted to show you a triangle or a star or a moon because these are some of the harder pieces to get the clay to go down into the crevices circles are super easy and fast this one is going to be more challenging for you so you want to use a toothpick to go into those cornered areas and press the clay into the area that you'd like it to go into you're wanting to put the clay down into the base of the trying of this of the star in all the little corners if you'd like to I have it all into the base here and now if I wanted to add more clay into that surface and bring up the height so that the flakes are sitting right on the top I'd take off another little tiny bit and add that now I know I have it all the way into those corners and it'll usually go into the piece into all of the little edges so I'm using my thumb to press and push the clay out to those edges all right so once you have the clay in there I'm ideally I'd like to have that be a nice flat surface but I'm gonna go ahead and move on to the next step once your clay is all in there you'll use your wet wipe to just wipe away the clay on the side edges because once this hardens it's like cement so clean up as you go make sure your fingers are clean as you go I have a little bit of the gilding flakes right here so I can wipe those and remove those off of the piece now I'm ready to put a little bit of the gilding flakes right on to the wet crystal clay so using a pair of either tweezers or you can use a toothpick you'll want to go in and pick up a little bit of the gilding flakes you can either rip these off those little pieces off it sometimes is easiest to work with like multiple toothpicks or work with even the the beeswax applicator that comes in the kit this was the one this has a beeswax so it makes it super easy to pick up things or but you want to try to keep it away from your hands because as you saw it stuck to the surface of my fingers so you're just going to take off a little bit of that with your toothpick and you just lay it right on to the crystal clay while it's wet and then if I wanted to have multiple colors that looks like a little bit much you can either take off a little bit of it just a tiny little accident of that silver now it's going to go on and place that on to there can't see much of that so it's out a little bit more once you have your silver and your gold flakes inside of the bezel where you'd like it to be and it's kind of nice just to have it be a little bit abstract you'll want to take a q-tip and just slightly dab it and press it down into the clay if you don't like where some of the mica flakes or the gilding flakes have arrived onto the surface you can either pick them off like that and make it to the design that you'd like once you've mixed the crystal clay and put your gilding flakes in and then wet them fully wipe them down with a wet wipe you're ready to pour your resin on them and that's what's creating this high-gloss look I'm gonna use the Nunn design resin it comes in a little kit like you're seeing here inside of the kit there is the part a and B and when this is mixed and is that then activated you pour it on to the pieces and then it cures so inside of your kit you want to open it up and inside there you will have some mixing cups you want to take out one of the mixing cups I always like to have a little bit of plastic that I can work on the surface when I'm mixing them and here's your Part A and your Part B you'll also have some stir sticks in your kit and then I used to I like to use toothpicks quite frequently and I have some wet wipes that are always handy and in my lap another thing that you'll need is a timer so that you'll wait you can you can time the mixing of the resin which is going to be an important step other things that I have on the ready are some business cards because I like to place my little pieces onto the business cards it makes it easy for me to move those pieces around from surface to surface and I also have on the ready if I was mixing and pouring them on to some earring posts you would want to have like two blocks like you're seeing here I've covered these with plastic and if you are using like a lapel pin or a or a pair of earrings or something like that you'd put the two blocks together and then you'd have a surface in which they'll the the Pell pin you take off the back and then it has a surface where it can rest and by adding the plastic the tape onto the surface of the blocks if you have any over poor it makes it super easy for you to get that to remove the item from the block and not have the would stick to the resin and then stuck on here it releases very easily when you have the plastic on it so that's those are some of the things that I would do if I was doing a pair of earrings or a lapel pin we're focusing on these little bezels here and next we're ready to mix our resin so with the resin you'll always start out with the part a and then you move on to the Part B you'll want to have a surface in which you can work on and you're going to fill this first batch up to the one teaspoon mark you excuse me no it's not just the one tablespoon mark so Part A always goes in first up to the one tablespoon and then you put in the B always a and then B so go ahead and open up your container and I like to get right down to eye level so that I can see my pieces or I can see actually when I'm hitting that one teaspoon I'm shooting one tablespoon mark so you just kind of pour in the resin until you hit that mark and you want to be very precise because this is very sensitive it has to be a one to one ratio and as you saw I started to hit that mark and I started to twist my container to slow up my poor I'm letting it level out and now I've hit exactly where that one tablespoon mark is I like to use a little wet wipe to wipe away that resin before I put my top back on and then put the top back on now I'm ready to do the same with the Part B this time moving it pouring it all the way up to the two tbsp mark you have to mix one full cup in order for this formula to activate and cure properly so one-to-one ratio it has to be one tablespoon to one tablespoon make sure read it for your resin in wipe off the cap put the cap back on and now you're ready to mix before I mix this and activate it I'm gonna go ahead and lay out my tube business cards onto my surface and this is what my little charms are gonna go on to I like to make sure all my ingredients are ready I have my toothpicks ready I have my stir stick ready and I have my timer ready so now I'm ready to let me go ahead and log into my timer I'm gonna set my timer for two minutes so have it on the 2-minute and I'm ready to start with your fat stir stick that comes in the package you're gonna slowly mix your resin together and you can see it kind of gets a little marbled and muddled at first and I'm going around the outside edge and scraping the edges and kind of just folding it over it's a full cup but if you go slow scraping the sides and then wiping the sides off as you go and then continuing you'll do this for a full two minutes after you've mix the resin for two minutes you'll have it it'll be clear is no longer marbled but you might have a lot of little bubbles inside of there if you'd like you can wait another five minutes placing this under a heat lamp of some sort like I have a gloop a gooseneck lamp that I bend down and place over it and the heat of my gooseneck lamp makes the bubbles rise to the surface and pop then you wouldn't have as many bubbles as you're seeing in the surface and in the resin here but I'm gonna go ahead and move on and I'm going to you only need a tiny bit of this resin so toothpicks are ideal for this so you'll want to pick up a little bit of the resin right on your toothpick did you see how I just kind of swirled it around inside of here and then swirled my toothpick to pick up a little bit of that resin and since these pieces are so tiny you're only going to need a small amount drizzle a small amount on to the surface of your piece and I also like to use again I don't want to get too close to this piece with my fingers so I'll either rotate it around and hold it into position with my another toothpick drizzle a small amount of the resin in and then you're gonna bring it over dragging it out on to the very tips of the piece so we rotate that around you can see me bringing this resin down into this corner and depending on how high you would like your dome to be you can add a little bit more resin but when you're first starting out be really conservative and go really slow because it'll make it a lot easier for you not to have any overflow now that piece is out of there it's done so I'm gonna move it out of there and put it over there and we can move on to the star picking up a little bit of resin so I swirled it around on my with my toothpick and now there's a litt right into the bezel so I'm gonna hold it into position with this one and drag it to the side edges when you first start this out this will feel a little bit awkward because I'm making it look really easy but I have experience of working with these two toothpicks and moving it around what I love about this technique is I've poured this resin right on to the wet crystal clay I did not need to let that resin the first epoxy resin that went down that crystal clay I did not need to let that cure first I can just pour it right on to the wet clay if you have any bubbles that rise to the surface you'll want to use your hot breath I'm going to take this off of the camera and you'll hear me but I'm gonna use my hot breath and a huff and it will make the bubbles expand and pop now you'll let these pieces sit and cure they should be pretty tah they'll be slightly tacky but hard at 12 hours but you have this will continue to continue to cure for up to 72 hours your pieces are fully cured you're ready to assemble them you can make necklaces and earrings such as I have here on these two pieces I used some design jump rings and some satellite ball chain attached it with some crimp connectors and a lobster clasp to make this fun necklace on this piece here I used a tiny little bezel put together with some couple of the Nunn design jump rings onto an open frame and some chain and for this piece I used the earring post attached it with a textured jump ring and added on a fun triangle drop this is becky nunn with nunn design showing you how you can use crystal clay into the base gilding flakes over the top of the crystal flat clay and then unto sign rezident over the top to make these fun pieces thanks for joining us