Today I want to spotlight the two cuffs in that pile.
I was disappointed with both of them when I pulled them from the mould; the tortoiseshell one was dull and lifeless and the marbling in the blue one was very mottled and not really marbled at all.
I hadn't achieved the look I was after in either of them. But I could see a way to improve them both and it just involved a little bit of elbow grease. These two cuffs are going to get two very different looks.... high gloss for the tortoiseshell cuff and frosted for the icy blue one.
Let's look at the tortoiseshell one first.
This was cast with amber resin and marbled with brown and black pigments. It was rather dull and lifeless when it came out of the mould but it had some great black veins of pigment swirling through it. There's definite potential here so I gave it the "Glossy, Glossier, Glossiest" treatment - 9 grades of sandpaper followed by a final buffing.
Look at how the polishing treatment has brought out the colour!
This is a bangle that definitely looks better glossy than matt!
The blue bangle on the other hand is a different kettle of fish.
The colour of this was very cool and it reminded me of sea glass so I decided to give it the frosted look to completely disguise the mottled marbling. This effect is much easier to achieve than the glossy look because you only need a couple of grades of course sandpaper.
The before photo hasn't picked up the translucency or the marbling of this bangle but you can see it's a little bit mottled.
After sanding it with a couple of grades of course sandpaper, it has disguised the mottling and given it a lovely frosted surface. It's a great improvement on the original look!
So glossy works for some bangles and frosted works for others. But how do you know whether to buff to a high polish or not?
Well I have a little trick that I use which helps me decide. Hold the bangle under water and then lift it out. How it looks whilst it still has water on it is a really good indication of how it will look if it's buffed. So if you like it, then buff it; if you don't, then leave it be.
I'll be back with another resin tip later in the week.
'Til next time.....
If you can't get enough of My Tutorials and you want even more inspiration, click here to find my books and printable pdfs
