Over the past month I've shared a few of my resin jewellery-making ideas with you as the Featured Artist on the Amazing Casting Products blog. But resin doesn't have to be reserved only for jewellery - it is equally suitable for creating home decorator items. The starting point for my final project, the  "Inspiration Post",  is a beautiful Egyptian Perfume bottle that I'll be recreating in resin. You can read about the backstory that inspired these beautiful bottles on the  Amazing Casting Products blog . Whilst you're there, take a look through the archives for some other wonderful inspiration. I was a bit nervous undertaking this project because I had no idea if I’d be able to remove my precious bottle from the Mold Putty once it had cured. But I took a deep breath and proceeded anyway! Here’s what you’ll need to create the mould for the central bead: Amazing Mold Putty Egyptian perfume bottle   To cast the bead, you’ll need: Alumilite Clear Casting Resin A......

There's nothing more annoying than running out of  head pins or eye pins in the middle of a project. Sometimes I buy them in bulk to avoid that happening and whilst it can save a bundle of money, it can bring with it the extra effort of having to straighten them if they are mangled inside the package. And you can't always tell that from the outside of the pack. It's not until you open it that you might find they look more like the photo below. So my job today is to straighten out the kinks on the mangled ones hidden amongst them. Sometimes you can just run the pin through nylon jaw pliers but for ones with kinks like these or if your pins are made of a heavier gauge, you need to get rid of the kinks first. My method is to place the bent part into the jaws of my flat nose pliers and press down firmly. You can see how it has flattened that kink quite well. Once you've removed the major kinks, then you can run the pin through the nylon jaw pliers to straighten it out compl......

It's time for another instalment in the What is that Finding? series. At first glance, this little finding, with its round cup at one end and tag with a hole at the other, looks rather similar to a calotte (aka clam shell or bead tip). Like a calotte, this finding is designed to encase the stringing material ready for attachment to a clasp. But because it's hinged on the side rather than on the end, it's able to accommodate a different kind of stringing material. Can you guess what that stringing material might be? Let me give you a hint. It's a type of chain. If you've guessed ball chain then you're spot on. This little finding is called a ball chain end or a ball chain crimp end. If you've worked with ball chain before, you're probably more familiar with the ball chain connector that has a slit at each end for the last link of ball chain to sit in. A ball chain connector eliminates the need for a clasp but it only works for a single strand of chain. T......