Friday, March 29, 2013

Spring Finch Egg Shimmer Mica Jewelry Set




Materials needed

3-Finch Eggs     24” Necklace Chain     2-Ear Wires     Styrofoam square  
3 Swivel up-eye Caps     6” 1mm Faceted Chain     1 small jump rings
90-9ss Swarovski flatback rhinestones     Eggstra Special 5-Min Epoxy
Terri Sproul's Shimmer Mica Color Set (Purple Pearl)     527 Glue
Embellie Gellie     Toothpicks      Small glue bottle     Mixing pad of paper

The finch eggs are delicate, so take care in epoxying the toothpicks into one end of the finch egg for a handle.  5 Minute epoxy is easy to work with, just remember you have only 5 minutes before the two parts become rock hard AND the epoxy has to be mixed in EQUAL amounts.

Once the toothpicks are glued into place, stick them in the Styrofoam for 5 minutes, until dry.

Pick your color of choice from the package of
Terri Sproul's Shimmer Mica Color Set To order set click here
 Discount of 20% till 3-31-2013...code "Shimmer03"
 
I am using Purple Shimmer. 
Of each bottle of epoxy make equal 1/2" lines on your paper pad.

Use a toothpick to mix the two lines together and with the wet toothpick dip into the jar of shimmer powder.
Mix the powder into the epoxy mixture and do this two or three times to get the shade you want.
 
Use the mixing toothpick to carefully cover the entire finch egg.  Do not put pressure on the egg, coat with the shimmer epoxy and then turn egg upside down to let excess drip off.  Once excess has dripped off, turn egg upside right and it will self-level all around the egg.  You may need to turn egg upside down again if epoxy puddles near the toothpick connection to the egg.
 
Remember you have 5 minutes from the start of mixing till the epoxy is rock hard.  Do each egg separately and set into Styrofoam to cure....do all three.
Once all three are finished, start with the first one completed and cut off the toothpick close to the egg.
Mix a very small amount of epoxy together and epoxy the swivel up-eye over the area where the toothpick was cut away from the finch egg.  The egg is no longer fragile and you can handle the egg with out  worry of breakage.  The swivel up-eyes allow the eggs to freely turn when wearing so to see all areas of the finished jewelry.
I use 527 glue into a small glue bottle with a 9mm tip to get fine control for applying jewelry findings and flatback stones to the eggs.  For each egg eyeball the egg in half and glue on the 1mm gold plated ball chain to divide the egg in half.  Do this to all three.


Cut off the tip of a toothpick so it is flat on one end.  Apply a bit of Embellie Gellie to the end of the toothpick.  This is a wonderful product to pick up small items like rhinestones, beads, findings and place onto the glue.  Apply 527 to one side of the 1mm ball chain and glue down 15 9ss Swarovski flatback rhinestones to each side of 1mm ball chain.  Do this to all eggs.


Apply the ear wires to two of the eggs and on one attach the jump ring and apply to the 24" necklace chain.

 
The finch egg necklace and earring set, glues, Embellie Gellie, supplies or kits are available from Eggstra Special
or email Virgi Bondi Email
 

8 comments:

  1. absolutely gorgeous. You did a wonderful job and thanks for the awesome tutorial

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  2. OMG, great job and thanks for the tutorial.

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  4. Totally GORGEOUS Virgi! Who knew finch eggs could look so AWESOME! THANKS for sharing!!!

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  5. Thank you for the great compliments. I make kits for this project and my customers love them in the many colors I offer. I had fun putting together this tutorial. :) Happy Egging!!!

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  6. Wow, that is so AWESOME, loved the way you made the eggs!

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  7. WOW - How did I miss this, This is fantastic, I don't have much skill as a jewellery maker, so this really interests me. Love how it all came together. Well done.

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