Happy New Year, probably a bit late for that but here’s hoping 2021 is brighter, safer and happier for us all. Todays blog is all about how I got from a potatoe to a sparkly resin heart….

Dottie who owns The British Craft House, set us makers a challenge to create something different as long as it had a heart included. I’m always up for a challenge and I just got a new formbox. What’s a formbox you might ask, well, it’s basically a tool that helps you to create your own molds, so what better way to test it than a challenge!. I wanted my heart to be faceted so that when I cast it in resin you would be able to look at it from different angles and see the patterns. After a bit of research on how to create a template for the mold I settled on a humble spud.  I first cut it into a deep heart shape then cut facets and then into the formbox and 2 minutes later voila! my potatoe heart mold was created.

I used a resin that’s non toxic and uses 50% bio materials, some ink to colour and a few crushed gemstones and silver leaf for some sparkle.  Once poured into the mold I had to leave it for 2 days, it normally takes 24 hours but it was too flippin cold for it to set any quicker lol! so finally a day later than expected I got to turn out my heart and aside from a bit of cleaning up I think it turned out rather well considering it started out with a potatoe shape.  I also made some cement cabachons which will become jewellery soon, so I may do another blog for those.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you enjoyed reading about my challenge.

Take care and stay safe

Max

MaxPring
Hello and a very warm welcome to Max Pring Jewellery, here you will find a range of hand crafted artisan jewellery and accessories.My passion is for metal, I use mainly Silver alongside a little Gold, Copper and Brass. The main thing I love about metal is that it's so versatile, you can melt it, hammer it, bend it, stamp it, shape it, fuse it, add stones to it and if that's not enough you can texture it, paint it, heat it, etch it and polish it too.  You will see the majority of these techniques used in my work as I do love to play!. I find my inspiration from the lush Welsh countryside<em>, </em>living near Pontypridd in the Rhondda Valleys I have beautiful views across the rolling hills and a wildlife reserve just down the road. There's also a lot of old industrial sites where nature has stepped back in, but you can find some really old interesting textures and patterns on abandoned machinery so I'm never short of inspiration.I try to provide a range of items from simple designs that I make time and time again such as my wrap bangles and scarf rings alongside personalised items and one off artisan pieces, perfect if you like a little something different or want to give a gift with meaning.

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