Beetles in Resin Jewelry!

 Beetles in Resin Jewelry!
Real beetles and bugs!

 Perfect Halloween Necklaces!

 First off...you need to acquire some bugs.
We found this big brown beetle and the iridescent dung beetle in our swimming pool.
I found tons of black sugarcane beetles dead...zapped by
 our bug zapper...all over the back patio.

 Make creepy and spooky paper weights and necklaces!

 You will need:
Silicone cake pop mold (not to use with food)
Clear polyester casting resin
Beetles
Plastic cup
Popsicle sticks

Casting resin is a bit iffy.
It has 2 parts...the resin and the catalyst.
I put about 1/2 cup in the plastic cup and about 15 drops of catalyst.
There are directions based on how thick you are making things.

 Work in an extremely well ventilated area...this has a powerful odor!
 Pour a small amount in each of the cake pop molds

 Just about a quarter of an inch.
This way your beetles will be entirely encased.

 Cover with cling wrap and let it gel for a few minutes.
About 10 minutes

 Now you will need your little victims...

 Using tweezers,
place the beetles (or velvet ant) in the gel.
Try to get it right in the center.

 Looking good!

 Now mix up about the same amount more of resin.

 Slowly pour over the rest of the bugs.

Once they are encased,
cover with cling wrap again...
and let them set for hours.

 At least let them sit for a day or 2.
Once you pop them out of the mold they might be a little cloudy looking...

 Quickly buff them in a soft cloth...

 And they will shine and glow clear!

They look great!

Perfect at this point for knick knacks or paper weights!

But let's go another step forward and make creepy jewelry!
You'll need a drill/bit, jump rings and chain

 Carefully drill a hole in the side of the resin, close to the back.

 So it drills through like this!

 Now use some pliers and jump rings and put
them right through the hole you drilled.

 Pendant ready!

 Put them on a chain and you are ready to rock the creepy bug jewelry!

Resin casting is a lot of fun!
This was my first try...and now my mind is
full of other fun things to cast in resin!

 Get ready for some attention!

What would you cast in resin?

This post published on Doodlecraft first