Jill MacKay Bezel Experimentations...

The delightful, Jill MacKay sent me some bezels from her new line from Darice Inc. to experiment with. I was really impressed with the craftsmanship and how nice the sterling silver bezels were. One of the distinguishable perks is that these bezels have nice, high walls. This is perfect for all manner of goodies to be embedded or to have multiple layers of resin poured.

Below are a few of my experimentations.

I wanted to add a little bit of color, but still retain the arabesque lattice-work design in the background. I used vintage sequins from Gail Crosman Moore. Since the sequins are slightly cupped in shape, it's tricky to get them embedded without trapping a lot of air-bubbles. The secret is pouring a layer first, then sprinkling the sequins in, and then topping it off with another layer. Using a tooth pick, I was able to flip around the sequins in the resin, releasing any air-bubbles.

I like how this turned out, even though it turned over very different than I had imagined. I sprinkled in vintage simulated pearls and some Swarovski crystals. You might ask yourself, "Where are the Swarovski crystals?" Good question. Apparently after being submerged in the resin, the crystals seem to disappear. I imagine it has something to do with the refraction of light and how the facets are embedded in resin, but I'm not sure. If you look really closely, you can see the most subtle color differences sprinkled throughout from the black diamond Swarovski crystals. I'm going to try to half-way embed the crystals next time. Even though it didn't turn out quite how I imagined, I do like how the pearls look like some kind of enchanted fruit on the vine of a magical plant.

For those that love Steampunk, these are perfect! I could stack and layer watch gears and cogs all day. Ideally I would have had some of the underlying design motif to come through a little more, but unfortunately knocked my carefully stacked parts over while pouring the resin. Really, the possibilities are endless!

The earrings are some of my favorites! I love the studded sides and how even for a substantial sized set of bezels, they are surprisingly lightweight. For these I scanned in a butterfly from a field-guide and printed it out on a white background. I then went to my local copy shop and color-copied them onto wet media acetate. It's important to use a heat-set or laser printer, because an inkjet's ink will lift in the resin. Once I had the copies on the wet-media acetate, I trimmed them and submerged them in the resin. Since the wet media acetate doesn't breathe and isn't porous, it's necessary to remove the air-bubbles trapped underneath the plastic. I think these came out fantastic! I love how the pattern of the butterfly's wings were overlaid on top of Jill's design. It adds color and personalizes them. (An added bonus is that the resin causes the ink to seem brighter and more saturated.)

I definitely recommend Jill MacKay's new line of bezels. They're a versatile set of components perfect for customization.

Required FTC Disclosure: These items came free of charge. I was not paid by Jill MacKay or Darice INC. for my honest review of their products.