Creating Beautiful Bezels with ICE Resin by Susan Lenart Kazmer

A couple years ago, I discovered ICE Resin, a product developed by Susan Lenart Kazmer...she is one of the most inspiring artists I've ever met.  If you're not familiar with her work, click on the link above to view her amazing work.    

Susan worked with Spellbinders to develop a line of bezels and pendants...and I became very familiar with the products. I got to teach and demonstrate the products, literally around the world at trade shows and art events...here's a flashback from the blog archives where you can see some of the places and people I met...Creating Beautiful Bezels with Spellbinders Media Mixage...for me, it was an incredible experience to work with the products and to share them with other artists and crafters.  I'd not created any jewelry peices for years...so it was a nice reintroduction to jewelry making. 

And, over time as I worked with the products, I discovered a few techniques and tricks of my own when working with ICE Resin.  For example, the resin in the photo above is tinted with artists pastels...the resin looks like Lapis...it's a cool technique that I love to share in the workshops I teach today.

And, over time, as I have moved on and done other things, artistically and professionally, I still get asked to teach ICE Resin workshops...I absolutely love getting to share the techniques with students who attend.  The student work is always very inspiring.  Very often we create memory pieces...I ask students to bring family photos and personal letters and we set out to preserve family memories by creating pendants and bezels with those treasure images.  

During the course of the workshops, I often end up with some beautiful pieces that I've created with the students as examples and instructional pieces...I've started adding them to my etsy shop,          Ken Oliver Crafts. They're often too beautiful not to share.   

I'm still teaching ICE Resin workshops and in fact, I have a workshop on October 24th in my hometown.  The event is called ICE at the Edge, You can click on the link...or click on the ICE at the Edge banner at the side of this page for more details.  The event will be smaller and more intimate than many of the workshops I teach, and we're going to be in the most beautiful venue...our classroom over looks the Ohio River in Southern Indiana.   

I am getting really excited about ICE at the Edge. Students are traveling from as far away as Florida, Connecticut, and Minnesota to attend.  

If you'd like to enroll, it's really easy, and affordable and the workshop includes dinner...

And, at the end of the workshop, you'll have created 4 beautiful pendants that you can wear yourself, or give as gifts.  

As you can probably tell, I love working with ICE Resin...it's let me create and express my art in lots of new ways...I'd invite you to visit my etsy shop to see more...and hopefully, you'll think about coming to ICE at the Edge to learn how to create these beautiful pieces yourself.  I hope to see you there!  

Talismans for Everyday Living and Protection with Susan Lenart Kazmer and ICE Resin

tal·is·man-[tal-is-muhn] an object which is believed to contain certain magical or sacramental properties which would provide good luck for the possessor or possibly offer protection from evil or harm. 

I've long been intrigued with the study of talismans that Susan Lenart Kazmer has done over her career.  Whether pencils or paintbrushes, or the shapes we choose as our "talisman" shapes, we consciously or subconsciously infuse energy and power into the works we create with them. And whether we're aware of it or not, as we create, we assign power or magic into our work.  I was very pleased to work on some talisman pieces with ICE Resin.

In this piece, I brought together ICE Resin and a large natural quartz crystal to work together as a talisman. The clear quartz crystal is one of the most sacred stones of ancient cultures. Its clarity and transparency give it a mirror quality through which things can be seen clearly. The natural quartz crystal symbolizes white light energy. Crystals are also said to realign energies.  I set this large crystal in ICE Resin colored with pastel...the blue pastel makes the ICE Resin look like lapis, a stone that has been revered since antiquity for it's intense blue color. Together the crystal and the intense color of the ICE resin serve as my talisman for clarity of thought and inner peace.  The thing that makes this crystal talisman really meaningful to me is that the crystal was a gift.  Recently while teaching a class in St. Louis, my friend Ann Werner, came to me with a box, and gave it to me.  When I opened it, I found a box of beautiful natural crystals.  Her father collected them over his life, and as she told me, collected them, cleared them naturally by cleaning them in sand and ocean water with the express idea that they should be used for good, for healing and for love.  This was such a meaningful gift from Ann the fact that the crystals were from her father and his intent, really imbue a lot of good energy around them for me.  

Ann said she knew that I would appreciate them...she was right. Although Ann didn't know it at the time, I am going through some transitions in my life right now where I will need clarity of thought, harmony and inner peace. It's cool how the universe works like that.

     

I worked with another talisman this week too...recently a friend told me my animal spirit guide was a raven.  I've never really thought about it, or known too much about animal spirit guides, but when I learned about how the raven can be a spirit guide, it all kind of made sense to me.  

The Raven's wisdom includes introspection, courage, self-knowledge, magic, healing, creation, rebirth, keeper of secrets, master magician, shape shifter, mysticism. All of these attributes describe some aspect of my personality...It was interesting that someone actually looked at me and told me that the raven was my spirit guide, I was unaware.    

I chose to use the raven as the background of this talisman piece.  I hand painted a raven's eye as the focal point.  The raven can symbolize introspection, self knowledge, creation and rebirth...we understand those qualities by sight, whether by actually seeing something or through intuitive sight. The other feature of this talisman are tiny figures.  As I created this talisman, I wanted to invoke the mystical or symbolic powers of the raven to watch over or protect me, my family and those close to me. As artists, we tell our stories and communicate our ideas with imagery. These images and symbols work together as a protection talisman.  Although it's unorthodox...it's powerful.       

Talisman pieces are charged or infused with energy by those who create them.  It's really expanded my thinking as I've studied and worked with ICE Resin to create talismans this week.  And, after having created these pieces, I have a deeper understanding of the energy we use to create and the power behind that energy...which gives our artistic endeavors mystical if not magical meaning.  

Thank you for stopping by today, and thanks for letting me share some of my art with you...I hope you'll be inspired.  

til next time, Ken

Personal Histories Class Projects: Spellbinders' Media Mixage

Hey friends, I think you'll love some of the works of art that came out of last week's Media Mixage Class, Personal Histories, at For Keeps Sake Paper Arts and Rubber Stamps in St. Louis...the student projects were amazing.

We provided the basics for creating the pieces, bezels from Spellbinders Media Mixage and ICE Resin from Susan Lenart Kazmer...each student was asked to bring personal photos, handwritten letters or personal ephemera to use for the projects.  I was looking back through photos of the class and thought the projects we so beautiful and needed to be shared.    

The bezels above were created with pieces of paper from a student's recent trip the the U.K.  I love how this turned out...simply beautiful and a wonderful way to share her personal history...a trip to London.  

Judy created a tribute to her father...I loved watching her work on this piece...she put a great deal of love into it as she worked and reflected on her personal history with her dad....her project is just another way to share a personal history that is very meaningful.  And she will wear this piece close to her heart...in creating this piece she really created a story-telling piece of art that is a lasting symbol of her relationship with her father.  

Even when students used only the pieces that we provided, charms, ephemera, beads and stones, the stories told were beautiful.  

The vintage Santa bezel in the photo above would make an amazing package tie on or sweet gift at the holidays...and it's an instant heirloom it's so beautiful.

Watch parts and flowers look great under resin. 

Each bezel is a little treasure. 

Vintage family photos and vintage buttons share a beautiful family heritage in this student project.

Valerie used a school portrait of herself to create this beautiful piece...it will become another instant heirloom for her family.  I loved it.  

These pieces were really cool too...a photo of a tee-pee looks great and preserves the memory of a family trip.  I love the self portrait shadow bezel too on the bottom right.  

We used chunky antique glass glitter...you can embed it in the resin or float it on top...looks amazing.  

Wedding portraits look amazing in bezels and resin...it's a great way to commemorate that special occasion and a great way to symbolize the couple's love when paired with a heart charm.  Wedding portraits would be great in heart bezels too.  

I love how Ann used a vintage photo with a vintage shoe charm... she also used a bird blank from Media Mixage to back her bezel.  She affixed the bird and the keys to the left with ICE Resin...awesome techniques.  

In the bezel on the right, the student used textured art board to add wonderful texture as her background.  

I was really blessed and inspired to work with the amazing artists who took our class...I love watching the creative process and it's different for each person. 

I was also fortunate enough to have some friends in the class...here with Carolyn...she is a hoot and a half and makes me smile almost every day...and below with Ann and Sue...all amazing, accomplished artisans and crafters...it was a real privilege to work with them again...always inspiring.  

Thank you for stopping by today...the projects from our class were so amazing that I had to share them and I hope you'll be inspired to tell your story.  

Make it a great day and go create something beautiful! 

Ken

Creating Beautiful Bezels with Spellbinders Media Mixage

Hey everybody, I am blogging from the U.K. this week.  I am little excited to be attending the NEC Stitches Trade Show in Birmingham.  While at the show, I'm teaching techniques using Spellbinders newest line, Media Mixage.  

I love working with Media Mixage. It's a very versatile line of items that are especially designed for mixed media use. Spellbinders, Stacey Caron,teamed up with internationally known designer Susan Lenart Kasmer to develop a very cool line that includes bezels, and dies to match, blanks, with dies to match, texturing plates, emphemera papers, foils, even metal sheets.  And we've introduced a hip little machine called the Artisan X-Plorer.  The Artisan X-Plorer is a high pressure roller press that die cuts, texturizes metal and even presses. So, it's fun stuff to use, and I love that I've gotten try it out and work with it long before it hit the market. Our world launch has been a whirlwind...first at the Craft Association Show in Anaheim, than at Creative World in Frankfurt Germany, and now at the NEC Stitches trad show in Birmingham England.  And, I gotta tell you...folks are loving it!  

We've been teaching bezel techniques at the show.  This is a set of 3 bezels that is so fun and so easy to make because Spellbinders has taken all the guess work out of creating the elements you use to inside the bezel.  Along with the bezels designed by Susan Lenart Kazmer, Spellbinders created dies to match each of the bezel shapes.  

The die cuts our ephemera papers, that fit perfectly into the bezels.

Then it's as easy as selecting some finding and pieces to include inside your bezel.  I picked from a big lot of antique watch parts I'd bought in Germany.

Next collect all the pieces and other elements you'd like to include in your bezel.  I added rhinestone chain, gems, a flower, some jewelry  findings, antique glass glitter, and a vintage family photo. 

Create mini collages inside each bezel.  I glued the pieces down inside the bezel using 3-N-1 Adhesive, then after the collages were dry, filled them with ICE Resin by SLK.  

I used some of the most fabulous antique glass glitter in these bezels...it's sterling silver and very reflective. You can actually "float" glitter on top of the resin. 

And really, the next step is very easy...just wait....the resin takes about 6-8 hours to cure.  If you're impatient like me, it seems an eternity.  

Once the resin is cured, your mini collages are encapsulated in a crystal clear glass like bezel and they're so beautiful. 

To finish them off, add a bead to the jump ring on the bottom and some ribbon or chain to the jump ring on the top.  I used antique silk sari ribbon from Nepal.  The wonderful thing about Media Mixage is that you can use just about anything you want to create these bezels...you can personalize in so many ways. And the bezels are great for all kinds of projects. 

A tiny bezel added to the front of an handmade card becomes an instant keepsake.  You can fill them with family photos, a button, an a scrap of fabric to create beautiful embellishments for scrapbook layouts.  The possibilities with Media Mixage are endless...the new product line really lets you Explore Beyond the boundaries of your normal crafting world and I know you are going to love it. 

Teaching at Stitches in Birmingham has been really fun this week...getting to show crafters new ways they can create is really rewarding...when you see the light bulb, that "flash" of idea light up in their heads...it's magical!  Even the President of The Craft and Hobby Association loves to create with Spellbinders Media Mixage. Andrej Suskavcevic stopped by for some one on one instruction for creating bezels and working with ICE Resin.  

It's been a real joy this week in the U.K. getting to work with, and teach so many creative folks about using Media Mixage.  It's really so fulfilling to see the creative process inside each person come alive when they realize the beautiful little works of art they can create with the new Spellbinders product...it's like a spark ignites in their imaginations...you can really feel the creative energy when they get their hands on the new products....I love it!    

Thank you for stopping by today...I hope you'll be inspired to create something beautiful today!

Cheerio!

Ken

October 1, 2014

Here's a little update to let you see what I've been up to with ICE Resin

Creating Beautiful Bezels with ICE Resin  

Over the past couple years, I've been asked to teach ICE Resin workshops around the world...I absolutely love sharing the techniques with students...in fact, I am hosting an ICE Resin event on Friday October 24, 2014 in Newburgh Indiana...the event is called ICE at the Edge...it's going to be an awesome event...and I hope you can come.  Learn how you can enroll by clicking the link or the ICE at the Edge banner at the side of this page.