Thursday, March 20, 2014

Making a Heirloom Mirror with Vintage Jewelry


Over the years, I have acquired old jewelry and watch pieces from my
Mother and Grandmother. Many of these items were broken or if earrings,
only one remained. 

I had also saved several pieces from my childhood days
that always brought back memories and I had often
thought about adding them to a collage or something
to hang on the wall.

Recently an artist friend told me about a wonderful new product 
called Apoxie Sculptthat would be easier to work with instead of gluing 
tiny pieces to a wooden frame.

I ordered a 1 lb set from aves studio, which shipped in 2 containers. 

There are several videos online demonstrating how to mix the 2 parts, 
drying time, etc. However, is was really 
very simple - especially if you have ever worked with sculpty clay.

For my project, I first found a framed mirror. 
I actually purchased this one at a yard sale for $3.00.
The price for the clay was around $16 plus shipping.

I tape off mirror with painters tape and painted the frame black.
Then I layered my broken jewelry items around the frame,
thinking ahead how to best arrange them.



Once you have mixed up the 2 parts of Apoxie using rubber gloves,
position it on your frame and push the jewelry items into the clay.
I also added small vintage buttons and tiny beads around each brooch, pendant, etc.
The drying time for each section is about 3 hours. 

I worked on this over a period of several days, allowing each section 
to completely dry before adding more.