Day 1 - Create and Resinate

• In the morning, make three collage bezels and resin paper
• In the afternoon, create an art journal page and cover with resin

Join Jen for this fast-moving and fun technique-based workshop where we learn the basics and well beyond of working with a two-part epoxy — jeweler's grade resin that stays crystal clear forever. Learn how to mix, pour, color with paint, color with spices, embed charms and objects, use organics, and collage three beautiful bezels.

Learn how to make resin paper — a creative technique that's a key to opening the door into a new world of possibilities. We'll also spend some time painting an 8 1/2" x 11" mixed media art journal page that we'll cover in resin to add a final "pop" that only this medium can truly provide.

You'll leave with new techniques and a head spinning with possibilities for how you'll be incorporating resin into your favorite art form.

Instructor provides all supplies…just bring a few items below and enjoy your day!

Please bring:

• Small zip-lock bag filled with bits of ephemera or paper scraps (if you have them and have saved them in your studio)
• A few flat-backed charms or buttons or broken bits of jewelry to add to your collages (if you wish to further personalize your bezels
• 3 paintbrushes in various widths
• Sharpie markers in black and white

Day 2 - Resin Casting: Real vs Faux

• Molding found objects and casting
• Surface treatment
• FInishing a necklace
• Journal cover with cast hardware

We will be making molds of hardware and other found objects that we'll cast in ICE Resin. Luscious surface treatment techniques will be used to transform our plain castings into little works of tromp l'oeil ("fool the eye") art where you and others will not be able to tell the real objects form the newly-made ones.

Our cast hardware will get finished off into a mixed media necklace that is easy to execute but looks complicated. If you've never made jewelry before, don't worry…now is the time to learn! 

We'll also be embellishing a journal cover using our castings.

For those who take both days of the workshop, please bring your resin papers and items from Day 1 to incorporate into your journal.

Instructor provides all supplies…just bring a few tools below and enjoy your day!

Please bring:

• An old key (a skeleton key looks cool, but any old key works well)
• A few charms or beads if you wish to add them to your necklace
• Scissors
• Round nose jewelry pliers
• Chain nose or flat nose jewelry pliers
• Wire snips

Jen Cushman is a natural storyteller who found mixed media art more than a decade ago and never looked back. She is drawn to the imperfect, the funky, the quirky, the artsy, and the authentic. She's the author of Making Metal Jewelry: How to Stamp, Forge, Fold and Form Metal Jewelry Designs (North Light 2013) and Explore, Create, Resinate: Mixed Media Techniques Using ICE Resin (January 2011). Jen writes a mixed-media jewelry column for Cloth, Paper, Scissors magazine called "The Mixed Media Metalsmith" and a business advice column called "The Art of Business" for Artists and Makers magazine. Her art has been published in numerous national publications including Belle Armoire Jewelry; Jewelry Affaire; Somerset Studios; Somerset Workshop; Cloth, Paper, Scissors, etc.

An enthusiastic and supportive instructor, Jen teaches more than art-making techniques; she encourages others to explore their authentic process to create personalized work infused with imagery and storytelling. She also presents seminars and talks on women and business, creativity and inspiration. 

Learn more at www.jencushman.com or follow her blog at jencushman.wordpress.com.