With UV Resin (epoxy resin) you can make the most beautiful jewelry and art. After reading this fun DIY you will know exactly how to make pendants with flowers and leaves yourself.
This manual is written by an expert in the field of jewelry making: Colette from BeLeaf Art . She makes the most beautiful jewelry and other creations and then uses dried flowers and leaves herself. So you will learn from the best! 
My name is Colette and with my company BeLeaf Art I make jewelry with pieces of real nature cast in UV Resin (ready-made resin). Beautiful or special details of real flower petals, plant leaves, umbel flowers and birch bark I capture in jewelry. Each piece of jewelry is made with a lot of attention, patience, precision and love ;-). Everything is handmade and custom-made and each piece of jewelry is unique: none is the same. This way you always carry nature close to you. The nice thing is: many flowers, plants and trees have a beautiful symbolic meaning that makes your jewelry extra valuable.
The best thing is that you can find this yourself in nature. Pick selectively and make sure the plant does not suffer. You can also use beautiful flowers from almost faded bouquets. In the meantime I am completely leaf minded ;-).
Take a walk and you will be amazed at what you encounter. Everywhere you go you will see flowers, plants or trees. That is why I always carry different sizes of watercolor sketchbooks with thick elastic around them. The paper of these sketchbooks is perfect for pressing leaves, because it absorbs moisture well. This way I can immediately dry and press a freshly picked flower or leaf. I also always have a pocket knife or flower scissors and a pen nearby. Then I can immediately write where + when I picked it and what kind of leaf it is.
The birch bark with which I have made many jewelry, naturally peels off the trees and I take pieces of it with me. This bark has different layers that you can carefully pull apart again. Each layer has a completely different color. For example, one piece of birch bark can have amber, white, brown and beige in it. So cool.
After picking or gathering, you only sort out the most beautiful leaves. Look at the veins, the lines of the leaf, the colours, the thickness and the size. Only the most beautiful ones remain and go into the plant press to dry and straighten/flatten. Also the birch bark, because it curls terribly. Note: only put it in the press when it is dry.
Place the leaves of the same thickness together in one layer in the plant press. Between each layer a piece of cardboard and absorbent paper. I often open the plant press a few times in the first 1 to 1.5 weeks to see how the drying and pressing process is going.
Some leaves contain a lot of moisture. If you do not replace the paper it is between, it can become moldy and you can throw all the leaves away. Not every leaf comes out the same in terms of lines and color as when you put it in. But that does not have to be bad. The color of some leaves disappears, but even the remaining brown/beige color can be very beautiful. Some leaves come out in a completely different color. Such a nice surprise every time. 
Write on each press what you put in it and the date. If you are drying a lot of leaves this is handy so you know exactly when what is finished drying. Thin leaves only take a week to dry; others take up to 3 weeks.
After 1-3 weeks, the press opens. Are you also super curious about the result? If the drying and pressing process went well, most leaves will come out as delicate paper. It is advisable to only use tweezers, because if you want to grab the leaves with your fingers, there is a big chance that they will break. Then you make a selection of the most beautiful and best leaves for your handmade jewelry.
If you dry multiple leaves and flowers, it is best to sort them. For example, do this in a storage box with many compartments and then put it away in a dark cupboard. In the long run (months/years) the color disappears from flowers and leaves, but you can slow down that process by putting them in the dark.
The UV Resin that you will pour onto the flowers will ensure that the colour is retained for a long time.
Choose which leaf you want to use for your homemade jewelry. You can pour flowers into charms that are closed at the back like the closed round pendants . Then you cut the leaves to size.
Sometimes I choose all earth tones, other times bright colours or I select on the veins. Because dried flowers and leaves are very fragile, this is a difficult job. It requires a lot of patience. Cutting often fails, because the leaf breaks off and then you have to start over again.
I use tweezers , small scissors and very sharp blades (scalp knife). Make sure the cut leaf fits very precisely in the pendant and place it on a level surface. After this we go to the next step: the casting!
I use itsOkay UV resin for making jewelry. UV resin is a 1-component epoxy that is ready to use. The resin hardens to a kind of glassy plastic. You do not have to mix this epoxy in advance, unlike other types of epoxy. UV resin hardens within a few minutes by means of UV light.
Fill the pendant with a thin layer of UV resin. Spread the resin evenly over the surface of the pendant. Let this first layer harden for just a few seconds, so that you can place the cut-out leaf on it without it 'drowning' in the synthetic resin. The synthetic resin acts more like glue. Then let the resin harden under a UV lamp .
Then build each pendant in multiple thin layers of UV resin . This is so that you can remove any air bubbles that may occur during casting or curing. Pop any air bubbles with a heat tool.
When the pendant is completely filled with resin, we will pour the last layer. Very carefully apply a little resin in the middle of the pendant, but do not let it run over the edges. This will result in a beautiful bulge. Then let this harden again under the UV lamp . So cool to see that it magnifies the patterns, lines and the intensity of the colors of the leaf. 
The most beautiful leaf so far I think is the purple/pink orchid, but also the most difficult to work with. When I am 100% satisfied with the piece of jewelry, I will photograph and edit it for Instagram and the webshop. Because I am also a filmmaker/photographer I fortunately have a feeling for this and I love doing it. 
You can view my creations on my social media and website. As precise as how I work is art, if you want to make a pendant yourself, you don't have to.
Get started quickly and make beautiful nature pendants yourself.
Do you want to make this too?
- Hangers for epoxy
- Dried flowers / Dried leaves
- UV Resin
- UV Lamp for epoxy
Do you have questions about making art, jewelry or other objects? At itsOkay, several epoxy experts work with each their own expertise. We are happy to help you.
Please contact itsOkay customer service or take a look at the Epoxy knowledge center .
Disclaimer: All photos are made by and owned by Colette. These photos may not be used or shared. All photos are copyrighted.
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