Making horsehair jewelry

Do you want a beautiful and personal piece of jewelry with the hair of your own horse? Did you know that you can easily make a beautiful emotional piece of jewelry yourself? Eliza explains how to do this. Read on quickly!

It's great that you're interested in this blog. I'll introduce myself first: my name is Eliza. I've been crazy about horses since I was little and I still ride them now. But what if you hear that your loyal friend is slowly going blind and you have to let him go? At first I wanted a few photos as a memory. I took them, until one of the photos of another pony gave me the idea to make key rings or jewelry with the hair. That's how the idea came about to incorporate gold decoration in combination with hair in resin, so that I can always have my loyal friend with me. Let's get started!

Supplies:
- Lock of hair
- UV resin
- I used the silicone mold for 12 pendants in this example. You can also choose the silicone mold horse or another mold
- Keychains if you are going to make keychains
- Screw eyes , rings and pliers
- Hand drill for holes

Tools / decorations:
- Kitchen paper and cotton swabs to prevent spills
- Clothes that can get dirty
- Mixing cup
- Lighter or heat tool
- Decorations such as flowers or stones
- Gloves
- A pair of tweezers

Step 1: Preparation

First of all I make sure I have all the stuff I need together. Make sure the hair you want to use is washed and dry. If you don't do this your UV resin might not cure properly or you might get dirty spots in your end result. Make sure you work inside, otherwise your resin might cure too fast because of the sun outside.

Step 2: Pour a first layer

First we are going to pour a thin layer with the resin and the hairs. If you pour in one go, the hairs can sink to the bottom.
Pour a thin layer of UV resin into your silicone mold and add a lock of hair. Once you have poured the resin, carefully go over your creation with a burner (lighter for example) so that the air bubbles burst. Be careful when using a lighter that you do not burn your horse hair.

Tip: are you using the same itsOkay mold as I am? Then this mold already has a hole through which you can later put a chain. However, I am making a key ring. If you do this too, cut the pin out of the mold.

The jewelry resin dries in a few minutes by means of UV light. Normal resin is a bit cheaper, but it only dries in 48 hours and that is why I like to use this. You can let the jewelry resin dry if you work indoors under a UV LED lamp or you put it outside for a few minutes when the sun breaks through (the resin also dries when it is cloudy).
Let your layer harden 2-3 times under the lamp or outside: do not turn your mold upside down! There is a chance that the edges will come loose and you will eventually get air bubbles in your work.

Step 3: Pour the final layer

After hardening, fill your mold completely with the jewelry resin and add your decorations. And let this harden 2 times again.
Tip: are you adding rose gold decoration metal like me? Stir it a bit with a skewer and you will get some finer pieces.

Step 4: Full Curing

Now you can turn your mold over and let it harden on the other side. I usually do this 3 or 4 times to make sure it is really hard. Is your work still sticky? Then harden it a bit longer.

Step 5: Remove from the mold

Now you can remove your work from the mold and in principle you could now make a key ring from it and then you are done. However, I finish both sides with a thin layer of UV resin which I spread neatly over it with a popsicle stick so that you can no longer see all the irregularities. I let this harden well again.

Step 6: Finishing

Now you can finish your creation. Make a hole in the top of the mold with a drill and screw a screw eye in it. Attach a metal ring to it and attach a chain or key ring to it, for example. You can get everything at itsOkay.

Have fun crafting! I am curious about your creations. Greetings, Eliza.

Some more tips!

• Preferably use the UV Resin from itsOkay and not the 1:1 variant. Your hair is so light that it will float and because you use a number of them, some of it will come loose. You could solve this by pouring in layers, but I don't have the patience to spend 3 days on that, so I choose the Jewelry Resin that hardens in a few minutes.
• If the hair is very dirty wash it several times in a row or let it soak for a while in a bowl with shampoo and water. I use the NAF show off shampoo, this is ideal.
• I leave my final product in front of the window for another day to make sure it is hard and that not too much dust sticks to it.
• Don't use the whole pot of leaf metal, but put a little bit in a container. If resin gets here, you won't lose it all at once.
• When using a lighter to pop your bubbles, be careful not to set your horsehair on fire.

More information?

Do you have questions about making art, jewelry or casting/coating floors or other objects? At itsOkay we have several epoxy experts each with their own expertise. We are happy to help you.
Contact the itsOkay customer service or take a look at the Epoxy knowledge center .

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