Cement/epoxy and mold vendors?

[galenaglass]

Hi All,

We're hoping to add our own line of jewelry to our glass/art gallery, and want to experiment with making cement and epoxy pendants. Rather than just google and hope I get it right, I was hoping people here might have some good suggestions for vendors who provide;

Cement for jewelry

Epoxy for jewelry

Silicone molds for both of the above

Findings for pendants and chains (so far I've found Stone Mountain)

We're not looking to make 'fine' jewelry. The jewelry lines we do carry now all retail in the $30-$120 range. 

Thanks!

Dan

[DawninCal]

Hi Dan,

I'm assuming you are talking about epoxy resin and my reply is based on that. While I haven't attempted working with cement, I have done quite a bit with epoxy resin.

The best I've found is Art Resin brand. It is easy to use, crystal clear, high gloss and non yellowing.

Tempting as it may be, I'd caution you not to buy more than you think you will use within six months. Resin is expensive and it tends to have a shelf life of about six months to a year before it become unusable. You'll be surprised at how far an ounce of resin goes. I only buy it 8oz (that would be 8oz of resin and 8oz of hardener) at a time because I've had resin go bad on me in the past and had to throw it out. When ordering, the resin and the hardener usually come as a pair (one bottle of each).

I'd also caution you to buy directly from Art Resin. You can find it for less on Amazon or Ebay, but there's no way to know how old it is or if it's been sitting around in someone's garage for a year. Been there, done that and won't do it again. Go directly to the source and you won't be disappointed.

There is a learning curve, so be prepared to do some experimenting and to have some failures in the beginning, but once you get the hang of it, it's quite fun to work with and the results can be amazing.

Now, on the other hand, if you meant epoxy glue, you can pick that up at your local hardware store. Any of them should work just fine for jewelry.

You can buy molds from pretty much any decent craft/art supply place and some jewelry suppliers. There is a company called Resin Obsession (resinobsession.com) that has a large variety of molds as well as many other supplies for working with resin as well as a lot of helpful tips. Their site is definitely worth checking out.

As far as findings go, I like these online sites: Lima Beads and Rio Grande Jewelry Supply. Monster Slayer is another that has nice quality supplies, but their website can be a bit tricky to navigate. There is also Fire Mountain Beads but their quality can be hit and miss. Also take a look at Tierra Cast Pewter for top notch clasps and findings. Their pewter is lead free food grade and the quality is beautiful. I don't think you can buy directly through them, but Lima Beads carries their product.

That's about all I got for now. If you have any questions or want clarification post here!



Dawn

[caeterle]

Adding about Tierra Cast. While the website is still up, Tierra Cast had a closing announcement for the end of 2023. There are suppliers who still have Tierra Cast leftovers, but I don't know about the website still working.

[DawninCal]

Thanks for that info, Cat. I wasn't aware that they are closing - what a shame. I went to their website and it's still up and it appears there are still items for sale. I did not attempt to go through the checkout process so not sure if it's possible to complete a sale or not.

I haven't bought any components in a while because I've been making my own and haven't been paying attention to what other sellers are doing. But, now I think I will head over to Tierracast and purchase a few items (if possible) to put in my stash.



Dawn

[caeterle]

I only knew because there was quite the uproar about it among the FB jewelry crowd.

[galenaglass]

Thanks for the great leads! Looking forward to learning more about all of this.

Now to find some leads for cement for jewelry. Maybe the sources for molds will have some ideas?

[DawninCal]

You are most welcome, Dan! I'd suggest going over to youtube and doing a search for concrete jewelry tutorials. I just did that and several popped up but I did not watch any of them. I would expect the makers of the tutorials to share what kind/brand of products they use when they demonstrate how to make the concrete jewelry. Good luck!

Cat, I can imagine there was an uproar...haha! Oh, and I stand corrected about TierraCast not selling directly. I'm pretty sure they did not in the past, but something must have changed along the way.



Dawn

[brad]

Interesting, in that I do not know what cement jewelry is? I see folks working with metal (silver, etc) clays that can be interesting. could you explain...BTW, welcome to this Forum. Brad

[Irith-Rita]

I checked cement jewelry on the net. I never heard of it before. Great idea.