mary jane dodd
'play is the beginning of knowledge.'
~ unknown
just like you, i would often cringe at the thought of trying something new... the past two years have brought a change in that thinking though... in the scope of life's experiences, trying something new here pales in comparison to some of the things that we might have to adapt to...
and so as serious as i am about my work, i try to view my new ventures as play... experimentation... in fact, in the times of greatest chaos in my life, i will often leap towards a new technique or medium to try... it is grounding, makes me feel alive and is confidence building if for only having done something unknown...
resin is fun! do i groan because i like to be able to use most of the 1/2 ounce? yes... so i try to have lots of things to do with it when i sit down... if i am making paper drops or paddles, i want to have a lot of them - i despise throwing out unused product (that is how i hold myself up)...
if i do a big batch i also have pieces ready to work with in the future - which is nice...
this is the perfect medium if you love paper, words, old books...
a 'dr. seuss' challenge inspired this piece:
a calder challenge pushed me to try tinting it because i wanted to be able to evoke the colors and movement found in his 'blue feather' stabile...
you can fill pre made bezels or make them yourself... what i absolutely love about this product is how much you can do with it... make it shiny and colorful, use it with patterned papers, try it in molds...
here are some examples i found on etsy...
lil smile pendant by jade scott
drops of color earrings by ajc design
in my reading around in the blogosphere, i notice that resin is often mentioned as something that people have purchased but not tried... if this applies to you, i encourage you to give it a go... visit www.iceresin.com to learn about it... go to youtube and look for instructional videos by susan lenart kazmer and her team... it runs about $24 for the kit...
so go ahead and play!
and don't forget to enter april's call to create - inspired by your favorite song...
