Friday, July 17, 2009

Make Your Own Bezel

Today Rosanne of FabFibers and Melanie from Earthenwood Studio and I are gathering together for a creative session exploring resin. We have bezels and objects to fill, images and text to cut, mementos and treasures to add to the mix.
I thought I'd share a fast and easy way to create your own bezels.
I started with a 34mm brass blank from Vintaj. You can find them at Bello Modo.

You'll also need letter stamps, a dapping block and a hammer. Check out Evie's Emporium for tools.

1. Stamp a phrase or word onto the brass blank.

2. Set the blank in the dapping block and use the wooden punch with the wider bottom. Hammer the end of the wood punch, forcing the brass blank to conform to the bowl of the dapping block. Start in the center and work your way out to the edges.

3. You can use a little bit of steel wool, fine grit sandpaper or a brass brush to bring out some of the highlights on the metal.

4. Turn over and fill with resin!

15 comments:

Lorelei Eurto said...

Hey I've got a question. (this is a really cool project by the way!!)
I've seen the dapping blocks in wood like you show here, and also in metal. Is one better than the other?

mairedodd said...

ahh... this is fabulous! i have the blanks and some stamps... half way there! thanks so much for these wonderful posts...

TesoriTrovati said...

Yippee! I recognize that little guy! I still need to fill mine with resin....thanks for reminding me! ICE Resin is so much fun. I am also experimenting with Gel du Soleil and a UV lamp. Good stuff...very unique and mixed media. Thanks for sharing!
Enjoy the day!
Erin

Melissa J. Lee said...

Love the Puck-ish quote you chose for your sample!!!

lunedreams said...

Thanks for sharing the know-how, and the great links. I'm always looking for ways to do metalwork that don't involve torches, so this is great!

Amber Leilani said...

i've been dying to work with resin. thanks for the links and tips!

Esther said...

thank you so much!!

Alice said...

Oh, you make it sound so easy! Now you've got me itching to try it, which means buying more tools and supplies.

Thanks for sharing with us!
Alice

Carol B said...

What gauge is the thickness? I've had trouble with the dapping making the stamping look funny. Maybe I was using too thin a piece of metal.

thx

Anonymous said...

great post, thanks!

Heather Powers said...

I'm not sure what gauge it is Carol, it's pretty thin. I just know to work from the center out, and I haven't had any trouble.

sorry Lorelei, that's a mystery to me too.

Melissa, I have this whole Midsummer Night's Dream thing going for me. :)

Barbara Lewis said...

My understanding of when to use a wood dapping block over a metal one: use the wood when you have texture on the piece, such as the stamped text, so that you don't distort or mar the finish.

Cyndi L said...

I love resin, and usually use bottle caps for my bezels. This is such a great alternative!

The Beadjar said...

Cyndi, is ICE Resin any safer than resin/epoxy? Do you have to use a respirator? That stuff scares me, but I've wanted to use it for the longest time!

LLYYNN - Lynn Davis said...

Being the tool-fool that I am, I have both a wood and a metal dapping block. I use the metal for heavier gauge (thicker) metal sheet, and the wood for thinner, but that's just me! Others may just use one for both types of metal. I also use the wood block for softer metals like copper that dap easily.