Opening Your Mind to Embellishments- the Making of a Halloween Bracelet

Halloween is my favorite time of the year. When this season rolls around I look at all the goodies with a wide open mind. Suddenly a skull toothpick becomes an awesome pendant or even better....Halloween skull and bones candy become little beads and embellishments.
Create Studios- Tanya Ruffin



Step one- Rid your mind of any preconceived notions of what you are looking for. Let what you find design the project. I look in the cheap Halloween candy section, aka the dollar store.

Find some fun Halloween candy and cast a mold using Amazing Mold Putty.

Create Studios- Tanya Ruffin

I found a bag of skull and bones candy, plastic spider, bat and skull rings, tombstone box of candy and at Michael's found some awesome plastic skull and crossbones toothpicks. 
Create Studios- Tanya Ruffin


Well first of all I make a mold of everything! Anything in the way of the cast, I break off, like the toothpick stem.
Create Studios- Tanya Ruffin

Cast a lot too. Why would you cast just one bone candy when you can cast the whole bag?

Create Studios- Tanya Ruffin

Then after all your embellishments are cast and poured start thinking about what to make. I love Rub-n-buff so I immediately add some silver! Wow, it really brings it to life!

Create Studios- Tanya Ruffin


I wanted to make a bracelet with the bones in it. BUT my bracelet mold was too thin for the bones to fit inside. So rather than drive back to the craft store, I thought I would cast my own mold. 

To do this I grab something the width that I wanted... a large fingernail file. It was a little too long, but no problem, I just snipped it off with some scissors. I had a cuff bracelet handy (it already had stuff glued to it or I would as used it as my mold), so I just rolled it along the top of the file to get the right length.
FYI, The file was only 1/2 inch too long!

So I cast a mold of the file~ when it was ready to use I mixed up my resin (added a little black dye) and poured a thin layer in the mold. I then placed inside my bones and tiny skulls and then filled it up some more with resin. I was using the Casting Resin not the Clear Cast so I didn't cover all the way over the embellishments.  

I don't seem to have a lot of patience for Clear Cast. I did attempt one bracelet and I like the look, so I may try another. I just love the immediate gratification with Casting Resin. 

Create Studios- Tanya Ruffin

After letting the resin set for about 30 minutes, I removed from the mold and curve it into the cuff shape. You want to do this before it completely sets up.
Create Studios- Tanya Ruffin


Using painters tape, I secure the bracelet so it can set up further in this shape. 

Finally, I add some rub-n-buff to the bracelet and it is ready to go! 
I also store the bracelet inside a glass for the first few days, just to make sure that it is completely set up. 
Create Studios- Tanya Ruffin

Create Studios- Tanya Ruffin

P.S. Here is how the clear looked.
Create Studios- Tanya Ruffin

What will you see when you look at Holiday candy?













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