I recently did a demo for ICE Resin at the CHA Mega Show and it occurred to me that I had never introduced you all to ICE Resin. If you like the idea of creating your own jewelry components and you love the look of enamel on metal but you don’t want to go out and buy torches and all of the heavy duty equipment then I have a great product for you – ICED Enamels from the folks at ICE Resin.

Here is what the website says:

Iced Enamels® were expressly developed for creative people who enjoy the look of torch-fired or kiln-fired enamels as much as we do. Combine our Enamel Medium with our quick-melting Relique powders and solidify with a craft heat gun for beautiful mixed-media metalwork in minutes. Seal with a thin coat of ICE Resin® to create a permanent Cold Enameling bond that will never rub off, fade or yellow over time. Use Iced Enamels® in our new mixed metal bezels or on our Talisman Silhouettes for art that lasts lifetimes.

Here is a sampling of some of the ICED Enamels and Art Mechanique metal blanks. The ICED Enamel powders, ICED Enamels Medium, paint brush, metal blank and heat gun are all you need to create enameled metal components.

 

 

 

Just how does it work?

With an old paintbrush paint the ICED Enamels Medium onto the metal blank. A solid thin coat with no globs works best as too much medium can cause the enamels to bubble.

 

 

Add a sprinkling of ICED Enamel powders to the wet medium and then heat the metal with a heat gun.

I begin by placing the metal with enamel powder on a piece of cardstock and heat it from underneath until the metal warms up. Once the metal is warm the enamel powders will stick better and I can begin heating the ICED enamel powders from the front making sure to start from 18 inches away from the surface and then moving in closer as the enamel powder starts to melt.

NOTE: The Tim Holtz heat gun won’t work because it doesn’t get hot enough. 

 

 

Here are some other blanks with enamel powder on them. There are 14 different colors of ICED Enamels available now.

 

 

And then once the enamel has melted and cooled you will coat the pieces with a coating of ICE Resin to make the bond permanent.

There is a video on the ICE Resin website here where Susan Lenart Kazmer shares a little different spin on the ICED Enamels.

 

 

Here is a sample of a pair of earrings I made using copper metal blanks. You can find out more about how I created them in my blog post ICED Enamel Earrings today.

Susan mentioned in the video that ICED Enamels can also be used in mixed media. I haven’t tried that yet but if you use a piece of cardstock to place your blanks on while you are heating them it does leave behind a little extra melted enamel powder. I imagine that after making lots of ICED Enamel blanks the cardstock would look great in a bit of mixed media. I will definitely be trying that out.

I’ve been working with ICED Enamels and ICE Resin for a little while now in my jewelry making and I can’t tell you how much fun they are to create with. I love the way the powders melt creating unique jewelry making components.

 

Disclosure: Product provided for review. All opinions are honest and my own.