When we moved into our home in Madison two years ago, we left behind an old Evansville farmhouse, that, despite its agricultural pedigree, was pretty bereft of attractive plant life. The first spring we lived there, way back in 2007, some errant yellow and white tulips appeared on the side of the goat barn-turned-garage, and I was ecstatic. Over the next ten years, we managed to plant some sad lilacs that never bloomed; a teeny, raised-bed vegetable garden that yielded not much more than overgrown cherry tomatoes and a few herbs; and a brilliant, deep-pink peony plant that first bloomed the same week Luca was born in 2014.
So we were surprised when our citified, 1979 two-story boasted gorgeous plant life: scarlet climbing roses; mature and fragrant lilac bushes; lush, drooping peonies; delicate bleeding hearts that reminded me of my Gram; charming, tall irises, and a large, white flowering crab tree that covered the front yard like a swath of bridal tulle.
This fall, I started noticing resin jewelry pieces on Etsy and Pinterest … I’m so captivated with the artists who use natural flowers/plants/other findings from nature in their baubles. I’m not exactly a green-thumb kinda gal, but I’ve always had an affinity for beautiful things; for traipsing around in the woods and picking random floral treasures (this goes waaaay back to my childhood, when my sister and I used to play in the woods adjacent to our house, and pick honeysuckle and the forbidden white petals of the state-protected trillium flower. Whoops).
I picked up some polyester resin and catalyst at Michael’s, along with a cheap silicone candy mold; we’d taken Luca on a walk at Aldo Leopold Nature Center that weekend, and I had collected some dried winter plants and berries. Joe helped me mix up the resin and cast the molds – we discovered that polyester resin, while cheap, also happens to smell like absolute crap.
I left it alone for a few days, and our garage still smells like a chemical plant. The result wasn’t exactly the resin pieces of my dreams, but it was definitely a successful experiment.
Looking forward to trying the process with epoxy resin, which is reportedly less lethal-smelling (albeit more expensive) and some much prettier molds/jewelry bezels. For now, these pieces are headed for sanding, and then some plan to make them into pendants or pins.
A Life, Untitled. 