Jewellery in Resin and Acrylic Short Course

This course will explore the difference between using cast and sheet plastics for jewellery. We will cast resin and make constructed acrylic pieces and use cold connections to make completed jewellery . These are techniques such as gluing, pegging, riveting, stapling and stitching that are used where materials would be damaged by the heat of soldering. Students use riveting to combine acrylic parts together to make earrings or a pendant and try some heat forming to make a bangle.

During the course, students saw, file and finish the plastics and look at the finishing methods used on these materials, as well as how to attach silver findings to make completed pieces of jewellery.

By the end of the 5 weeks, students will have at least 2 pieces of finished jewellery and an understanding of the different characteristics of these materials. Students may wish to progress to other jewellery short courses to continue developing the technical skills needed to bring their ideas to life.

Course outcomes

By the end of the course students should be able to:

• Understand the different methods of working with cast and sheet plastics

• Cast resin into moulds with embedding optional

• Make a resin pendant or earrings

• Rivet an acrylic pendant or earrings

• Understand how to heatform acrylic

• Understand how to use the materials and workshop safely