I am so excited! The pendants from my last post made it to the “Hot Projects” section on Craftster:

Hope everyone had a nice Mother’s Day. Mine sucked. It was pretty uneventful and left me feeling like certain people just don’t give a shit, even though most everything I do is for my family. And of course I can’t say anything because then, if they do something for me next time, I’ll feel like they only did it because I bitched about it last time. And no, they don’t read this.

I know, boo hoo right? I can hear the violins….

About a year and a half ago, I wrote about SmartFlix, a site where you can rent craft dvd’s. I have rented many dvds from them, mostly pertaining to polymer clay and glass fusing. Yesterday, I came across a similar site, but first let me tell you how it is I end up on the damn internet for hours. Yes, I am going to Tarantino this blog post.

See, I subscribe to Craftster’s forum where I receive an email when someone adds something to certain sections. I subscribe to the jewelry and purse sections. Anyway, someone posted a cute resin necklace. She was asked where she purchased her molds, to which she replied “Little Windows“. I of course immediately clicked on the link because I have a little problem with that sort of thing.

Little Windows sells resin, molds, etc. I’m sure they will get a lot of my money at some point. After looking at their molds, I decided to, once again, Google “resin molds” to see if anything new came up. Resin molds are usually the same everywhere you buy them. Since resin jewelry has become more popular, I thought that perhaps manufacturers had started making new molds.

One of the search results was for a DVD by Sherri Haab called Resin Jewelry. If you have done your resin research, you know that Sherri Haab is a GOD! Anyway, I really wanted the DVD, but as seen at the above link, it costs $22.95. Not too bad when I have money, but right now…. it ain’t gonna happen. So I Googled my heart out to see if I could find it cheaper somewhere else.

Its my lucky day because I found a site similar to SmartFlix that I have never heard of called Artworkshops.tv. So its a double bonus because I can rent my dvd for $9.95 AND I now know about another great site for crafty stuff. The anti-bonus is that I will be spending more money on more craftiness and I’ll be more broke and more crazy and more sleepy.

The above scenario took more than an hour. I end up clicking here and clicking there. And just to show you how completely insane I am… its 4 in the morning while I am doing all this. 4 in the morning, as in…. I have not gone to bed yet.

What a disappointment I must be to people who end up here because they thought this was a crafting blog. What is this blog? Who the hell does this lying bitch think she is?


1. I love crafts. I sew, I make jewelry, I make buttons, I play with polymer clay, I play with resin, I decoupage, I paint, I need help.

2. This started out as a personal blog to keep in contact with friends and family. I chose the name CraftZombie because I have a bad habit of staying awake until the sun comes up. I lose track of time while crafting. This happens almost every single night. I could have named this blog CraftyNightOwlBitchWontGoToSleep. (By the way, I’ll sleep when I’m dead.)

3. I intended on making it more crafty, but still personal.

4. I intended to do crafty video tutorials on all kinds of topics.

5. I’m just too damn busy and I hate it. I never reached my blog goals.

So, in a pathetic effort to be crafty and helpful, I am going to give some resin advice.

I use http://www.statcounter.com to see what search terms people use to get to this blog. One recent Google.au search was for “how to avoid bubbles in easycast resin”. Here we go….

You can’t avoid bubbles in Easy Cast resin, or any other resin for that matter. It is a natural occurrence that happens during the mixing phase. You cannot get around it. But you CAN get rid of most of the bubbles, sometimes even all of them if it is your lucky day. How? Warm air. If you are broke, you will use method #1. If you have a few bucks, you will use method #2. Do not attempt method #3, it sucks.

1. blow air through a straw
2. use a heat gun (embossing gun)
3. use a blowdryer

Don’t attempt to use a blowdryer. I learned this lesson long ago when I first began my resin journey. Blowdryers BLOW air. You will splatter resin everywhere. I only mentioned it because I thought you might try to be sneaky after you read this, thinking “I already have a blowdryer. I don’t wanna buy a heat gun. I’ll just use my blowdryer.” If you use your blowdryer, I will knock on your door and slap you in the face. I will. And if you are a seasoned resin artist and you leave me a comment about how you use your blowdryer, I will also slap you in the face.

Blowing air with a straw is not as effective as the heat gun. The heat gun zaps them in a snap. It’s almost magical to watch. Most of the time you can get all of the bubbles. Sometimes there will be one stray bubble that shows up out of nowhere during your curing process and you just have no choice but to embrace it or throw the finished piece in the trash. You end up convincing yourself that it gives your piece “character”. But deep down, you really hate that fucking bubble.

How close do you hold the heat gun to the resin? You can actually get it pretty close. Just start off a little far away and slowly get closer. You start seeing bubbles popping. The closer you get, the more bubbles pop. But you don’t want to leave the heat gun on the resin for a long time because too much heat can cause problems. So can cold resin.

How much is this freakin’ heat gun thing? The cheapest ones I’ve seen retail for $19.99. I got mine for 40% off with a coupon. That was cheap enough for me, but maybe not for some. Steal a straw and start blowin’.

Oh, and don’t be afraid of resin. I remember how afraid I was the first time I unscrewed the caps, like I was a mad scientist and my kitchen was going to explode. Resin is your friend. Just follow its rules and it will treat you kindly. You can blow up your kitchen with something else.

Any questions?

P.S. Yes, blowdryer is not one word, its two.

Update 6/10/2010: Found a great tutorial for resin crafts here