I just finished my first Elves Box (by Sophie and Toffee) last month, so I decided it was time to get another one. I really love working through these when I need a break from my main polymer clay projects, and I got an incredible amount of use from my first box for the $35 it costs (including shipping).
While the November box was my first box, I’d been following along with the box themes for a little while now, and I particularly enjoy the themes when there is a “main” project to make (like the box I received was for zodiac galaxy charms). It seems like at least this second one I received (June’s box), and perhaps even May and July were more loosely left to the individual to decide.
While I do appreciate the flexibility, I think it’d still be nice if there was a more guided project people could make with this. They don’t HAVE to follow this project, but it’s there for people like me who may not necessarily be able to come up with satisfying projects using the box’s materials, especially when I’m still fairly new to the world of UV resin.
With that said, the main draw I had to this box was the little UV lamp that came with it. I have a UV torch but realized I hadn’t been curing my pieces fully because I didn’t understand just how long they needed. I started using the sunlight in my window soon after that, but now this lamp will allow me to set up my piece somewhere, place the light on it, and come back to it. Once I started experimenting, I did find out that the light shuts off after a minute or so, so I won’t be able to fully cure it with the lamp (particularly if the resin has colorant in it), but it’ll help give me a good start.
I was inspired by Polymomotea to use my box to create a resin/polymer clay piece, and since I had just finished my Smaug-inspired treasure dragon when this box arrived, I still had treasure on the brain. So, I created a little underwater treasure cove with a mini merdragon.
This is the smallest dragon I’ve ever made! The shell itself measures just a little wider than 1″, and I wanted to make sure the dragon could be surrounded by the jeweled inclusions from the box. Here’s a look at what I created with my June Elves box.
Clam Shell Shakers
And because I’ve been wanting to make my own shakers, I experimented with turning the sea shell into a shaker. I tried making both a wet and dry shaker because this mold was not created with a slot to get the liquid in (with that said, Sophie and Toffee DOES have shaker molds built this way; I was just experimenting here since it was my first time creating a hollow resin piece).
By the way, I did NOT have the proper equipment for this, so I broke a hole in the side of the shell with a small metal knitting needle and used a Capri Sun straw to fill it up, and it probably took me an hour to do, haha!
The inclusions just seemed too pretty NOT to display :). And hearing the shakers rattle is pretty satisfying too.
I look forward to getting much more use from this second box!
I just finished my first Elves Box (by Sophie and Toffee) last month, so I decided it was time to get another one. I really love working through these when I need a break from my main polymer clay projects, and I got an incredible amount of use from my first box for the $35 it costs (including shipping).
While the November box was my first box, I’d been following along with the box themes for a little while now, and I particularly enjoy the themes when there is a “main” project to make (like the box I received was for zodiac galaxy charms). It seems like at least this second one I received (June’s box), and perhaps even May and July were more loosely left to the individual to decide.
While I do appreciate the flexibility, I think it’d still be nice if there was a more guided project people could make with this. They don’t HAVE to follow this project, but it’s there for people like me who may not necessarily be able to come up with satisfying projects using the box’s materials, especially when I’m still fairly new to the world of UV resin.
With that said, the main draw I had to this box was the little UV lamp that came with it. I have a UV torch but realized I hadn’t been curing my pieces fully because I didn’t understand just how long they needed. I started using the sunlight in my window soon after that, but now this lamp will allow me to set up my piece somewhere, place the light on it, and come back to it. Once I started experimenting, I did find out that the light shuts off after a minute or so, so I won’t be able to fully cure it with the lamp (particularly if the resin has colorant in it), but it’ll help give me a good start.
I was inspired by Polymomotea to use my box to create a resin/polymer clay piece, and since I had just finished my Smaug-inspired treasure dragon when this box arrived, I still had treasure on the brain. So, I created a little underwater treasure cove with a mini merdragon.
This is the smallest dragon I’ve ever made! The shell itself measures just a little wider than 1″, and I wanted to make sure the dragon could be surrounded by the jeweled inclusions from the box. Here’s a look at what I created with my June Elves box.
