I do not want a critique

Please don't ask me to make a pendant for you, I really don't feel comfortable handling other people's breast milk in the way I would need to for these.

If you have any questions please feel free to ask. If you post your creations on any site send me a link I would love to see it:

I will try to explain it the best I can. At the bottom I included my experience so far with breastmilk sealed in resin.

There is a few things you do need:

A dehydrator or oven that goes to 170 degrees

Clear resin I used: www.iceresin.com/category/prod…

A silicone mold or sculpey clay

and Metal pendant with reservoir or a bezel (this is what mine is)

Acrylic paints, modge podge and printer.

If you have a dehydrator that comes with a jellyroll sheet you can pour your milk into that set the dehydrator and let it do its thing. I used around 2 ounces. Only pour enough so it is a thin layer of milk, too thick and it will take forever to dry

If you don't have a dehydrator, make a shallow "dish" out of aluminium foil line it with wax paper. After about 6 hours dehydrating it should look dry and maybe bubbly. Take a paper towel and blot up the fat. Breast milk has tons of fat (nummy for babies) continue to let the milk dehydrate maybe another 4-6 hours until all the milk looks dry, it should peel/crack.

~Note: If the milk is turning yellow or brown (if your breastmilk is more white in color my breastmilk was a little yellow in color to begin with) it means the temp is too high and it is burning the milk, this will affect color.

Take those cracks/particles and lay them out on a towel to help absorb the remaining bits of fat. I threw mine into my MagicBullet to grind it into a powder. It will stick to the sides since it has the consistency of wet sand.

If you are making your own mold use sculpey, the resin won't stick to it. I just sculpted a little foot, baked it so it became hard, then rolled out another small sheet and pressed the sculpted foot into the uncooked sculpey. So then you have now have mold to put the resin into!

Mix your resin according to the packaging, only use a tiny amount at a time, these aren't that big to begin with and you don't want to waste your resin.

Now that the resin is mixed, take your breastmilk powder and mix it into the resin. You will want to mix in enough powder so to the resin is tinted, it will almost have a sandy texture. Dont worry about it, it will smooth out as the resin cures.

My resin took 10-12 hours to fully cure. So set it aside and wait. Once done pop them out of the mold or remove the piece from the sculpey. If using sculpey as a mold you will have to take an exacto and trim off the sides. If using a mold make sure to pour below the edge of the mold since resin will expand as it cures.

Now thats done, fix your bezel, I used acrylic paints to paint the background color then used super glue to affix the resin foot to the bezel. For the picture I printed off picture on a normal inkjet and sealed the paper with modge podge. You will want to seal any printed imaged in Modge Podge because the resin will make inkjet ink run.

once everything is fixed and ready for the final resin, now this part took several days for me. Since I poured the resin in layers. Take your mixing stick and slowly drop bit by bit resin over the foot and into the bezel, just fill enough to cover the foot and allow it to cure.

I am going to link a video that helped me to do the final dome layer: youtu.be/MrVj4JSpPzI

If you are having problems with bubbles, I would blow through a straw or use a hair blow dryer to pop the bubbles.

Also don't worry about layering it will not affect the resin or clarity as long as you don't touch the resin in between coats. Also NEVER touch a resin before the 10 hour mark. just let it sit and harden.

Let it do it final hardening and you are done.

My experiences so far:

A tip I will say though if you get one of those cheap bezels that are plated, cover the metal sides in a nail polish. after about 2 months of wearing it every day all the silver plating wore off and now the nickle/bronze or whatever is showing.

At about 6 months the breast milk changed color and darkened a bit with everyday wear. So if you can find a UV resin, one that blocks out UV light, that may help with the change in color. It may be listed as archival resin, sadly I am not sure and haven't worked with resin since. But I will say if you do this method the plastic will turn yellow with EVERYDAY wear. If you wear it for special occasions I don't see it being an issue. Just make sure to store it away from light. This method is a cheap at home alternative, it is not the same process as the lady who does them professionally. I cannot guarantee that these will not yellow over time like she does.

Another thing you can try is buying the Milk to plastic kits for 10 dollars on etsy, but from the looks of it, it will make your milk yellow no matter what. But you can pour that in a silicone mold too and then seal it in resin.

If using the bezel I would let the resin harden an additional day so you can flip it over with doing harm to the resin to fill the other side.

If you have any questions please feel free to ask. I do ask though if you are going to repost this technique anywhere online I do ask to be linked back to my site. I hope this helps.

I saw these type of pendants while looking to do a keepsake for Lily for when she turns one next week.But man, the price tag and possible wait time just wasn't for me. Also I feel a little weird sending my milk to someone else. I looked at the DiY kits, but I didn't like how the milk was just turned into a blob and put into a locket. So I set off to figure out how to make my own pendant. I tried the vinegar and warm milk (making milk plastic), it doesn't work like it does on cows milk. I kept researching and HUZZAH! I figured it out. So I sculpted a little foot, made my own mold, and started mixing and pouring resin. It has taken about a week or more to get here but I think they turned out pretty neat. All three bezels are 19mm diameter and are double sided, one side has a milk foot encase in resin and the other side has a picture encased in resin. I have two that have pictures of Lily, the one shown is the day that Lily was born, the middle one has a more recent picture, and the last is a free wallpaper of a Photoshoped Lily (I liked the colors) which this one will be for Lily. I have no idea if these turn yellow over time, but I use jewelry grade resin ( I dunno what that means anyways). I did also get tiny little bubbles in my resin, but I still think I did alright for my first time working with resin.If you already have the right equipment making these will only cost $15 or so.If you want to read about my journey in breast feeding and why I made this, please read my journal: tallmancreations.deviantart.co… Lily wallpaper: www.superbwallpapers.com/digit…