March, of March Meet The Maker fame

It's my first March as a ~Small Business Owner~ and I'm going to try to complete Joanne Hawker 's March Meet The Maker challenge!

The first prompt is STORY

I think I came at this a little sideways. When people ask me how I got into resin I inevitably end up starting "In the summer of 2017, I went on a Bobbin Lacemaking course"

Wait, what?

I fell in love with lacemaking - I still am in love with it, and I was lucky enough to get a whole kit of lacemaking equipment from a lady who was sadly forced to give up the craft due to her health. The bobbins used in lacemaking are so beautiful, and there are so many different styles. I desperately wanted my own fancy bobbins, but struggled to find them. Inspiration hit - I'd make my own! Not that I knew HOW - I don't have a lathe, or any whittling skills, but the idea stuck with me. I wanted something a bit more organic than the intricate designs I'd seen in wood or bone. After a lot of studying, I started thinking about making moulds, and using resin.

The first attempts were an unmitigated disaster. I made two moulds, lovingly describing them as "Han Solo Frozen In Carbonite" and "Antarctic Ice Core", and proceeded to fill them with Polyester resin. This was a Mistake. Light-headed from the fumes, I extracted one bobbin, which promptly shattered into a thousand pieces after being dropped about four inches onto the table.

I was bereft, and now I had all of these mould-making and casting chemicals to use up! What could I make? I'd seen people use resin for jewellery...

So a NEW hunt started, this time for jewellery pieces to cast, that I thought would be hardy enough once they were complete...

And so began a passionate love affair with casting resins & plants to cast in them. I switched to epoxy resin after my preferred polyester was discontinued, building up a stock of bangles and beads (and failed bobbins) I was mostly too cowardly to do anything with -

But something had to give. My unfulfilling work life had started exacerbating a variety of health problems, and I ended up as what I believe is technically known as A Mess, living a toxic cycle of working, getting a migraine, having to pass out in a darkened room - and then going back to work.

I had to make a change, and thanks to the fact that you can't spend money when you're in bed with a migraine, I had enough set aside by last summer to take the plunge of a year working for myself full-time - and that's what I've been doing.

And the moral of the story? I FINALLY got the bobbins right!