Master's story
Eneken Volkov
jewelry artist
I make craft jeweley from wood and epoxy resin as a hobby. I have liked to make and draw something with my own hands since I was a child. That’s why all my friends have a drawing or gift I’ve made for them. If in the past I was mainly involved in drawing, which of course I still do today, then in summer 2019 I became very interested in making pendants using epoxy resin and wood. There are endless possibilities to combine wood and epoxy resin, you just have to let your imagination fly and the idea will come true. I’ve been going this way to make pendants mainly for necklaces.
Since I am only at the beginning of the path of making resin jewelry, a very definite style has not yet developed. One of the key elements I use is the number of wood fibers of different lengths that can be seen on a broken piece of wood, which in my opinion, makes each piece of jewelry unique. My jewelry is designed to be simple in form, but by combining two materials of completely different nature (resin and wood) into one, the complexity of the jewelry becomes apparent. Some designs include others materials, not just wood and resin. Such as broken jewelry pearls, acrylic paint for wood surface decoration, dried flowers or moss harvested while walking in the woods. I draw inspiration from walking in nature and enjoying the natural color scheme.
There is excitement and experimentation in making pendants, because I have learned everything I have done so far on my own. There is also a desire to go beyond pendants and make earrings and create product lines with different pervasive elements.
How do I do that?
The making of jewelry starts with the fact that first the pieces of wood collected from a barn, forest or other place have to be sorted and cut. I mainly use oak, but I also experiment with other trees such as ash, birch, pine. Once the pieces of wood have been selected, I will start breaking them. It also has its own technique for breaking, so that the end of the wood remains as jagged as possible and with wood fibers of different lengths.
This stage is followed by decorating pieces of wood, where I let my thoughts fly and see how this piece speaks to me. Should I add color to it or would it like a flower decoration or a pearl for it’s heart. Next, I place the decorated piece of wood in a silicone mold or make a wrapper from tape and plastic packaging, where I finally add epoxy resin. I may also tone the resin if I have planned in my design.
In a few days, the wood and epoxy resin dry together and you can move on to the next step, which is to shape the piece of wood and epoxy resin. Shaping the part is done by grinding. At this stage, I look at the piece again and think about the shape of the future pendant would like to get. I make sketches on paper and transfer them to the blank. First, shape the shape using a grinder and cutter. Once the shape is molded, sand further by hand with increasingly finer sandpaper. The final finish is polished with a polishing paste until the wood is silky soft and the epoxy resin is transparent and shiny.