For the Naturalist

Pendant: my own creation
Bottle: vitrifiedstudio

Decided to create a pendant for a loved one from our Thumbelina Leigh Lavender plant.  Picked a worthy bud off the stem, carefully placed it between the pages of a notebook, and stacked two books on top to make sure the bud was indeed pressed.  There the bit o' plant was left for nearly two months.  Took the plant out, added raw brass findings and a non-toxic, resin-like material to the mix and out came the above piece.  Not waterproof, but nevertheless beautiful and quite gift-able.

Apart from the placement of the pressed lavender, the most difficult part of this project is how to "cure" the faux-resin used--it requires either direct sunlight or UV light to cure.  Because wintertime sunlight is not strong enough to "set" the resin-like surface (I tried it), the pendant is currently setting by sitting directly under a fluorescent light bulb.  Still, the price one pays for non-toxic, scentless resin is well worth the wait.

If you have the time and energy, this is a delightfully fun springtime activity--I can only imagine how lovely a pendant would look with spring flowers as the focal point!