Maple Tree Samara Jewelry

During the Spring, you'll start to see more and more of those "helicopter seeds" falling from trees. Those seeds are called samaras, and if you pick one up and look at their veining and texture, they are quite pretty.

Besides growing a new tree, you can do a lot of things with those samaras - including eating them! But that's not what I am going to do. I am going to turn them into some boho jewelry.

Using UV sensitive resin to make bohemian style samara jewelry is fun and relatively easy to do - especially when you have all the supplies at hand.

Let's begin.

The main things you'll need (Amazon Links are Referral Links, and earn me a tiny bit of money):

• Samaras - these are pretty easy to find during the Spring and early Summer.
• UV Sensitive Resin - I used this resin by Limino - it's non-toxic and BPA free. When it cures it does have a sweet odor so I would recommend curing in a well ventilated area or just doing it outside. When you aren't using it, keep the cap on!
• UV Light - I have this nail polish curing lamp by Melody Susie. It's pretty inexpensive and a few different timer settings. Having this around makes the whole process much faster. Alternatively, if it's a nice day out - you can just use the sun.
• Eye Pins - You can get these on Amazon or at Michael's or wherever you get jewelry making supplies. Here's an Amazon link for 60 eye pins.
• Earring Backs or jump rings + a chain - There are too many options to list here. Just goo with whatever you prefer.
• Needle Nose Pliers
• Wire Cutte

Here's all the items that we'll need to make some samara jewelry.

Cut the eye pin to the right size using your wire cutters. You may want to pin the samara and then remove the pin. Then you can inject a bit of super glue in the hole and put the pin back in. This will make the bond stronger.

Next, dip the samara in the resin.

Place the samara inside the UV lamp enclosure - or if you're going to be doing this outside, some place where the sun will shine on it for 30 minutes to an hour.

After the first coating cures, dip it again, and cure it again. This ensures a nice strong layer of resin because the samara is quite brittle. It will also nicely magnify the veins on the wing.

Attach the jump rings or the earring hooks and you've got a lovely and one-of-a-kind boho chic piece of samara jewelry.