Another AMAZING Mold Rubber Monday... Molding Tips and Tricks with Susan M. Brown {sbartist}

Welcome to another Mold Rubber Monday! Susan here to bring you some tips using Amazing Mold Rubber which is now available at Hobby Lobby Stores. I was visiting my family in central FL over the weekend and there was a brand new Hobby Lobby near my sisters' house in Winter Springs. I had to make sure to run in and go find all the Alumilite and Amazing Crafting Products. 

Hobby Lobby has Amazing Crafting Products located in two places; on the polymer clay aisle and also in the hobby department where you can find the Alumilite Dyes and other moldmaking kits/products.

The Amazing Mold Rubber was on the shelf and I couldn't resist taking a selfie... since my headband is on the box. YES! I shamelessly made a spectacle of myself and embarrassed my mom, too ;)

 

You can fill your Amazing Mold Putty molds with Amazing Mold Rubber to make custom stamps! This is the man in the moon mold I made for my Halloween Tag last month. I had a little Amazing Mold Rubber left over from a batch so I filled a bunch of molds I had sitting on the table.

 

PRESTO-CHANGO!!! I now have several stamps of my molded items. And my grapefruit slice... the Amazing Mold Rubber stamp detail is so much better than the stamp I made using Amazing Mold Putty pressed into my original mold.

**A TIP** Make sticky cleanup easy with Rubbing Alcohol in a mini spray bottle. This works with the Amazing Mold Rubber as well as resin, too!

I generally mix up the entire container of Amazing Mold Rubber, which makes things quick and easy. So I prepare many things to mold so the entire batch gets used. Amazing Mold Rubber can be poured in multiple layers and will seamlessly fuse together. So if you don't have enough to completely fill your mold box, you can come back later and add more later.

 

This is a tray containing five items that I started to mold about two months ago.

 

You want to be sure to tape or hot glue items down

so they don't float or flip over during curing.

I left a little breathing room around each item so that the Amazing Mold Rubber can fill in between each item and create defined mold shapes.

 

This is after first pour, which was a leftover portion of my batch. I let this cure and continued adding additional Amazing Mold Rubber to it three more times until all items were completely covered.

 

Four pours later... here is my completed mold. I had to add some tape to build up the depth of the tray so that I could pour and completely cover items by at least 1/8". The glass pieces are large and thick so I made it a little thicker for durability.

    

After a quick trim of some fringe that leaked under items... my mold is ready at last.

With a little preparation - and patience...

you can utilize every last drop of Amazing Mold Rubber 

and have a collection of fabulous molds at the ready!

 

Now a teaser... Join me Wednesday, Nov. 13th over at the Viva Las VegaStamps! Blog to see what I'm doing with this mold of a rubber stamp. YES!! You can use Amazing Mold Rubber to create a mold from rubber stamps... and without the woes of molding using Amazing Mold Putty.

What are your creative plans using

the New Amazing Mold Rubber???

Please leave a comment below to share your ideas! If you would like to see more of my creations, please visit my blog sbartist : painting in the dark by clicking here. ~ Susan

Thanks for stopping by and have a creative evening!

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Telling a TALL Tale or one of Grimm's Fairy Tales for Mold Rubber Monday

Hello creatives! Susan here for another installment of Mold Rubber Monday! Today I'm sharing a very special project combining Amazing Crafting Products and Frog Dog Studio – our Partners "In-Crafting". I want to advise you that this post may be a little creepy but done for the love of art... and so the fairy tale begins...

I live in South Florida which is summertime 80% of the year. This winter has been HOT and relentless, as pretty much everyone, everywhere else has been buried in snow. We had a 48 hour cold spell {which dropped to the mid 50s at night} back before the holidays. When the universe brings you "creative gifts" you have to run with them. I set off on a journey of creating a mixed media art doll... but he's more like a FROG PRINCE to me.

On a chilly morning back in mid December, I ran out to say goodbye to my real life prince charming as he was leaving for work and grab the newspaper. As he pulled out of the driveway, a precious gift was revealed lying under the car.

 

I live on the edge of the Florida Everglades and with the continued hot weather, we have been overrun by critters such as frogs. This guy seemingly had "croaked" of natural causes as he was in pristine condition – having no bruises, cuts or bite marks. The frogs in these parts are poisonous to dogs and most predatory animals, a natural defense mechanism. I think this guy had been living RENT FREE for many months in my garage {scaring me to death on an occasion or two in the wee hours grabbing laundry}. 

Nonetheless, I scooped him up gently with a piece of cardboard, I brought him in the garage to warm up and make sure he wasn't just in a hibernating state from being stuck out in the cold. After 4 hours... he was still stiff. I couldn't let this gift from the art gods go to waste... I knew I had to MOLD HIM! Though I am an adventurous and spontaneous creative... I did feel a bit leary and guilty about proceeding. So I asked for advice. After several early morning messages to my fellow creatives... it was unanimous... Do it!!

I had to work fast! I only had two boxes of Amazing Mold Rubber so I would need to do some creative improvising. I gathered up a salad container from the recylcing bin and EVERY mold rubber mold and slab I had created. This tip of reusing cured mold rubber as filler for new molds from Lonnie was so helpful in this project. I covered a sheet of chipboard with waxed paper, cut my container to remove the base, and hot glued it to my base board. Now I had my mold box. To widen the corners of the container walls, I cut away a wedge from each side and filled the gap with strips of scotch tape.

I lined the bottom of my mold box with cut up sections of my Amazing Mold Rubber slabs. I will lay the specimen onto this and let the liquid mold rubber fill in the gaps. 

Wearing gloves {2 pairs} I placed my sleeping beauty in place and added more filler around. I cut up every mold, slab and stamp, I had created with Amazing Mold Rubber {and being just a couple of weeks away from CHA... yikes}! I had to work fast...

I strategically placed strips of Amazing Mold Rubber to keep the feet and head from touching the container so the liquid silicone could fill in and around.

Now I mix up the first of two containers of Amazing Mold Rubber. This mold is very large, so I prepared an entire container of Amazing Mold Rubber {please CLICK HERE to view mixing/preparation}.

I used a chop stick to drag the Amazing Mold Rubber around to fill in around all the filler, and added more to make this pour go as far as possible. I also dragged the liquid mold rubber over the specimen so that everything was covered and sealed with a layer of silcone. I kept dragging it over and around until the mold rubber began to harden. I covered with a box and set in the garage to cure. I went to work, called around to try and get my hands on more mold rubber locally, then hurried home. I had more work to do before this guy begins to smell.

I only had one remaining Amazing Mold Rubber kit, and I had to make this one do the job. I mixed up this container and began pouring again, I added more cut up silicone molds to fill around the arms and legs – for support and also as a dam to hold the liquid where I want. Another hour of dragging the silicone over the specimen keeping it completely covered with an even coating. This would suffice.

We had another chilly night so I covered and let this set overnight as it was really thick in places to be sure it was cured all the way through. I woke up early and got back to work making batches of Amazing Mold Putty to back fill on top of the silicone mold. I was under the impression that the mold putty would fuse itself to the mold rubber. In this case it did not – but it most certainly does if you pour the liquid silicone mold rubber into a mold putty mold WITHOUT a release agent. Now that I have built up my mold to strengthen and support – I wait. After a half an hour, I'm ready to release my prince from the mold.

Outside we go! This proved to be a very delicate process... and smelly, too! I cut away the mold box and peeled the mold off of the base board. The mold putty layer peeled away when I set the mold on it's side. I used a box cutter to gently slice the mold in half being very careful NOT to cut the specimen. Yes I was totally grossed out... but I came this far already I had to see it though. Oh boy did he smell! No critter would mess with one of these guys. With the mold separated, I gently wiggled the legs free, then pulled the body from the other half. It seemed he shrunk a little since his ecapsulation, which helped demold him – for this I was grateful. I promptly submerged the molds into a bucket of water with soap and a little bleach to disinfect. I respectfully said my blessings and gave my friend an honorable send off. Then headed back to work as the molds soaked for the day.

With the molds repeatedly washed and rinsed, I set them aside to dry and air out overnight {for thoses curious... the inside of the mold still stinks... even now months later}. When dry, I used rubber bands to hold the Amazing Mold Putty supports in place on top of the Amazing Mold Rubber molds, and layered the two molds back to back inside a jumbo plastic ziplock just in case I have any leaks.

Views of mold in place... ready for resin pour.

 

I prepared and poured equal portions of parts "A" and "B" of Amazing Casting Resin. I added Alumilite Pearlescent Powder and Alumilite Fluorescent "FLO" Green Dye to part "A" in my mixing cup, stirring thouroughly before adding part "B". With both parts combined, I poured into the molds.

My excitement begins to grow as the Amazing Casting Resin cures.

I let it set to cure/harden for a half hour before demolding.

Then gloves on and back outside for the demolding! I did have to make some strategic cuts to the mold to release the arms and feet. OMG!!! The digits didn't completely come out as expected, but I can live with that. In a couple places a thin layer of silicone peeled away when demolding, but I think I could get another usable casting or two out of this. Perhaps later on, I will remold this casting.

The Amazing Mold Rubber picked up every little detail of my frog prince. This is going to be great when painted and embellished. A note: this casting went through another bath with soap and bleach, and lived in my garage to air out the smell for quite some time. I didn't get back to working on him until well over a month later – since I had work, travelling to CHA and all. The mold still lives outside on my patio and is still smelly {even 4 months later}. I do feel guilty for this little guy, and I'm thankful to all that cheered me on in this process.

Now the embellishing and creation of my art doll begin...

Please CLICK HERE to jump over to

Frog Dog Studio Blog for the next chapter

of this creative fairy tale.

Thanks for visiting! If you would like to see more of my creations,

please visit my blog sbartist : painting in the dark by clicking here. ~ Susan

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From #Cre8time Organization to Springtime Pendants... by Tracy Alden

Hello! Tracy here for another edition of Mold Rubber Monday! I am always looking for new shapes and textures to mold and cast in resin. In the process of sorting my beads recently I noticed the hard plastic containers many small beads come in have perfectly smooth and glossy lids. With the help of Amazing Mold Rubber I was able to create new resin pendant molds from them!

Supplies:

• Amazing Clear Cast Resin
• Amazing Mold Rubber
• 2" Butterfly Paper House Productions Stickers
• Dried Flowers
• Stir Sticks
• Craft scissors
• Plastic lunch tray (from pre-prepared small wraps and sushi)
• Small lids from plastic bead containers
• Disposable gloves
• Craft Heat Gun
• Tweezers

I went through my collection of plastic bead containers picking the best shapes and glossy smooth tops. I cleaned each piece to be molded with rubbing alcohol to remove any debris or dirt.

Carefully following the instructions, I mixed up a small amount Amazing Mold Rubber and slowly poured it into my mold box, in this case a former plastic food tray. CLICK HERE to view mixing/preparation. In the process of mixing, the Amazing Mold Rubber had formed bubbles. To quickly pop the bubbles I used a heat gun to slowly heat the uncured mold rubber to pop the bubbles.

Once cured I had a perfectly smooth layer of Amazing Mold Rubber at the bottom of the mold box. I mixed up more Amazing Mold Rubber to fill up the tray with another thin layer. I carefully placed each lid into the liquid Mold Rubber and pressed them into place with a stir stick.

Since many plastic objects placed in Amazing Mold Rubber tend to shift or drift in the liquid silicone, I placed little glass decorative pebbles into each lid to anchor the lids in place while the Mold Rubber cured.

Once the Amazing Mold Rubber was completely cured I removed the lids from the plastic tray. When I gently removed the lids from the Mold Rubber they came out rather cleanly, requiring very little trimming of the mold rubber with craft scissors.

I mixed up a small portion of Amazing Clear Cast Resin, making sure to slowly stir to reduce air bubbles and let it sit for 10 minutes. I poured resin into each mold, filling them up halfway. Using tweezers I placed small amounts of dried herbs and flowers into each mold. In a few of the molds I placed Paper House Productions Stickers on top of the dried plant material. Since these stickers are thin plastic I did not need to seal them before placing them into the resin. I carefully removed any air bubbles by using a heat gun. I let this layer cure to a tacky set.

I mixed up another small portion of Amazing Clear Cast Resin, this time just enough to fill each pendant mold to the top. I added a few more stickers and bits of dried plants to create a 3D effect in each piece. I let the resin cure completely.

Once I removed the pendants from the molds I carefully sanded any edges smooth. With the addition of a small hole drill through the top or a small jewelry bail glued to the back of the pendants, these pieces are ready to be made into wonderful Springtime jewelry!

What AMAZING arts and crafts can you create?

Please share them on the user GALLERY on the Amazing Crafting Products Website!

Visit my blog Art Resurrected for more craft tutorials!

Until next time, safe travels! ~ Tracy

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Taking a #Cre8time Nature Walk with Tracy Alden for Mold Rubber Monday

Hello! Tracy here with another Amazing Crafting Products tutorial! Often when I take walks, I pick up interesting rocks, twigs and bark to bring home as inspiration for my artwork. The textures, colors and detail always keeps my mind whirling. On my most recent walk I picked up a random collection of wood bits. Their odd shapes and sizes had me thinking of an elaborate necklace fit for a woodland spirit. Being that these pieces were brittle and crumbling, I needed a way to capture the look I had in mind while making it stable enough to wear. This is where Amazing Crafting Products came to the creative rescue! 

Supplies: 

• Amazing Mold Rubber
• Amazing Casting Resin
• Alumilite Metallic Powders - Copper, Gold, and Pearlescent
• Alumilite Dye - Black
• Alumidust - Copper, Gold, Pearl, Rust, Red Plum and Orange
• Acrylic Paint 
• Clean deli sandwich container 
• Liquitex Gloss Varnish 
• Small hand drill 
• Needle Nose Pliers 
• Gold tone jewelry wire, chain and jumprings 
• Leaf beads 
• Craft Knife 

I cleaned up and sanded my collection of random wood bits.

I was careful to remove any sharp edges and loose dirt.

I sealed all of the pieces with two coasts of Liquitex Gloss Varnish. This not only prevented the curing Amazing Mold Rubber from soaking into the wood but gave the wood a satin finish that the Mold Rubber captured.

I had deli sandwich container that I cut in half and used the bottom portion as mold box. I carefully arranged the wood pieces in the box but did NOT glue them in place. The pieces of wood were so irregular in shape it would be impossible to try to affix them to the mold box. Carefully following the instructions {CLICK HERE to view}, I mixed up the Amazing Mold Rubber and slowly poured a very thin layer of Mold Rubber around the wood pieces. This way the Mold rubber would act as glue to fix the wood pieces in place. I let that layer cure completely. 

**A quick Mold Rubber tip!** If you have a Swamp Cooler in your house, place the curing Mold Rubber under a vent. The humidity will help it cure faster!

With my second layer of Mold Rubber, I used some cut up pieces of already cured Mold Rubber as fill so I didn't have to use as much new Mold Rubber, as I did in this Blog Post. I let that layer cure completely – then poured a final third layer of Amazing Mold Rubber making sure to cover all of the wood pieces and let cure.

I carefully removed the mold from the deli container and flipped over the mold. You can see the wood pieces are very close to the surface, with only a thin layer of Amazing Mold Rubber between them.

Using a craft knife I cut slits in the Amazing Mold Rubber to remove the wood pieces. After I have extracted all of the pieces I cut and trimmed the Mold Rubber back just a bit to leave room to pour resin easily into the molds.

I used a soft bristle brush to dust the inside of a molds with Alumilite Metallic Powders (Copper, Gold and Pearlescent). I then mixed up some Amazing Casting Resin, tinting the resin with Black Alumilite Dye and carefully poured it into the molds. Once cured I removed the resin casts from the mold. As you can see in this photo the Amazing Mold Rubber captured every little crack and twist to the wood pieces.

Using a small hand drill, I drilled holes and sanded any edges of the resin pieces, now making them into beads for the planned necklace.

I mixed black acrylic paint with some water to make a color wash and applied it with a paint brush to the resin pieces. I used a paper towel to remove the excess. I painted on some Liquitex Gloss Varnish and applied more metallic powders – Alumidust in Copper, Gold, Pearl, Rust, Red Plum and Orange. I sealed them with even more Liquitex Gloss Varnish to give it a nice shine.

Depending on how I drill holes through the resin pieces, I threaded them onto jewelry eyepins, jumprings or jewelry wire. With each piece having a different connecting element it created a free-form ascetic that accented the shapes of the resin pieces.

I connected the resin pieces together with more jumprings and gold tone chain. In this photo I opened up a jumpring with the flat nose pliers and put the jumpring through one of the leaf beads and a portion of chain attached to a resin link. I added more leaf beads, linked all of the resin pieces together and added a jewelry clasp at the end to finish off the necklace.

With found bits of branches, bark and wood I was able to create a one-of-a-kind necklace! I wonder what other wonderful found objects might be molded?

What AMAZING arts and crafts can you create?

Please share them on the user GALLERY on the Amazing Mold Putty Website! 

Visit my blog Art Resurrected for more craft tutorials!

Until next time, safe travels! ~ Tracy

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