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Friday, August 31

Amazing Mold Putty Pendant

 

Recently I was given the bowl part of a sugar spoon and had intended making it into a pendant. I was looking at it today and decided to see if I could come up with a mold for it and use resin to make the pendant.

Here’s what I started with:

                   2003-01-19 11.14.04        2003-01-19 11.14.14 I loved the design on this spoon so……..I mixed up equal amounts of Part A and Part B of the Mold Putty. You need to get it mixed thoroughly and then I pressed my spoon into it to create the mold. I pressed the spoon in one way and then wasn’t sure how that would work, so once it set up I mixed up more putty and pressed the spoon in the other direction.

                 2003-01-19 11.18.20        2003-01-19 11.18.09   As soon as I had my molds made I mixed up some Amazing Casting Resin, (equal amounts of Part A and Part B) and poured it into the molds. Once it set up I decided that the one that had the cup to it would be perfect for the pendant. 2003-01-19 13.02.08 I know it’s kind of hard to see the design on the resin but it’s there. I then smoothed out the edges and first painted the resin piece with silver paint and then rubbed black paint into the crevises. Once the paint was dry I glued a piece of sea glass on the piece  and embedded some seed beads into some Crystal Lacquer in a random pattern around the glass. I then attached a bail  and here’s the finished product: 2003-01-19 15.18.04 The Crystal Lacquer isn’t quite dry here but look at the pendant next to the original spoon:  2003-01-19 15.18.35  Isn’t that awesome the way that it turned out? I was amazed at how close to the original the pendant looked. I’m a happy camper over this one! I would love to here what you think of it. Please leave a comment or two!

Barbara

Thursday, August 30

Beautiful Decor from Multiple Resin Castings

I make so much stuff with Resin each day that I can't simply wait to post it all on my DT date.

I make alot of random resin pieces with no purpose for them in mind when I'm making them.

The following piece was actually three separate pieces glued together using 3D Crystal Laquer. I colored the flowers with copic markers, the background with alcohol ink and glitter, the bird with TS Mixers. The entire piece was clear finished with lacquer. From now on however, I've decided to use ONLY the TS Mixers on my resin pieces as they dry quick, leave a beautiful shimmer and are mixable in so many colors.



The following piece has been brought to you by www.alumilite.com

Tuesday, August 28

TRICK-or-TREAT!!! Fun and Easy Halloween Decorations using Amazing Crafting Products


Happy Tuesday!!! Susan here with another "AMAZING" adventure with Amazing Mold Putty. As August comes to a close, the kids go back-to-school and Halloween is just around the corner. So today I have a TRICK and a TREAT to share.


I'm making a quick and easy Halloween "EEK" hanging wall decor. I saw one of these at the store among the holiday decorations and it was pretty cute, but not worth the price tag. AND this is the perfect opportunity to make it myself with Amazing Mold Putty and Amazing Casting Resin and things I already have around the house.


The TRICK...cast a small frame using Amazing Mold Putty and make three copies using Alumilite Dyes and Metallic Powders mixed into Amazing Casting Resin and turn them into an adorable Halloween wall decoration. The TREAT: at the end of this post there's a special coupon for Amazing Crafting Products...enjoy!!!

Supplies needed: a small frame, ribbons and black tulle, your choice of letters/embellishments and Amazing Crafting Products to mold, color and cast your frame trio.


Now for the FUN to BEGIN! I got out my Amazing Mold PuttyIf you would like to see a more in depth how-to of mixing Amazing Mold Putty please click here. 

I begin by taking equal parts of Amazing Mold Putty parts "A" and "B" and gently mix together both parts, working quickly so that the colors are evenly mixed together with no striping. Then I press the Amazing Mold Putty around the frame gently pressing it around the item and sides. I let the mold sit and cure for about 15 minutes until it's no longer warm and then I'm ready to make my frames.



NOW FOR THE CASTING with the Quick Set Amazing Casting Resin:


Following the directions on package I measure out to equal parts of Part A and Part B to mix Amazing Casting Resin which sets up in approximately 10 minutes.


For this project I've used Alumilite Pearlescent Powders to dust molds as a mold release and also a mixture of Alumilite Black, Blue and Green Dye with the Amazing Casting Resin. This resulted in a gunmetal shimmery grey color.

I mixed thoroughly into Part "A" of Amazing Casting Resin, 2-3 drops of Alumilite Black Dye and one drop each of blue and green dye to make a rich black. The Alumilite dyes are so concentrated a little goes a long way. After mixing thoroughly, I stir in Part "B" and then pour into molds.



**A TIP** When you mix resin have extra molds handy to use up any leftover resin - so your mixed resin doesn't go to waste.



To spell out "EEK" and "BOO", you could use stickers, stamps or chipboard letters. During the day I'm a graphic artist, and I have so many fantastic fonts. I found the perfect free font here to use for this project. 

I printed the words out on glossy cardstock, colored with alcohol inks and cut to fit the frame openings. 



I tied the frames together with black tulle laced from the bottom of the last frame and worked up from the bottom. The leftover at the top was tied into a nice bow for hanging.


"E...E...K!!!" Halloween Wall Hanging
layered over some festive wired ribbon.


Use coupon code AMP20 to receive 20% off your order.
Coupon expires - Sept 30, 2012

I hope you enjoyed today's project. I encourage you to stroll around through the many AMAZING projects from the other Amazing Mold Putty Design Team members for some great tips and ideas! If you have any questions, please leave a comment, select receive e-mail follow ups on comments and I will respond. If you would like to see more of my creations, please visit my blog sbartist : painting in the dark by clicking here.

Have a fabulously creative day! Sb : ) 

Friday, August 24

Beach Inspired Barrette

Greetings everyone!

Don't forget to checkout how to be apart of the Amazing Crafting Products Design Team the call is up so check it out!

Welcome to my vacation inspired post for Amazing Crafting Products.  We recently returned from a two week trek across 10 states.  One of the places we visited was Lake Michigan (the "beach" in my hometown).  Besides the fact was not a balmy 78 degrees like it is in the ocean, it was a beautiful day for swimming, playing in the sand, finding drift wood and shells (yes even though Lake Michigan is a fresh water lake there are still shells.)  I wanted to take those objects and create something that would always remind me of "home" it also had to be functional.  I went to a local bead shop when I was home Noc Bay Trading Company and purchased some barrettes and other items, I knew exactly what I wanted to do for this post.



1.  Materials:
  • Amazing Mold Putty
  • Amazing Quick Cast
  • Barrette
  • Sand
  • Drift Wood
  • Shell
  • Bic® Mark-it Brown Marker
  • Hot Glue Gun/Glue
2.  Take equal parts of A & B of Amazing Mold Putty

3.  Mix throughly equal parts of A & B of Amazing Mold Putty.

4.  Impress object into mold - allow to set for 3 - 10 minutes.  Un-mold original object.

5.  Put sand in the mold before mixing resin.

6.  Mix quick cast (equal parts A & B) pour into mold.  Hold barrette until resin is set - 2-8 minutes.

7.  Un-mold barrette.  Color the sides with a brown Bic Mark-it and add the drift wood and shell to finish the piece.   



Close up of the drift wood and the shell

Finished barrette from the top

Finished barrette from the side


Now I have a great keepsake that can be worn anytime created from found objects from my vacation!

Wednesday, August 22

BoooooOOOoooook

Hey Everybody, It's Edie!

Normally I have a strict rule about waiting until October 1, to start watching Halloween movies or looking at Halloween decorations in stores. I don’t want all of the spook and excitement to be over before the season even begins. However, this year, I will be making a TON of Halloween themed projects, so I figured I better get a head start!

Hocus Pocus is one of my all time FAVORTIE movies! We watch it every Halloween without fail and someday I WILL make one of those witch costumes. Christopher and I decided to watch Hocus Pocus last week and I made the offhand comment that we should make Book. Before I had even finished the sentence, technique ideas flooded my brain and I exclaimed “We should make BOOK!!!!”

So… we did!

You can view the video with a full picture tutorial below.

Thank the Spirits for HDTV and a pause button! I have scrutinized this book for days and tried to get every detail as close as I possibly could. I found the perfect book to alter at my local thrift store. I thinned some of the pages and hollowed the middle of the book.

 

Next I started sculpting. I made the first knotted snake on a base using polymer clay. I started making the second snake but it was not tuning out as good as the first, so after some mental debating, I decided it would be much better to have a mold. I mixed up some Amazing Mold Putty® and created a mold for my knotted snakes. Since Amazing Mold Putty is oven safe, I was able to fire my polymer clay right in the mold which helped a lot! I made the two long snakes and the basic eyeball shape, also using polymer clay then fired them all in the oven for about an hour.

 

While the snakes were baking, I started working on the spine of the book. I sculpted the fingers with polymer clay, then I debated on how to fire them. If I pulled them off of the book, I risked ruining the shape and fit. If I left them on the book, I risked setting my house on fire. I decided a more precise replica was worth the risk, do after much dowsing with water, I put the book in the oven.



The original Book has an intricate clasp, with a circlet around the eyeball on the front, an animal claw on the back and a braided piece connecting them in the middle. I needed the clasp to be sturdy and hold up to regular wear and tear, so back to the polymer clay I went. I created the circlet and added a gem on the end. I had to make sure if fit exactly around the eye, yet still leave room for the stitches. Once that was finished, I sculpted the animal claw for the back, again leaving room for the stitches. I added tiny hinges to each piece, and then created the connecting braid to fit. All of the pieces were fired then painted with a coat of black, then layers of metallic silver to create the look of aged metal.

 

The next step was adding the stitches. I decided to use Creative Paperclay® instead of polymer for the stitches because I really didn’t want to have to bake the book two more times. I added Paperclay logs, and then sculpted the cuts and thread holes with a tool.

 

I painted the eyeball and attached it to the cover of the book, then using more Creative Paperclay® I sculpted the eye lids and creases of the eye.

 

 I needed to create the look of skin, so I covered the entire book with layers of tissue paper until I reached the desired look. Next came three coats of paint in flesh tones and titan buff, and that was just the under painting!

 

I still needed to darken and age the book, so I created several different washes of brown paint and just layered it on until I was happy with the color and look of the book.

 

While the cover was drying, I painted all of the large pieces, first with a coat of black, then layers of metallic silver to match the clasp. I made the base plates for the long snakes by embossing chipboard, then painting them to match the other pieces.

 

The stitching was the trickiest part for me because no matter what thread I used, nothing looked right and everything kept raveling. It wasn’t until I tried using help cord that I got the look I wanted. I spent four and a half hours cutting and gluing each individual thread on the book.

 

Once everything was set and dry, I glued all of the large pieces to the book using E-6000. I let it set for a full 24 hours before moving on to the final step.

 

 For the finishing touch, I added actual spells from the movie to the front of the book. I printed my pages, soaked them in a tea bath for aging, and then glued them in using gel medium. I had left a few original book pages in the front of the book, so I glued one spell page to the front and back of each of those pages.




And so, after five days of pretty steady work, that is how BoooOOOooook came to life :D

I love, love, LOVE the way Book turned out and I hope you enjoyed the tutorial. You can see more photos in the video slideshow below. Feel free to ask any questions in the comments section.
 

I was actually considering making and selling these replicas, as well as the eyeballs, so if you are interested in purchasing one, feel free to message me, or VISIT MY BLOG and leave a note in the comments.



Sunday, August 19

SKULL AND BONES with Amazing Mold Putty-Resin

I love skulls so much that I keep them around, as well as all kinds of other Halloween stuff, all year round in my art room. When I went shopping recently to one of the craft stores near my home, I found a 3D cardboard skull sticker. They only had one and I was very upset as I wanted to buy a few for different things. As it sat it in my bin of "things" I kept thinking...what can I do with this?
Then it hit me! I am going to use my Amazing Mold Putty and mold my own so that I can have as many as I want to use with resin or clay! I was so excited I started right away.
I decided I would make a mixed media piece. As I poured my Amazing Casting Resin I decided that I wanted it to be in two pieces so I made sure I poured the mixture thinner in the areas I wanted to cut. You do not have to do that, however, as the resin when it comes out is very easy to cut as you do get some time to form and cut before it really cures.
First, I took My 3D Sakura Crystal Lacquer and used Terri Sproul Mixers in silver and painted the Black card-stock. I then glued the pieces to my very thick card-stock. This is a new item (to me) that I found at the craft store. It is double thick card-stock and I love it for so many reasons. I also used resin and the molds I made previously of spiders and skulls and my lion that I re-resined in silver and added them to the piece. I used some clock and watch pieces in the eyes to give the skull a steam punk look with Sakura 3D Crystal Lacquer and other clock gears on resin poured gears.
I added embellishments and so many other little touches. I took my metal tape and taped around the edges of the card-stock and antiqued it to match more of the look I was going for with the piece.

Saturday, August 18

A Quick How To on altering resin pieces!


Hey everybody!! DeeDee here with a quick tutorial on altering some of your resin pieces!!

I absolutely love having bits n bobs in white just laying around to color and alter for whatever I need, and because I've now been lucky enough to be on the AMP design team for a full year I've got lots of molds and lots of resin bits laying around.


So when Susan invited me to participate in her hop this weekend I knew I wanted to use some of my laying around experimenting pieces and make a nautical spoon! 

I started with the large pelican seen to the right here cast from Amazing Casting Resin:


And I glued him to my spoon which had been aged with a vinegar and steel wool combination. After the glue had set I dug through my Tattered Angels glimmer glazes and came across Coconut Shell and Waterfall. I started with the Waterfall (a sort of blue bit) because you can always add darker to lighter, and but you can't usually add lighter to darker. So I edged the tip of the wing with the waterfall and dry brushed some onto the feathers. I then did the same with the darker brown coconut and dabbed the pelican's eye.

Glimmer glaze is sort of a water acrylic paint, but it's translucent and has a gorgeous shimmer to it. So if you're using it and you want a very dark spot you may need to do three or four coats. Much like my pelican's eye.. seen here:


You can see to the left of the photo where I drybrushed the glimmer glaze onto just the edges of the feathers. Drybrushing is where your brush is MOSTLY dry with a very minute amount of paint. This creates a very light stroked look and helps guard against big globs of color!

Other than that my pelican has been nestled among cheese cloth, May Arts ribbon, and collected beach shells :) 
--If you're checking out at AMP use code AMP20 for 20% off your order--

Thursday, August 16

Gardenia Flower Hair Clips!

 Recently I was playing with my assortment of  buttons and knobs with  Amazing Casting Resin.
In playing with some flower buttons I ended up creating these simple Gardenia like flowers as you can see.
I love working with the Amazing Casting Resin because it not only sets quickly ( 10-15 minutes), but it's a bright white that can be left alone or colored as desired.
I began by mixing equal amounts of the yellow and white Amazing Mold Putty until no trace of  white was seen. Then I rolled the putty into a ball and pressed the flower button 3/4 of the way down. I pinched the edges of the mold up and around the button and left it to set in less than 15 minutes.
Next I mixed equal amounts of the Amazing Casting Resin and poured into the flower mold.  
 When the flower was set, I popped it out and proceeded to make the hair clip. Above you can see just how easy it was. I criss crossed some felt pieces and glued to the bottom of the flower. Then I added some shiny green organza and attached to the clip. To keep the clip from being glued shut, I put a piece of felt inside the clip.
The Amazing Mold Putty website is having a sale on their Alumilite powders! Save 20% off your entire order. Just enter the code AMP20 before the expiration date of September 30, 2012.
Thanks for coming by, I hope I helped inspired you to create some Gardenia's of your own!
~ Michelle Frae Cummings