Amazing Casting Products: AMAZING Retro Home Decor... by Tracy Alden

Hello! My name is Tracy Alden and I am proud new member of the Creative Team for Amazing Crafting Products! I have been working with Amazing Crafting Products supplies for many years and I am always looking for new ways to use their products. Though this time I used something old to make something new!

I have a collection of vintage polyurethane molds. Many of them were part of my mother's collection who was a resin artist for many years. So many of the molds have awesome shapes and lovely patterns, but recently one really caught my eye, a 70s trivet mold! It got me thinking about the resin art of the 70s, with lots of glitter, mica and sparkle, so I went searching through my supplies to help me recreate this retro look.

Supplies:

Amazing Clear Cast Resin
Dried flowers (I used dried Scabiosa flowers with the petals missing)
Polyurethane Trivet resin mold
Art Glitter Microfine Transparent Faun Glitter
Stampendous Gilded Mica Fragments
Stampendous Tea Stained Mica Fragments
Martha Stewart Crafts Satin Acrylic Craft Paint in Chestnut Brown
Wire
Round nose pliers
Scissors
Heat Gun
Cosmetic sponge

I started by cleaning and thoroughly drying the mold, making sure there was no dirt particles. I gathered up my dried flowers and cut them to size, using the mold as my guide.

I mixed up a batch of Amazing Clear Cast Resin following the easy to follow instructions. I poured a thin layer of Amazing Clear Cast Resin just enough to coat the bottom of the mold and fill the outer edge. Any air bubbles I saw in the mold I was able to remove with a tooth pick or using a heat gun to warm up the resin to pop the bubbles.

Carefully I sprinkled Stampendous Gilded Mica Fragments into the resin around the edges and used a popsicle stick to push the mica flakes into the outer edges of the mold. I let this cure for two hours before adding the flowers. This creates a soft set of the resin but allows for quicker layering of embellishments. If you live in a humid area you will have to let the resin sit a bit longer for a soft but tacky firm set up of the resin.

I then poured another layer of Amazing Clear Cast Resin into the mold, filling it about halfway up the side of the mold. Then I saturated each flower with resin before placing them in the mold. I do this by placing the flowers in a small cup and pouring resin on top of them, waiting for the flower to soak up just enough resin to look wet. This trick this helps reduce air bubbles from forming in the mold. I then placed them face down into the pool of resin in the mold.

After placing all of the flowers in the mold I sprinkled more Stampendous Gilded Mica Fragments and Art Glitter Microfine Transparent Faun Glitter on top of the flowers and resin. I let this sit for 2 hours.

I then poured another thin layer of Amazing Clear Cast Resin and sprinkled Stampendous Tea Stained Mica Fragments on top of the resin and let it sit for 2 hours.

Using the round nose pliers I curled the edges of the wire; the curled edges will add an extra grip when placed in rest. I poured my last layer of Amazing Clear Cast Resin into the mold filling it to the edge and and placed the curved wire into the resin. I let the resin set in the mold the full cure time.

Once the piece is fully cured and removed from the mold, I used a cosmetic sponge to apply a thin coat of Martha Stewart Crafts Satin Acrylic Craft Paint in Chestnut Brown to the back of the piece. This warm color helps make the dried flowers visually pop, but you can always skip this step if you like the more see through look.