Amazing Casting Products: Mixed Media Creative Challenge with Amazing Crafting Products by Maria Soto

Thursday, August 29

Mixed Media Creative Challenge with Amazing Crafting Products by Maria Soto

Hi there, this is Maria with another project to share with you. I have seen so many photos of tags done by so many people in so many different ways, especially those that have that "rusted" look and the "steam-punk" style. I have not tried either one, and I needed a challenge.

Now as I was getting ready to start working on my tag, I looked at the piece of cardboard as I removed some of the layers to exposed the ridged area and decided that I would try and make my own resin tag that would resemble the cardboard one as you see in the photos below. Now this not only was a challenge but an experiment for me, which just got me more excited about this project.

Here is what I used to make this resin tag:

Amazing Casting Resin
Amazing Clear Cast Resin
Amazing Mold Putty
Recycled piece of cardboard
Mixing cups
Sticks/paper clips
AdTech hot glue & glue gun
Plaid's Dimensional Magic
Alumilite Dyes (brown, white, blue, flo green, flo red)
Alumilite Metallic Powders (gun metal, gold, silver, copper)
Recycled necklace and resin cabochon
Black ribbons
Viva Decor Terra (Morrocan Red)
Tiny fabric yellow flowers

First things first, I cut out a piece of cardboard and peeled the top layer off to expose the ridges that I would use to make my mold. Keep in mind I'm making this project as I go along.

After mixing equal parts "A" & "B" of the Amazing Mold Putty, I placed it over the area of the cardboard tag that I wanted to mold, waited about 10 minutes for the putty to cure. CLICK HERE for complete instructions. I removed the cardboard tag from the mold and I took some of the Alumilite Gun Metal Metallic Powder and brushed it on some of the areas of the mold now to get the resin ready.

I took Alumilite Fluorescent (Flo) Red, Brown and White dyes and added them to part "A" of the Amazing Clear Cast Resin and mixed thoroughly. Then I combined part "A" and part "B" of the clear cast resin (make sure to follow directions on the box of the clear cast resin for proper mixing or CLICK HERE for instructions). Well I couldn't wait to pour the colored resin on my mold! As I poured I realized that I should have added a border to the mold, because without it the resin was spreading out of the mold onto the paper I had under the mold (I forgot to use wax paper).

I took some more mold putty and added a border to the mold, but I didn't want it to be permanent so I took a bit longer to make sure it would not stick permanently to the mold (I have other plans for this mold). I had to mix some more Amazing Clear Cast Resin and dyes to add to the mold once again, but this time I decide to add a little of the Alumilite Gold Metallic Powder to the poured resin and just swirled it around, not sure if it would settle to the bottom or stay on top. Left it over night to set completely. As you can see below, the gold power did not settle to the bottom of the mold, it stayed on the top. Now that my tag is ready, I just had to do a little bit of trimming on the edges. I seriously did not like the dull color of what would be the front of the tag, but then I figured it would work best this way.

Next is the fun part, adding lots of colors and texture to give it a rusted look. I figure to add texture to the resin tag, I would use the Amazing Casting Resin, so I took the Alumilite Fluorescent (Flo) Green Dye and the Blue dye to see if I could come up with a color similar to a green patina and mixed it with part "A" of the resin. Once all was mixed, I combined part "A" and part "B" of the Amazing Casting Resin and began to pour it over some of the areas of the resin tag, below are two photos, one right after pouring the colored resin and then you can see how the color began to show, for a while I was afraid it was not going to come out the color I wanted, until it began to set. I decided to add some hot glue over the resin I had just poured to give it even more dimension.

I used Plaid's Dimensional Magic mixed with some Alumilite Silver Metallic Powder and brushed it over some areas of the resin tag. I was going to do the same with the gold and copper metallic powders but instead I just took a paper clip and used the tip to get the powder from the bottles and just tapped it off over the tag in different areas, then brushed the dimensional magic over the powders and mixed and spread them around. Look at the photos below to see how the color of the resin tag continued to changed every time I added a different color, I continued to do this until I was happy with the colors, all the hot glue I poured was colored with the different color metallic powders.

I had this necklace I purchased at a garage sale that I figure I could use in my crafts one day, it had some pretty charms on it, I took it apart and used part of the chain and some of the charms as embellishments.

I had poured a domed cabochon a while back and decided to use it on this project after using the same metallic powders to give it an old metallic effect by dry brushing only. I wanted to leave as much of the resin tag exposed, so I decided to make the bottom of the tag the center point, to start I added a couple small pieces of black organza ribbon that had silver glitter on already, used hot glue to adhere to the tag, then placed the cabochon, and the rest of the metal elements where glued in place. I added a few tiny flowers to which I added paint to age them too. Final touch I took some Viva Decor Terra in Morrocan Red and added it on all the metal embellishments, added some black ribbons to the top of the tag and it's done.

This project took several days to complete, having an idea of what you want to make, is exciting but it can also be scary for you don't know the outcome, not knowing if it's going to turn out can be intimidating. I love to challenge myself when it comes to crafting, this project shows my version of a mixed media "grungy, steam-punk" tag without all the gears. I needed to make it my way and I have to say I love the final project. These products are amazing, they have allowed me make my vision a reality, this resin tag turned out just as I imagined it.