Amazing Casting Products: From Garage Sale, to Amazing Rubber Mold to a Keepsake Shrine... a tutorial by Maria Soto

Hi this is Maria bringing you a new project. I like to go garage/thrift shopping with my sister – you never know what you'll find. I found some cute tin oval shape gift boxes and purchased some... I figure they would come in handy one day. Now I have to warn you, this is a pretty long post. It never fails, I always aim to making simple and fast projects but end up with the opposite.

First, I had to decide between using the Amazing Mold Putty or the Amazing Mold Rubber. The mold rubber won! I had this big plastic container much bigger than the metal lid, so I looked around for some other fun stuff to mold. The photo below shows you the items I used. Follow the directions on the box for mixing Amazing Mold Rubber {or CLICK HERE to view preparation}. I mixed the entire contents since this mold looked pretty big. I liked the ridges around it, too. I figure I might be able to use this mold as a stamp one day, plus also the other side is flat so I will be able to use it as an AMAZING DIY No-Gelatin Printing Plate.

I decided to brush the Alumilite Silver Metallic Powder on the mold, then pour the Amazing Clear Cast Resin {click here for mixing/preparation} in very small amounts, little at a time since the mold is small and thin, I didn't want too much overflow.

Now I had left over Amazing Mold Rubber, so I had to decide quick on what else to mold. As I looked around for something I noticed the bunch of polymer clay roses I made a few years back for my daughter's 15th birthday favors. I love these pretty tiny roses... and by molding them, I will have them on hand for whenever I need some more.

Normally I glue my items to the container and pour the Amazing Mold Rubber over them, this time I did the opposite because the roses I used had a wire for a stem. So instead, I poured the Amazing Mold Rubber into the metal lid I was using; and after it was poured, I added the roses into it... hoping this would work. I left the molds to cured for 24 hours. I have to say it was easy to remove everything, except for the roses. I would assume this happened because of all the open petals, it was very hard to pull off the roses. I pulled so hard that the stems from the polymer clay roses came off before removing the actual roses. I was worried that the roses would not come out, but after a long struggle, I managed to get them all out – sadly two of them broke. Next time I will apply something to aid in mold release.

I decided to use the Amazing Clear Cast Resin for this project. I mixed 1 oz of both parts "A" and "B". I poured half into another cup, since these flowers are tiny I didn't need a lot of resin. I added the Alumidust to the mixed resin. Usually I add coloring to part "A" first, but since I needed such small amount, I figured I would add it once the resin was mixed. I have to admit I was very concerned how the roses would come out, since it was so hard to remove the roses from the mold and afraid the petals would be damaged.

This photo shows the Amazing Clear Cast Resin colored with the Alumidust Deep Red.

The second pour was colored with Alumidust Orange.

I have to say, I loved how the roses came out, you can see the petals pretty good, and if you don't add too much resin – you can get some pretty cool distorted roses that would be great to use in a distressed project.

Roses made with Amazing Clear Cast Resin and the Orange Alumidust.

Roses made with Amazing Clear Cast Resin and the Deep Red Alumidust.

Once I had all my casts done, I struggled with ideas of how to use my new items. I've been spending a lot of time with my mom the past few weekends and thought it would be nice to make her something religious. I thought a shrine would be nice to make; the oval mold would be nice to hold an image and I could use the roses too – that's how the idea for this project came to be.

It took me a while to figure out how and what to use. I knew the image would be inside the new mold I made and I thought making it silver was a good choice. I had to use pearls and maybe some lace... so little by little, I found different things to use. Once I had everything I needed, it was time to start putting it all together.

First thing I did was find and print an image, cut to size and I decided to use Golden Polymer varnish with UVLS as glue on the inside of the oval mold. I added the image and then sealed it with the same varnish. I plan on coming back and add some Amazing Clear Cast Resin later on.

Here is the image I downloaded and printed on photo paper.

Here is the original tin lid I used to make a mold,

and also the silver resin casting I made to house the image.

Here is a piece of the lace I used, the rhinestones, pearls,

wire and metal shapes I used on this project.

Next was time to embellish this new mold. I used Golden Polymer varnish with UVLS as glue on the lace around the oval mold, to give it a frame. After it was glued, I added some more to the lace itself – to make it stiff and open it out so it would really look like a frame (sorry I had moved on to the plaque and forgot to take a photo of this step).

I took a wood plaque I had on hand and used Viva Decor's modeling creams {#701 this only had a number no color, but it looks silver}. I used it on the scrapbook papers and on the side of the plaque that has the prayer (you can see it on the photo below). I also used the Mother of Pearl Hydrangea modeling cream to color most of the plaque. I printed out a prayer in Spanish and glued it on the plaque. I took a scrapbook page I had on hand that had two different colors {one side was solid red the other had a paint splatter look}, tore up a couple of pieces, overlapping them using glue on the wood plaque; then placed the oval mold with the image over the papers and let it set overnight.

Here are the two modeling creams and the paper I used on this project.

Below is a side view of the resin frame glued on the scrapbook papers you can see how I glued the lace, it was the perfect size for this resin frame.

Here is a close-up (top view), after letting it sit over night –

ready for the next creative steps.

Here is photo of the entire plaque, I waited a couple of days to continue – sometimes I have to walk away from a project in order to figure out what to do next.

A couple of days later I began to add more embellishments. I had the resin roses made, but I wanted to make some out of paper, so I used the left overs I had. Now it was time to begin placing the flowers and beads I wanted to use. I'm sorry I got so caught up on this step that I kept going, and forgot to take enough photos – it's just that this project came together as I worked on it.

A sampling of my collection of beads used.

To finish this project, I added some rhinestones on two sides of the plaque. I had taken apart a necklace a while back and kept the pearls that were joined with eye pins. I thought stringing some wire through the eye pins would make for a sturdy handle, so I simply wrapped the wire to the holes already on the plaque. This project was all done and put together... below are a few close ups of the finished piece.

This photo shows the strung pearls I used;

and you can see the wire that was added for stability.

Close up of the embellished resin lid (frame) I made to hold the image of Mary...

showing the paper and resin roses I made.

Here is a close up of the resin roses.

A side view of the resin roses, the prayer and the resin lid (frame).

To finish this piece, I mixed some more Amazing Clear Cast Resin and added some over the image to protect it and to give it a glass like look. I also brushed a little bit of resin on all the flowers for a shiny finish; and also to the plaque itself {on all exposed areas to seal the paint and also over the prayer}. I figure the resin will also make sure nothing falls off the plaque over time.

This is going to make a great gift! I can't wait to give this to my mother. Have you used these products to make personalized gifts? If so, please share with us, we would love to see what you've created.

Materials used: