How Twigs Become Trees... AMAZING Inspiration by Isabel Villarreal

For a week now I've working on an altered art project in which I wanted to use dimensional trees. My preference would be to use actual plant life but I know it will eventually wilt and crumble away. I would have to make my own simulated plants. I quickly pulled out my Sculpey clay to start crafting some trees... and then immediately put it back on the shelf.

Why was I sculpting trees from clay,

why not use nature to replicate nature?

   

And so my search for an interesting stick began. I was looking for a twig or patch of grass that might be made to look like trees. I found these. Not bad, right? I mixed up some Amazing Mold Putty and pressed the putty onto the piece of vine using a flat surface to work on {CLICK HERE to view mixing/preparation}. While that one was curing I repeated the process for the dried twig, making sure to flatten it as I went along. For the twig, I placed a heavy book on top of the putty to add pressure and keep it flat while it was setting. The molds were ready after about 10 minutes.

Once the molds were ready, I removed the vine and twig and carefully cleaned my molds with rubbing alcohol to get rid of any plant goo that was left behind. I mixed and poured some Amazing Casting Resin into the molds and walked away {CLICK HERE to view mixing/preparation}. Ten minutes later I had trees!! There were a few stray pieces where I over-poured but I cut those away with an Xacto knife and trimmed off areas I didn't want on the finished pieces.

Now it was time to paint. You can add color to your resin castings by using dyes, markers, inks, etc. I chose to use acrylic paint and Sharpie markers to decorate my trees. I made a few of each with slightly varying colors. Amazing Mold Putty and Amazing Casting Resin work so quickly that I was able to stay in the zone and get a bit of work done. I'll be posting about the finished piece later so you can see how these were used.

Now that I'm looking at these pieces I can think of several different ways to use these in future work. I find nature amazing and really enjoy molding and casting natural elements like stone, wood and leaves.

What are your favorite things to mold and cast?

I'd love to see what you create! Please upload and share your creations to the

User GALLERY on the Amazing Mold Putty Website for all the world to see.

~ Isabel Villarreal

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