Amazing Casting Products: Make a Tag... or Three or TEN! AMAZING Remelted Tree Tags by Tracy Alden

Friday, December 12

Make a Tag... or Three or TEN! AMAZING Remelted Tree Tags by Tracy Alden

Hello! Tracy here with another Amazing Crafting Products tutorial! I always love adding a hand crafted element to gifts given out each year for the holidays. It can be foods, cards, fabric decos or in this case gift tags that can be used as ornaments after gifts have been opened!

I needed to make quite a few tags and didn't have the time to stamp and cut all the tags out. So making a mold from Amazing Remelt that could be used for the holidays and remelted later for other projects was just perfect!

Supplies:

Amazing Remelt
Alumilite Metallic Powders - Silver, Gold, and Pearlescent
Stampendous Frantage Treasures Glitter 5-Jar Kit
Stampendous Clear Stamps Winter Tree *Retired
Polymer clay
Acrylic roller
Craft Knife or Clay Blade
Ceramic Tile
Craft Scissors
Clear Stamp Acrylic Blocks
Duct Tape
Emery Board
Acrylic Paint
Paint brush
Liquitex Gloss Varnish

I started by rolling out polymer clay to a thickness of a little less than half an inch. I attached an arrangement of clear stamps to the stamp block, sprayed the stamp with water to act a release agent so the stamps don't stick to the clay, and pressed the stamps firmly into the clay.

I used Stampendous Clear Stamps Winter Tree stamp set for this project because it is one of my favorite holiday tree stamp sets. Feel free to use your favorite stamps to create your own style of tags!

I carefully trimmed away the excess clay from the edges,

making simplistic gift tag shape.

After stamping and cutting several tag shapes I placed them on a large ceramic tile and baked them in a designated toaster oven.

Once the polymer clay pieces cooled, I did NOT remove them from the tile. When baking polymer clay on a tile they often stick after cooking, often needing to be removed with a thin blade. With the pieces so neatly stuck to the tile I don't need adhesive to glue them to the tile to mold. I just left them in place and carefully taped on duct tape, smoothing the edges tight to the tile. I then sprayed the piece with a mold release before pouring Amazing Remelt.

As I noted in my Previous Post about Amazing Remelt – when heating up the Remelt I was careful to try heating it for 15 second intervals. Depending on how much Remelt you are trying to melt and how hot the microwave being used is, the time needed to melt can vary dramatically.

From a 12 -15 inch distance I poured the Amazing Remelt in the duct Tape and tile mold box – the distance gives the Remelt a chance to release more bubbles before cooling. I used a paperclip to drag any bubble caught in the Amazing Remelt before it cooled to make sure to get a better casting.

Once the Amazing Remelt was cooled, and no longer warm or sticky to the touch, I carefully removed the duct tape, tile and the originals from the Remelt. A little of the Remelt was uneven and I removed the excess with sharp crafting scissors and saved it for another mold.

I conditioned the polymer clay, making sure the clay was soft and warm enough to be pushed into the molds. I pushed the clay into the molds tight, and used a acrylic roller to push the clay further into the molds, making sure the clay got into the tiny embossed details.

I then carefully placed the mold, with the polymer clay still inside, face down on a ceramic tile. I then peeled back the mold and the polymer clay piece was then stuck to the tile. I then refilled the mold with more polymer clay and repeated this process several times so I had plenty of tags and then baked the polymer pieces.

I lightly sanded and trimmed the edges of the now baked polymer clay pieces with a craft knife and an emery board. I then used my finger and a paint brush to apply a black acrylic paint wash to the tags and let dry. They might look dark and dreary now but don't worry they will not be for long!

Using an emery board, I sanded the raised surfaces of the tags. The embossed portions were now back to the original clay colors and the black in was left in the grooves to increase the visibility of the detail.

I painted on some Liquitex Gloss Varnish to the tags and while wet applied metallic powders – Alumilite Metallic Powders in Gold, Silver and Pearlescent.

I painted on some more Liquitex Gloss Varnish to the tags and while still wet I sprinkled on the Gold, Silver and Clear Glitter from the Stampendous Frantage Treasures Glitter 5-Jar Kit and let dry.