Amazing Casting Products: Cool #Cre8time Breezes bring Falling Leaves... #DIY Cheese Board by Tracy Alden

Hello! Tracy with a special Amazing Mold Rubber Monday project! My inspiration for this project came from the somewhat quicker than normal drop in temperatures in our area and the seasonal falling of the leaves. I noticed some dried leaves covered in frost and wondered if I could replicate the look of fall leaves in icy water. Along with wanting to have some new table decor for the upcoming holidays, the idea of making a cheese board with fall leaves and resin replicating ice wandered into my mind. Since Amazing Clear Cast Resin is FDA approved **food safe** – I knew it would work perfect for this project!

Supplies:

Amazing Mold Rubber
Amazing Clear Cast Resin
Alumidust
Liquitex Gloss Varnish
Stir Sticks
Paint Brush
Craft Scissors
Clear Packing Tape
Plastic Wrap
Mulberry Paper
Glitter
Wood Cutting Board

I collected some dried leaves and painted them with Liquitex Gloss Varnish on the front and back of the leaves. Before the varnish dried I dusted on a variety of colors of Alumidust to the leaves. I set the leaves to the side to dry.

I found a cutting board perfect to mold the shape for my cheese board, in this case a bamboo cutting board. It had an unusual shape but I realized I had a piece of plastic from a toy box that was the perfect size to be the mold box for my cutting board.

Carefully following the instructions, I mixed up one kit of Amazing Mold Rubber and slowly poured it into the mold box. CLICK HERE to view mixing/preparation. In the process of mixing, the Amazing Mold Rubber had formed bubbles. To quickly pop the bubbles I used a heat gun to slowly heat the uncured mold rubber to pop the bubbles.

Once cured I had a perfectly smooth layer of Amazing Mold Rubber at the bottom of the mold box. Now you might be asking me why not mold the entire cutting board in one step like in one of my previous Blog Posts? I wanted to mold a smooth top surface for my cheese board but with textures sides on the cutting board. To do that I need to create the mold in two steps.

To prepare the cutting board for molding, I wrapped it tight with clear plastic wrap and taped it shut. The thin lines of the plastic wrap would be picked up by the Amazing Mold Rubber, giving the illusion of ice.

Once I placed the cutting board on the bottom layer of Amazing Mold Rubber, I put soda and juice bottles on top of the cutting board to press it down onto the first layer. I poured another layer of Amazing Mold Rubber, just enough to cover the sides of the cutting board. With the bottles pressing the cutting board down the first layer of mold rubber would stay smooth with only a minor about of seepage from the second layer.

Once the mold was cured I carefully removed the cutting board and trimmed all the dried spillage of Amazing Mold Rubber.

Using the technique I used in this Blog Post, I coated all of the dried leaves in Amazing Clear Cast Resin and carefully placed them into the Amazing Mold Rubber mold (with a thin layer of Amazing Clear Cast already poured into the mold) face side down. I moved the leaves around in the resin to pop any large air bubbles. I wasn't overly concerned about air bubbles forming because air bubbles naturally form in ice and any small ones in the resin would add to the effect.

I let the first layer of resin cure to tacky firm and poured another layer of Amazing Clear Cast Resin, almost to the top of the mold. While the resin was still liquid I tore up pieces of mulberry paper and placed it gently on top of the resin. The paper was not sealed so it soaked up resin creating a gauzy background layer, mimicking the look of frozen water and plant debris.

Once the second layer of resin was cured to a tacky firm stage I poured one last layer of Amazing Clear Cast Resin to the top of mold. I sprinkled a bit of frost colored glitter and mylar flakes and let the resin cure completely.

Once the cheese board was removed from the mold, I carefully removed any resin spills and edges with a sharp craft knife. To give a smooth but frosted finish to the edges and sides of the cheese board I used a small hand drill with a felt buffing tip. I cleaned the cheese board with warm soap and water to remove any dust.