I'm going to be honest here... it has been a sh*tty past couple of months.
My mother died.
She was 92 and other than having issues with her vision, she was in perfect health. She lived alone and had a stroke 2 weeks before my birthday... that was sh*tty to start with...
It seemed she would recover from the stroke, but then she contracted pneumonia and had another stroke. We were told she would continue to have strokes, so we placed her in hospice and watched her slowly die.
It sucked... It sucked big time!
She lasted an amazing 2 weeks in hospice and died exactly 1 month after her stroke.
She was buried 3 days before my Dad's birthday, who died when I was 8.
So this craft is a memorial ornament for my mom.
Warning... You may see a lot of memorial projects in the next year from me, so get prepared...
You need a few supplies:
- Polymer Clay
- DaVinci Alphabet Pasta
- Amazing Mold Rubber
- Alumilite Casting Resin
- Alumilite Dye
- Rub 'n Buff®
- E6000® glue
- Clear Glass OrnamentTransparency Film for printers
The first thing I did was dump out all my alphabet noodles and start sorting letters and numbers. YES, they have numbers in there!
I chose the flat clear glass ornament for this project. Condition your polymer clay and roll out a piece to make your top banner. I made mine about 6 inches long. I cute a "V" in both ends. I then folded my banner how I wanted it to flow on the ornament.
I then place my letters and numbers on the banner. If it is too long, you can trim off the banner. Better too long than too short. You can sit the letters and numbers on the clay with tweezers. Once you have them positioned correctly then press the noodles into the clay. Bake your clay to their specifications.
One your banners have baked you can now hot glue them into a reservoir of some sort. I had a small plastic tray. At this point I find everything I want to make a mold for and do them all at once. I like to mix the whole container of Amazing Mold Rubber at once. I also molded a sacred heart frame that I had made for another project HERE.
While the Amazing Mold Rubber is curing you can set up your photo. There are a few ways to do this and I actually started off with one idea and ended up doing something different.
I opened a program on my computer (CorelDraw)
and made 6 squares the same size as my ornament.
I added my image and printed on transparency film. Make sure you get the correct kind for your printer! The printed transparency film will be rolled up and pushed through the top of the ornament and have a floating image inside!
Two things I discovered...
1. Since I printed color photos, they weren't very dark. So I layered two sheets of the printed transparency paper together – now It looks perfect...
2. Now it is too thick now to roll up to slip inside the ornament.
My solution was since my image was already in an oval so I just cut it out. I also glue some clear filament between the two layers so i could hang the image inside. The tension from the ornament cap should hold it in place.
Not a great photo but you can see how I cut the transparency into an oval and glued the two film sheets together and added filament.
Once the Amazing Mold Rubber is cured you can mix your resin. I wanted to make my banners red because I plan to accent them with gold. I thought that would look Christmasy.
Since the Alumilite Casting Resin has a short cure time, add your dye to only one part so you will have time to mix the dye in before you add the second part.
When your resin pieces are cured, use a q-tip and embellish with gold Rub 'n Buff®. Highlight the raised letters, numbers and the edges.
Use E6000® glue to attach the resin pieces to the glass ornament.
Tada!!!
Next I will figure out how to only use one sheet so I can have it stretch the whole inside... Or maybe I just need ornaments with a larger neck – look how tiny that darn neck is!
Now go out there and Craft Your Own Way!
Please visit my site to see more of my inspiring creations at www.tanyaRuffin.com
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