For the Love of #Cre8time Recycling... DIY Art Molds by Tracy Alden

Hello! Tracy here to share some inspiration using Amazing Casting Products! Notice the interesting resin tiles and the Amazing Mold Rubber molds? Curious on how I made them? Let me introduce one of my favorite sources for inspiration... my recycling bin. Seriously, some of my best pieces of artwork gets inspiration from objects many people think has no value!

Here is a small selection from my recycling bin from this past month. What these objects all have in common is the potential to become a mold, texture or embellishment for a piece of art. I could mold the side of the light bulb to create a dome pendant, those trays can be bases for printing plates, the bottom of bottles and lids make great molds for embellishments, many pieces can be cut up or glued together to make mixed media projects! 

Grabbing just one type of recyclables, in this case a plastic spacer most likely from some sort of packaging, I noticed it had a great shape. Smooth on three sides, even in shape and thick enough to create a mold with depth for layers.

I glued the spacers into a plastic sushi tray {also from my recycling bin}, which made the perfect mold box! Carefully following the instructions, I mixed up a kit of Amazing Mold Rubber and slowly poured it into my 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.

**You can use either Amazing Mold Rubber or Amazing Mold Putty for creating molds from recyclables. Mold Putty will create a matte to satin finish (food safe!) mold and Mold Rubber will create high gloss and detail (non food safe) mold.

Once the Amazing Mold Rubber was completely cured I removed the plastic pieces from the tray. When I gently removed the pieces from the Mold Rubber they came out rather cleanly, requiring very little trimming of the mold rubber with craft scissors. Now don't think I threw away that tray or bits of plastic! They get saved for a future project or at the very least go back into the recycling bin!

I went ahead tested out my molds and used Amazing Clear Cast Resin mixed with pressed flowers, glitters, alcohol inks, beads, Alumidust powder and Alumilite Dye. Happy with my results I can use these molds for things besides resin such as clay, paper mache, embossing powder and more. 

So many objects normally only thought of as recycling can be repurposed to create molds for your art... and the creative possibilities are endless!

What AMAZING arts and crafts can you create?

Visit my blog Art Resurrected for more craft tutorials!

Until next time, safe travels! ~ Tracy

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#Cre8time Spiders and Spells... #Halloween Decor by Brenda Burfeind

Good day friends! Brenda here from Creativity is a State of Mind and today I am excited to share an old but new post today for Mold Rubber Monday. Last year I created a glow-in-the-dark bracelet and this year I am using that same mold but in a whole new way. Well... sorta. I still made bracelets, but the bracelets are being used as something other than a bracelet. So let's get started:

 

If you missed last year's post on how I created the mold and then the bracelet you can view that post HERE! I really loved how my bracelet turned out and I still wear it on occasion.

So I started out with my Amazing Mold Rubber mold, the Alumilite Flo Orange Dye and the Amazing Clear Cast Resin. Please CLICK HERE to watch a video on mixing preparations.

Using the Amazing Clear Cast Resin takes a bit longer to cure depending on the temperature – for this project, each bangle took about 4 hours each to set up.

I then took my Dremel and polished them to get off
any overflow and to make them nice and round.

I then mixed up a tiny bit more of the Amazing Clear Cast Resin and the Alumilte "Flo" Orange Dye and painted over the polishing as it did leave polish marks.

Then I set them on my non-stick teflon sheet and let them dry there.

After only about an hour they were completely dry and I was able to take my dremel and drill a tiny hole on either side of the bangle.

While I was creating my bangles I seemed to over mix my resin. Rather have too much than not enough, Right?? So I poured my excess mixture into a tile letter mold that I created here.

After I popped out my letters I then laid them onto a Jet Black

StazOn® Ink Pad and gently rubbed to reveal the letters.

This is what you get.

Using the StazOn® ink will make it permanent.

I am not sure what I will use these for yet... but I will!

But now let's get back to the tutorial.

Using fishing line, decorative beads and crimp beads I created this.

The bangles are very lightweight so I added some bells to the bottom to create a windchime. I also glued some spider rings I had in my stash on top of the bangles.

  

I love how they move in the breeze.

I hope I've inspired you to reuse a mold you've created for

something other than what it was initially created for.

What would you create from an existing mold?

Thanks for joining us on Mold Rubber Monday and hope to see you soon! ~ Brenda

Visit my blog, Creativity is a State of Mind to see some more of my creations.

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Welcome Your Guests to GO AWAY!!! DIY Decorative Wall Tile for the Spooky Season by Isabel Villarreal

Halloween has got to be my favorite day of the year and to celebrate the spooky season, I've made this decorative wall tile that's actually not tile at all – it's made with recycled advertising flyers and my favorite product, Amazing Casting Resin.

   

To begin, I chose a stack of flyers about 1/2" thick and used craft glue to cover all four edges of the stack. This will join the stack of flyers together. A clip can be used to hold the stack together while the glue dries and you can also add a dot of glue in the center between each flyer for added adhesion. Once the glue dried I had a "tile" made from paper. The glue helped give it strength and made it a nice hard surface to work with. I mixed together equal parts "A" & "B" of Amazing Casting Resin to coat the entire surface of the tile and sprinkled some Alumilite Metallic Gun Metal Powder to give it some glitz – it's easiest to pour in the center and then spread it to the edges. I then added a second coat of resin but this time I added Alumilite Green Dye and a drop of Alumilite Black Dye to part "A" of the mixture and once again coated the tile. Working quickly, I dusted some more metallic powder onto the surface and used a wooden craft stick to swirl the powder into the resin. This gave the tile a marbelized finish.

I wanted to use this detailed skeleton as part of the tile but didn't want to take it apart since I keep it as a year round decoration (yes, I display skellies all year round). This is where Amazing Mold Putty comes to the rescue...as the resin set I prepared equal parts "A" & "B" of Amazing Mold Putty and prepared to cast the skeleton parts I would need for this project, while leaving the original intact.

  

I made 2 molds, one for the front of the skeleton and one for the back. Making 2 separate molds allowed me to pour just a small amount of Amazing Casting Resin into each mold in order to get a thinner casting. To color the skeleton I added Alumilite Florescent {FLO} Yellow to part "A" of the Amazing Casting Resin and once the color was mixed evenly I mixed in part "B".

  

For the details of this project, I also cast some random bones using my skeleton molds and I prepared a silk rose by separating the bloom and leaves from the stem. I would be adding these later to give the tile more details and pizazz.

Now that all of my parts were prepared, it was time to put them all together. I added a third layer of Amazing Casting Resin to the tile and since it dries very quickly (about 10 minutes) I quickly pressed the skely parts into the center of the tile and pressed the silk rose pieces along the right edge. As the resin cured, the skelly and rose were permantly embedded into the surface of the tile. I then added adhesive foam letters to the left side of the tile.

For the final step, I added a coat of resin to the foam letters, this time using Alumilite Florescent (FLO) Red Dye and pressed my random bone pieces into the resin as it dried. I also added a little of the red resin to the some of the petals on the rose. Once all of the layers on the tile were dry I glued some hanging hardware on to the back of tile using a 2-part adhesive and it was ready to greet all of my visitors as it hangs by my front door. 

How will you welcome your visitors this Halloween?

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

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

~ Isabel Villarreal

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for Amazing Crafting Products,

including the new Amazing Mold Rubber!!!

Use coupon code { celebrate } at

http://www.amazingmoldputty.com/products.cfm

Coupon Expires September 30, 2013.

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Happy Accidents!!! AMAZING Inspiration from Sandra Strait

Welcome to Friday - the weekend is upon us!!!

Sandra here today to bring you some "Happy Accident" inspiration today. 

I admit it. I'm a klutz. 

Dropsies and spills and blotches are everyday occurrences for me. But truthfully? I believe I'm a better artist for it. I've embraced the concept of the "Happy Accident" and take my accidents as opportunities. I've learned to relax, reformulate my plans, and to enjoy using what I have instead of stressing over what I think I want.

I knew from the get-go that working with liquids like Amazing Casting Resin, and Amazing Clear Cast Resin, would result in spills And...yep...wind gusts, knocked tables and over-pouring have left me with lot of 'SPILLS'. Resin that has leveled out and dried in chips and chunks and planks. And I cherish every bit of it.

Carla Sonheim and her book "Drawing and Painting Imaginary Animals" deserve a shout-out at this point. I used her technique of looking for animals (and people) in the blobs of resin I had. Let me show you a few before and afters.

What fun!

I shuffled out my blobs like a deck of cards and pawed through them. Immediately, I saw critturs, and with a little acrylic paint and a Sharpie pen, I made them appear! You can stamp on the resin, too. I used the Dictionary Page stamp from Viva Las VegaStamps! to add texture and shading on my dancing lady's dress. Soon, I'll be using these for art journal pages and mixed-media canvases.

My tip for today: Clean out the dried resin from your casting cups and hoard the stuff that overflows your molds. Jump for joy if you manage to spill some of your resin. With a little imagination and acrylic paint, you can create unique embellishments for your journals, cards and jewelry.

For more of my work in Amazing Mold Putty, zentangle-inspired art, and daily links to tangles, tutorials, and giveaways please visit my "Life Imitates Doodles" blog.

~ Sandra Strait

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Fun and Easy Key Chain Fobs... AMAZING Inspiration by Isabel Villarreal

Making cute and original gifts for your friends and family couldn't be easier! Whenever I can recycle or re-use scraps it makes my heart smile. A friend gave me some small plastic scraps from his sign shop and I turned them into these adorable fobs that can be clipped to key rings, a necklace, or used as a decoration on your purse or backpack. This will work well with any stiff material such as wood, metal or plastic. 

Use colorful paper, beads, shells, buttons or gems and arrange them to make a fob that shows your own personal style. A dot of craft glue helps keep everything in place. Once you're happy with your creation just mix some Amazing Clear Cast Resin following the package instructions and pour a thin coat over the center of the piece, avoiding the edges. Use a toothpick to "push" the resin to the edges and allow to dry for 8 to 12 hours. Once it's dry drill a small hole at the top and attach the hardware of your choice – cute, fun & easy!

You could make charms out of anything...

what supplies would you use? 

I'd love to see what you create - please share your creations

on the Amazing Mold Putty Facebook page!

~ Isabel Villarreal

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Scrap to Treasure... AMAZING Inspiration from Guest Designer Monica Edwards

Hi – Monica here to INSPIRE you to think sunny and bright!!  I often work with vintage colors so for me this is out of the norm and I had such a fun time creating.  I found this wooden frame house and fell in love with the flourish scrolls on the front and I knew I found the perfect item to add my resin cross I made with Amazing Mold Putty and Amazing Casting Resin.

I found the cross in the dirt - cleaned it up enough to get a mold of it and Amazing Mold Putty is so awesome that it picked up the intricate details on the cross even with the damage caused by it being in dirt!

Closeup of the cross I found in the dirt.

You can see all the details that the Amazing Mold Putty picked up.

Hopefully everyone has found this piece INSPIRING – so go out and find your treasure in the dirt, clean it off and MOLD it!!  We'd love for you to show us what your "AMAZING" find is too - post you pix on our Facebook page or tweet with #MoldPutty to @AmazingCrafting on Twitter!

Hugs,

Simply Monica

GREENcrafting with Amazing Crafting Products

Welcome to the blog for Amazing Crafting Products! We are so excited to be participating in LeslieRahye's Second Annual EARTH DAY Bloghop. LeslieRahye is one of the fabulous Amazing Crafting Product Creative Team Alumni and our products hold a special place in her heart as well as ours!

Susan here today making my creative return to sharing here with you on Earth Day - one of my favorite events to celebrate. I am an avid GREENcrafter and recycler and I'm always looking for creative opportunites for reusing things destined for the bin. This project is no exception!

I'm sharing a little fun how-to with you today that will make a great gift for Father's Day {or any other occasion by varying the embellishments}. I have a bag full of recycled bottlecaps from beer and soda bottles and they finally have been put to good use. These were collected at a few family events and marrying into the Brown clan, the bottlecaps pile up pretty quickly when there's a party.

This project is pretty simple and pretty fun too {and I am very good friends with Amazing Clear Cast resin now also}. First I made a mold to be my coaster shape from a shallow square candle holder that is made of glass and has nice rounded corners. It was the perfect size and shape. An alternative is a large size tuna can for round coasters, or you can glue a stack of chipboard coasters together to make a mold in Amazing Mold Putty. I made the mold and was ready to go... then things slowed down for casting in Amazing Clear Cast resin.

I prepared my surface and poured equal measurements of parts "A" and "B" and mixed following the instructions for the Amazing Casting Resin. CLICK HERE to view how-to.

**A TIP** I learned a valuable lesson the last time I embedded objects into Amazing Clear Cast - that being to paint resin onto or fill into objects prior to embedding into the freshly mixed resin. So the day before making my coasters I mixed up a batch of resin, selected and organized bottle caps to make four coasters, and filled each clean, dry bottlecap with resin to the top. This will help in weighing them down in the liquid resin and help prevent them from moving around.

So I poured about 3/8" resin into my rounded square mold, then placed a bottle cap into the resin after painting the top of the bottlecap with a dollop of resin {this prevents air bubbles getting captured underneath. I repeated for all nine bottlecaps, placed in a grid pattern, and added a little more resin over the top to slightly cover the bottlecaps.

Then the real work begins...you NEED to hang around and hover over your work for about 45 minutes to an hour until the resin begins getting thick. Regardless of what I did, one or two kept taking a walk around the bottle cap party. My first coaster poured, I watched for about a half-hour and it wasn't long enough. I thought it was and I went on my merry way. I returned an hour later and one of the bottlecaps had moved away from the others. The resin was already solidified, too late to move it back. So for the remaining three, I was on RESIN-WATCH and I stayed put to watch the resin set. I kept myself busy by making extra resin and filling other molds while every few minutes pushing a cap back in it's place. So now Amazing Clear Cast and I are brand new "Besties"... and I learned a lot by repeating this process four times. Working with Amazing Clear Cast resin is not a QUICK-result and requires patience and precise measuring... but the results are AMAZING!!!

Now I have a set of these awesome handmade coasters for a Father's Day gift and tons of other projects cast that I can't wait to share. I might make a special set for MOM too with vintage buttons or jewelry bits and bobs - or fill with fun goodies for kids.

I hope you enjoyed today's project. I encourage you to stroll around through the many AMAZING projects from our Creative Team members for some great tips and ideas! If you would like to see more of my creations, please visit my blog sbartist : painting in the dark by clicking here.  ~ Susan

Please scroll down to click on the squares below to continue to all the fantastic artists on the blog hop.