Greetings Amazing Crafters! Susan here to share a project that combines my love of moldmaking and casting with altered books... and I've transformed a plain jane kraft journal into something with old world Italian charm.
Cool2Cast is a product created by Tiffany Windsor of
Cool2Craft – a fiber plaster medium which sets up really fast unlike paper maché casting or paper based air dry clays. This media brings a whole different feel, texture and effect to my stash of molds - and totally expands their use!
For my book I started with a plain blank spiral bound journal book. This particular one has a window already cut out of it and that's what I plan to house the casting in. I've also selected a
texture plate from my stash made from
Amazing Mold Rubber {
CLICK HERE to view details}.
Since the cover made of craft paper, it's already primed and ready to go. I grabbed my three metallic colors of Ranger Distress paint and which have a dauber top, and I quickly painted the cover and around the edges, on the inside of the window and around the edges on the inside of the cover. When I am all done, I can go back and line inside cover with a pretty paper.
In just a few minutes the paint is dry and I'm ready to move
on to filling the window with a special casting.
I grabbed my
Amazing Mold Rubber texture plate that I made from molding a vintage glass tile. I place the cover over it to decide what section of the design I want to have featured in my window. On the inside of the cover, I applied some removable blue painters tape to protect it from the liquid Cool2Cast from sticking. When it hardens, I plan to gently pull the cover off and place the casting back into the window after sanding/painting.
In hindsight - I really needed to protect the front of the cover and do this process from the backside {in reverse} so that I don't bend the casting in handling. Then I could have just mounted a piece of cardstock directly to the back of the inside cover to secure in place after it was hardened. Not a problem though, I got the results I was looking for... and the cracks that I created in my clumsiness actually added to the old world charm of my finished book.
I used some bags of glass beads to way down my cover so when I pour the Cool2Cast mixture it would not seep under the edges of the book cover.
In a Ziploc baggie I prepared a small batch of the Cool2Cast following the easy instructions - which is a 2 to 1 ratio of the casting medium to water, mixed to a pancake batter consistency. When ready, I snipped off the corner the baggie and squished onto my mold.
I used a small rubber spatula to spread the mixture around evenly,
and then I let it sit to harden for about an hour.
This created thin casting since I matched the thickness of the cover - next time I would go over and add second layer of Cool2Cast to reinforce it as I remove it from the flexible mold. I was so excited to see the result I really wasn't being as gentle as I should have been. It's all good though!
After sanding the edges slightly to square it up to fit back in the cover, I mounted a piece of chipboard {painted to match} as a backer and glued in place. I brushed on the same colors of the Distress Paint to give my Cool2Cast mod texture a nice matching patina.
I applied some coordinating metallic trim to line the edges and metallic bronze photo corners to finish it off add a little extra bling and interest.
Now I have a beautiful book ready to go that I can customize for a gift or I can use this as one of my many art journals in rotation. I really love the option of using the Cool2Cast because it gives a more earthen and distressed result when used in my
Amazing Casting Products molds as opposed to the using resins that give you such a perfect and pristine casting.
The Cool2Cast insert really looks like it's a piece of old antique weathered ceramic tile. I think the next time I'm working with
Amazing Clear Cast Resin, I will paint on a layer to add a protective seal to the chipboard and make the faux ceramic insert really POP.
I really love the finish on this and I'm happy how it turned out as I have a few more of these books in my stash! I look forward to trying Cool2Cast in my collection of
Amazing Mold Putty and
Amazing Mold Rubber molds to make castings with an old world plaster feel.
How will you alter books art
Please leave a comment below to share! If you would like to see more of my creations, please visit my blog
sbartist : painting in the dark by clicking here. ~ Susan
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