Going Nuts over Resin Pralines! Just PECANS... by Tanya Ruffin

"You're Praline wondering why I sent this... Just Pecans"

card by Tanya Ruffin 

Ever had an awesome idea of something to make...or see if you could make? Then you have one obstacle after another, but you are bound and determined to see it through? Well, that is this project.

I wanted to make some resin pecans, that part was pretty easy. Then I wanted to make a praline.

In the South you see several types of pralines; creamy, chocolate, even bacon! I wanted to make what is called "original" pralines. They are more shiny and translucent than the creamy pralines. It probably would have been easier to make creamy pralines, but I already had started on this journey.

And yes, At one point I did give totally up and mold a whole, already made, praline... The cast looked like moose poop.

What you need:

• Pecans
• Amazing Mold Putty
• Amazing Casting Resin
• Amazing Clear Cast Resin
• Alumilite Dye

First thing to do is make the pecans, this was the most fun! I made a resin mold of several pieces of pecan using Amazing Mold Putty.

The I used a mix of the Caucasian and African American Alumilite Dye to get the color for the pecans. I also used Amazing Casting Resin (white) as the base.

I added a touch of Alumilite Red Dye to get the perfect shade.

Pour the mold and wait.

After I pop out the pieces, I then used a sponge to coat some watered down black acrylic paint into the crevices. I then wiped it off the top. This gave the resin pecans life! I then added some cream paint to the broken edges.

Can you tell which are real and which are resin?

Pretty close! The resin pecans are on the left. 

Now that my pecans are done I just need to put them in a resin praline.

... easy right? 

Sigh.... not really. I ruined about half dozen batches of my pretty pecans.

First attempt was using Amazing Clear Cast Resin combined with some more of the Caucasian and African American Alumilite Dye. By this time I had tired of wasting my good pecans and tried it with a cream pecan. This batch was a little too dark. 

But I discovered I could use a sponge with Red

and African American Dye to sponge on color. YAY!

Using a little more Caucasian dye, it came out rather creamy. 

Adding some more African American dye and sponging on top...

I am starting to like it.

So now I decided to try Caucasian and African American dyed white Amazing Casting Resin and then putting some dyed Amazing Clear Cast Resin on top to make it shiny...

Nailed it! NOT...

Ok, stop being so inventive, I almost had it before!!!

So far, I think this one is my favorite!

So now, to made the card. I cut my paper. and glued in place. Cut a small square with a paper punch in the bottom right corner.

Outside of card

"You are PRALINE wondering why I sent this..." 

Inside of card...  "Just Pecans!!"

What resin techniques are you NUTS for?

Until Next Time... ~ Tanya

Please visit my site to see more of my inspiring creations at www.tanyaRuffin.com

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Read my LIPS... It's Mold Rubber Monday!!! AMAZING Fabric Candy Dish Tutorial by Isabel Villarreal

One of the most exciting things about fabric is that it can be used for so many things; and with the help of Amazing Crafting Products, the versatility of fabric has absolutely no limits. I decided to take fabric to a place I'd never been and turn it into a candy dish.

  

I chose a plain white fabric so that I could decorate the finished piece if I decided. After selecting the shape of the bowl, I coated the entire inside and lip of the bowl with Alumilite Mold Release so that the fabric could be easily removed from the plastic bowl after drying. The fabric should be pressed down into the bottom of the bowl - I left extra fabric around the outside since it could be trimmed away later. 

  

After mixing equal parts "A" & "B" of Amazing Clear Cast Resin, I used a foam brush to spread the resin over the fabric inside the bowl, starting from the bottom and pulling the brush up along the sides. Rubber gloves come in handy to shape the coated fabric and get it to drape nicely. The first coat of Amazing Clear Cast Resin was allowed to dry about 2 hours before I added another coat with a sprinkle of Alumilite Pearlescent Metallic Powder to give it a little sparkle. The resin will run down to the bottom, but that's okay because it will make a nice thick base after drying. I used a total of 4 coats on the inside of the bowl, waiting about 2 hours between each coat. After the final coat was dry, the coated fabric was easily removed from the bowl.

  

The excess fabric can be cut away using a sturdy pair of scissors. At this stage, the "sides" of my bowl were still a bit soft, so I shaped the edges into a soft wave along the edge. When cutting the fabric it turned out that the edges were uneven but it gave me an idea so I left them that way. It was time for the a coat on the outside of the bowl to give it a smooth finished look. Before coating the outside I stacked up a few plastic cups and rested the overturned piece so that it floated above my work surface. This allows excess resin to drip off without pooling along the edge of the bowl.

  

While the clear coat was drying (it would have to dry overnight), I started working on some feet for my dish. I'd been dying to do something Dali inspired and this miniature perfume sample would make the perfect platform on which to base my fabric candy dish. I new I wanted the feet to be 3 dimensional so of course, there was no doubt – I would use Amazing Mold Rubber to get a perfect 3D copy with no unsightly seam. I found a small container and glued my original piece at the bottom to keep it from floating or moving and went to work mixing up some Amazing Mold Rubber. Mixing ratio is 10 parts Base to 1 part Catalyst and can be measured by weight to be sure that it sets perfectly. After mixing the rubber, I poured it into my container, making sure to cover the entire piece. It turned out that my container wasn't quite deep enough, so I added height to the sides by placing tape around the entire lip of the container and then added more Amazing Mold Rubber. 

It took about 8 hours for the Amazing Mold Rubber to feel firm to the touch. I left it for another 4 hours before handling it just to be sure that it was completely set. Absolutely beautiful results! Amazing Mold Rubber is so incredibly easy to use when making a 3D object, since it begins in a liquid form to completely surround the object you're molding, allowing you to get unbelievable detail. Once the mold was cured, I simply mixed up equal parts "A" & "B" of Amazing Casting Resin with a few drops of Alumilite Violet Dye to get a gorgeous Purple color to fill my new mold. Within 10 minutes each of my Dali lips were set and ready to attach to my dish.

  

Now that the feet were ready the next step was to decorate. With its uneven edges it sort of looked as if the bowl was melting, so I went along with that in my decorating. I mixed up a little more Purple resin and carefully dripped it along the lip of the dish using a wood mixing stick. I actually started off being careful about drip placement but then decided to just go with it and let the resin drip as it wanted. Since Amazing Casting Resin sets so quickly, I had to work fast and mix only small batches so there wouldn't be much waste. Then came the crystals along the bottom of the dish – I secured these in place with a tiny dot of Amazing Clear Cast Resin. 

** A TIP ** If you let the Amazing Clear Cast Resin sit for about 20 minutes it will start
to thicken and that makes it easier to use as an adhesive for setting stones or crystals.

Since I don't believe there is ever enough glitter or flash I added some stones along the 4 edges and also on the feet. The Dali theme was a success. I just love the way this piece turned out and I'm thrilled with the castings I got with Amazing Mold Rubber.

I had no real idea where I was going with this when I started and instead just made decisions as I went along and worked with mistakes as they happened (yes, they definitely happened!) and I just had fun with it.

What fun places can Amazing Mold Rubber take you?

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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Wedded Bliss!!! Chocolate Shells with Amazing Mold Putty... AMAZING Inspiration from Michelle Galpern

You can make amazing and delicious edible chocolate shells with your Amazing Mold Putty! Thicker shell shapes and designs work best with chocolate. Because of the nature of silicone, chocolate can tend to snap when releasing from the mold. A thin design tends to break compared to a thick piece that will come out in one piece.

First fill your mold with chocolate and then pop in the freezer for 5 minutes. If it is a very thick mold you may need to leave it for 10-20 minutes so it hardens all the way through the mold. Wear a cotton glove to remove the chocolate so you don’t get finger prints on your piece.

Take your time releasing chocolate from the mold to save all the designs on the outside. If you have any blemishes or seams on your piece rub your finger over the spot to clear it. The heat of your hands will warm it up just enough to fix the problem. Use an edible luster dust like TheSugarArt.com to color the shells to bring them to life! Decorate cakes, cupcakes or alone as the chocolate dessert to impress your family and friends with a yummy treat!

What fun object would you mold

to make some sweet treats???

Until next time, Keep life sweet!   ~ Michelle Galpern

Simi Cakes & Confections

From Molten Sugar to Full Bloom – Molding a Gumpaste Water Lily with Michelle Galpern

Happy Friday – Michelle here with my first official post! I am so honored and excited to be a part of the new Amazing Crafting Products Creative Team. I have so many ideas and I can’t wait to get started. For today's project, I am sharing how to make this beautiful Gumpaste Water Lily.

My daughter, Sidney, started a cake decorating business and she asked me to help her with a few designs. I was thrilled to take my jewelry mold making ideas and apply them to the cake decorating world. Today I am excited to give you a peek into the world of Simi Cakes and Confections.

Amazing Mold Putty is a food grade silicone, which means I can use it to make chocolate, fondant, sugar, butter, ice, gelatin, gummy or any food in the mold. My daughter designed a beautiful water lily as a cake topper and asked if we could mold it to make one when we needed one. The mold creates petals, stamens, and support structures all made out of the sugar of your choice.

Using Amazing Mold Putty, I have created a two-part mold for the sphere, and a mold with two petals, a disc and two stamens.

Here’s how to make the water lily in gumpaste:

1. Press gumpaste into the petal forms on the Water Lily mold. You will need 15 petals-3 rows of 5, 20 stamens, 1 sphere and 1 disc.

2. To curve the petals remove them from the mold and place them in a curved apple crate.

3. Wrap the stamens and bend around the sphere center facing upwards. Cover the center sphere completely in stamens (approx 20).

4. To assemble the first row of petals glue the petals using royal icing. Place the petal under the support disc and hold to secure. It will only take a few seconds to dry. Repeat with 4 more petals.

5. For the second row cut 3/4" off of the bottom of 5 more petals (otherwise they will be to long).

6. Attach the second row just like the first, but at intervals in between the first row's petals. This row will attach to the side of the disc.

7. Attach the center of the water lily to the middle of the disc before attaching the third row.

8. Repeat the process of cutting and attaching 5 petals for the third row. Attach the third row to the top of the disk. Paint with an airbrush or petal/ luster dusts.

Here is a video of how to make this amazing water lily
in sugar, isomalt, gumpaste or fondant:



For more tutorials working with sugar, please CLICK HERE.

Until next time, Keep life sweet!   ~ Michelle Galpern
Simi Cakes & Confections

Just Treats! Halloween Candy Box

Okay, I totally had another post all ready for today, but I've decided to keep that one for another day and because today is October 1st, we are going with a spooky Halloween Candy Box that I made today because I just wanted to play with my products and have some fun! 

If you are anything like me you are out with your child or children on Halloween and there is no one at home to give out candy.  This year instead of just leaving the candy in a dish that says "take one," I created this spooky little beauty to hand out the candy for me.

If you want to make this project you will need a skull shaped item to use as your original, a box, a strip of chipboard, a candle, some craft paints, and most importantly, Amazing Mold Putty and Amazing Casting Resin.















I started by choosing one of my husband's beer stein's that is shaped like a pirate skeleton.  I used equal parts of "A" and "B" of the Amazing Mold Putty (link above) and kneaded them together until they were a solid color of medium yellow (no white streaks showing at all).  Because I was covering such a large area, I did use two good sized balls of putty (each one was a little larger than a golf ball).  I probably didn't need quite as much as I used, but I wanted to be sure my surface was covered well.

Once the putty is well mixed I pressed it onto the stein making sure to press our any air bubbles or your mold will have "pit marks" in it.

Once I spread the putty and held the stein up to the light I could see spots where it was too thin for my liking so I just took some of the excess and used it for "patches."

The mold sets up so quickly that I didn't have to wait long - if you are unsure whether or not your mold is "set-up," gently stick your fingernail into it.  If your nail goes in and leaves a visible mark, wait a few more minutes.  If it feels rubbery and your nail doesn't go in . . . it's ready!

The first thing I noticed was that there is a seam from the stein through the middle of my mold.  In an effort to not have to do so much sanding afterwards, I did mix a tiny bit more putty and smoothed it into that line.

Next, I mixed my Amazing Casting Resin (link above).  Since I knew I was going to paint it, I just used the white (plus, it was a spur of the moment project and I wanted it to set quickly).  I poured the resin in and just before it was too thick to move around, I used my stir stick to put it up onto the sides a bit so I didn't have to have a super thick "mask."

While the skeleton was setting, I found a small shoe box and painted it black with craft paints.  I used a strip of chipboard to make a "bridge" to go inside of the shoe box on which the skull and candle would sit.  I painted that as well.  By the time I finished this, the skull was ready to come out of the mold.

This is what he looked like fresh out of the mold.  I plugged in my trusty dremmel and went to work sanding what was left of the seam lines.  Other than that, he was perfect!  I added a few different coats of paint (I can never leave well enough alone - lol) and voila . . .!

Next, I glued the skull to the candle and then glued them both onto the "bridge."  Now my candy box is ready to leave on the door step on Halloween night.

I can't even tell you how quickly this project came together.  With Amazing Crafting Products the process is so fast and simple you really can sit down to "play" and come away with a finished project in as little as a half an hour (okay, with my must add layer upon layer of paint it took me a whole hour).  Click on this link to visit the Amazing Crafting Products website and order your putty and resin and get started on those Halloween projects!

Thanks for looking at my scary candy box.

~ Make Today Count

Wendy
You can check out my blog at www.scrappinwendysway.blogspot.com