#Cre8time REAL or Fabulous Faux... #DIY Wine Coasters by Brenda Burfeind

Good day all! Brenda here again for Mold Rubber Monday! Today I am going to share how to create some beautiful coasters using faux wine corks.

I am fortunate to work in a wine store where I get an abundance of wine corks that I get to play with. I've created some fun coasters for my home and the store, but I was thinking, "what if someone wanted wine coasters but didn't get them in bulk the way I do?" -OR- "what if I want to change the color of those wine corks?"

Well... how about making your own?

So let's get started!

First I created my mold box with some foam core and hot glued it together. I did pour some water in to make sure all my seams were sealed! Then I hot glued my corks to the bottom.

...Let's go back a minute, and let me tell you that I did cut these corks in half. In order to do so, rapid boil the corks for about 20 minutes and using a serrated knife, just slice them down the middle. It works amazingly!

Then I mixed up my Amazing Mold Rubber and you can view a video on that HERE! The Amazing Mold Rubber picks up so much more detail than the Amazing Mold Putty – I really wanted to make sure my faux corks would look like real corks.

Now I could have molded these in a straight line, but I wanted to make sure that this is the shape they would best work.

I mixed up some Amazing Casting Resin with the Alumilite Purple dye and poured it into my mold {please CLICK HERE to view mixing/preparation}.

Check out these beauties!

I wanted to highlight them a bit, so I opted to stamp them with black StazOn®!

I inked up my stamp with the StazOn® and then rocked my faux resin corks over the stamps to pick up the ink. Nice detail, huh?

Then I glued them to some heavy duty cork I got eons ago

with my favorite glue of all time, E6000®!

And here are my two versions of coasters!

I even glued a bead in the center of my faux wine cork coaster just because I like to be different!

I have to say the resin coaster is a bit heavier, but not too much. I also think that the faux coaster is a bit more sturdy! Now I can make faux wine cork coasters in ANY color thanks to all the fun Alumilite dyes Amazing Casting Products has!

How would you customize your coasters?

I love feedback – please let me know what you

think about my faux wine cork coasters.

Thanks for joining me and I hope to see you soon.

Until next time, Brenda saying WINE ON!

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

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I Heart YOU with a Valentine Message Board... Tutorial by Isabel Villarreal

Valentine's Day is just around the corner and I found the perfect way to leave words of love, for my love. This cork board is perfect for pinning notes, cards and random messages of cuteness.

 

I have an old mirror with a metal cherub embellishment and I've been dying to mold it and the upcoming holiday was the perfect opportunity! I carefully removed the embellishment and pulled out my trusty jars of Amazing Mold Putty. I found a nice flat surface to work on and separated equal parts of "A" and "B" in preparation {click here to view mixing instructions}. After mixing the two parts until they were an even yellow color I pressed the mixture into the metal surface, being sure to cover the entire piece. Once it was covered, I flipped it over to cure.

  

The finished mold looked perfect. Using small soft brushes I painted the mold with Alumilite Metallic Gold, Bronze and Pearlescent Powders – blending the colors for a soft look. After painting the mold, I was ready to cast my own cherub. I decided on Amazing Clear Cast Resin because I knew it would result in a slight transparency when painted and also because I was trying to give the piece a frosted glass look and feel. This piece was thick in some places especially around the cherub face so I did two layers. The first pouring was about 1/8" thick and about 3 hours later I poured the second layer to the rim {click here to view prep/mixing of clear cast resin}.

  

The Amazing Clear Cast Resin will take about 12-24 hours to set fully so I figured I would work on creating the message board that my angel would be decorating. For the board I cut three hearts: one 9" heart from 1/4" thick cork, one 11" heart from printed cotton twill and one 13" heart from red felt. The twill and felt hearts were cut using pinking shears to give them a nicer edge and also to keep the fabric from fraying. The cork heart was edged with pink twill binding and I used craft glue to layer them. I cut a 6" piece of binding and made a cute bow and attached it to the cork heart with hot glue. A couple of heart gems give the bow some glitz.

And the moment finally arrived...my cherub was completely cured after about 14 hours and the Alumilite Metallic Powders gave me the finish I was trying for. Yay! I love it when things turn out well the way I want. 

I used an epoxy adhesive to attach my adorable cherub to the cork board. Grommets and a ribbon gave it a nice finishing touch. I even added a few gemstones to the cherub casting. This message board is now ready to be hung on a wall or it can be hung on the fridge using a magnetic hook.

Love notes never looked so good!

I can't wait to use this cork board to leave my honey bun sweet messages daily!

What special DIY projects are you

creating for Valentine's Day?

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

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

~ Isabel Villarreal

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