Resin Painting with Dried Orchids... #Cre8time Explorations by Tracy Alden

Hello! Tracy here with another Amazing Casting Products inspiration post! I will let you in on a secret: sometimes I have no clue what direction some of my art projects will end up going. I can collect supplies, start working on something, maybe even get a basic idea of what I would like to do... then end up making something completely different – this project was one of those. 

I have a small collection of orchid blooms that I had dried and wanted to try to preserve in Amazing Clear Cast Resin. I had never worked with dried orchid blooms as they are very delicate, and can easily crumble if mishandled. I decided a frame was the best choice to display the dried orchids and also be able to hold the resin in place... so I got to work.

I found that with the first layer of Amazing Clear Cast Resin the orchid blooms had a tendency to shift in the resin. So the first layer of resin had to be a thin pour and I let that cure to a tacky set. I added a second clear layer of resin to cover and protect the orchids. After this cured, I followed with two more layers of resin mixed with Alumidust or Alumilite Dye in different spots, using a toothpick to drag the colors through each other. This created a lovely ebb and flow of color to the resin.

I honestly lost track of time doing this and found it rather relaxing and meditative in nature. I let this layer of resin cure. The frame looks complicated but it is just four layers of resin poured. No waste of resin – just a few stir sticks, toothpicks and clean up with babywipes.

Please CLICK HERE to see the full tutorial on how I created this mixed media resin frame on my blog Art Resurrected.

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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Bringing the Outside in for #Cre8time... Organic Resin Home Decor by Tracy Alden

Hello! Tracy here with another Amazing Casting Products inspiration post! I often bring up Nature as a never ending source of inspiration for my art, so when I hit an artistic wall I go out to collect rocks, fallen plants and bits of wood. With found leaves, fronds and petals I like to use a basic flower pressing technique, just sandwich the plant material between two thick pieces of paper towels and put it on a flat surface with a heavy weight on top. Between a week to two weeks I then have perfectly dried pieces with most of their original color intact. I store the dried plants flat in a box, and it was that box that I decided to rummage through to get inspiration for my next resin project! 

Supplies:

• Amazing Clear Cast Resin
• Alumidust
• Liquitex Gloss Varnish
• Liquitex Matte Medium
• Baking Parchment Paper 
• Dried Plant Clippings 
• Paper Scraps 
• Cosmetic Sponges 
• Stir Sticks 
• Craft Scissors 

I placed the dried plant pieces that caught my eye on a table to see what I wanted to do. An idea for making them into home decor pieces came to me seeing them placed on a white background. I could make organic resin home decor pieces with the help of Amazing Clear Cast Resin!

I sealed the pieces with Liquitex Gloss Varnish coating the front and back of each piece and letting it dry. I added a second coat to act as a glue for light dusting of Alumidust and let them all dry. Sealing the dried plant matter with varnish will not only help reduce air bubbles from forming when placed in the resin, but will prevent the resin from soaking into the organic matter, which would create an oily appearance.

I had some uneven cuts and scraps of handmade mulberry and flower petal paper, that would be perfect for a "canvas" for dried plant pieces. I applied Liquitex Matte Medium to the front and back of the paper with a cosmetic sponge, which took several hours to dry because of the nature of mulberry. I covered most of the paper using a sponge application, but it left just enough tiny bits of paper unsealed. When resin is applied later on, it will soak into the uneven coated paper creating an interesting visual appearance.

Once the paper was dry, I placed the dried plant matter on the paper to get an idea of how I wanted it to look, such as the case with these palm leaves on the mulberry paper.

I cut a large piece of baking parchment paper to place the mulberry paper on top of. Any resin that drips off the piece will not bond to the parchment paper, making it a quick and easy work surface for messy resin projects. I poured a layer of Amazing Clear Cast Resin on the mulberry paper, coating the entire front surface, I then carefully placed the plants back on top of the resin coated paper and poured a second coat to entrap the dried plants. I then let the resin dry to a tacky set and poured a third layer of resin to give the piece a nice smooth topcoat. 

I let the resin cure to the point it was dry to the touch but still slightly flexible, I peeled the pieces off the parchment paper and trimmed any resin drips with a sharp pair of craft scissors. I placed the resin pieces back onto the parchment paper to fully dry.

With any scrap paper or dried plant material making a quick and beautiful home decor or paper crafting piece is easy with Amazing Clear Cast Resin. :)

What AMAZING arts and crafts can you create?

Please share them on the user GALLERY on the Amazing Crafting Products Website!

Visit my blog Art Resurrected for more craft tutorials!

Until next time, safe travels! ~ Tracy

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

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Twitter at AmazingCrafting | Facebook at AmazingMoldPutty | YouTube at AmazingMoldPutty

AMAZING Retro Home Decor... by Tracy Alden

Hello! My name is Tracy Alden and I am proud new member of the Creative Team for Amazing Crafting Products! I have been working with Amazing Crafting Products supplies for many years and I am always looking for new ways to use their products. Though this time I used something old to make something new! 

I have a collection of vintage polyurethane molds. Many of them were part of my mother's collection who was a resin artist for many years. So many of the molds have awesome shapes and lovely patterns, but recently one really caught my eye, a 70s trivet mold! It got me thinking about the resin art of the 70s, with lots of glitter, mica and sparkle, so I went searching through my supplies to help me recreate this retro look. 

Supplies:

• Amazing Clear Cast Resin
• Dried flowers (I used dried Scabiosa flowers with the petals missing)
• Polyurethane Trivet resin mold 
• Art Glitter Microfine Transparent Faun Glitter
• Stampendous Gilded Mica Fragments
• Stampendous Tea Stained Mica Fragments
• Martha Stewart Crafts Satin Acrylic Craft Paint in Chestnut Brown
• Wire
• Round nose pliers
• Scissors
• Heat Gun
• Cosmetic sponge

I started by cleaning and thoroughly drying the mold, making sure there was no dirt particles. I gathered up my dried flowers and cut them to size, using the mold as my guide.

I mixed up a batch of Amazing Clear Cast Resin following the easy to follow instructions. I poured a thin layer of Amazing Clear Cast Resin just enough to coat the bottom of the mold and fill the outer edge. Any air bubbles I saw in the mold I was able to remove with a tooth pick or using a heat gun to warm up the resin to pop the bubbles. 

Carefully I sprinkled Stampendous Gilded Mica Fragments into the resin around the edges and used a popsicle stick to push the mica flakes into the outer edges of the mold. I let this cure for two hours before adding the flowers. This creates a soft set of the resin but allows for quicker layering of embellishments. If you live in a humid area you will have to let the resin sit a bit longer for a soft but tacky firm set up of the resin.

I then poured another layer of Amazing Clear Cast Resin into the mold, filling it about halfway up the side of the mold. Then I saturated each flower with resin before placing them in the mold. I do this by placing the flowers in a small cup and pouring resin on top of them, waiting for the flower to soak up just enough resin to look wet. This trick this helps reduce air bubbles from forming in the mold. I then placed them face down into the pool of resin in the mold.

After placing all of the flowers in the mold I sprinkled more Stampendous Gilded Mica Fragments and Art Glitter Microfine Transparent Faun Glitter on top of the flowers and resin. I let this sit for 2 hours.

I then poured another thin layer of Amazing Clear Cast Resin and sprinkled Stampendous Tea Stained Mica Fragments on top of the resin and let it sit for 2 hours.

Using the round nose pliers I curled the edges of the wire; the curled edges will add an extra grip when placed in rest. I poured my last layer of Amazing Clear Cast Resin into the mold filling it to the edge and and placed the curved wire into the resin. I let the resin set in the mold the full cure time.

Once the piece is fully cured and removed from the mold, I used a cosmetic sponge to apply a thin coat of Martha Stewart Crafts Satin Acrylic Craft Paint in Chestnut Brown to the back of the piece. This warm color helps make the dried flowers visually pop, but you can always skip this step if you like the more see through look.

What AMAZING arts and crafts can you create???

Share them on the NEW user GALLERY on the Amazing Mold Putty Website!

Visit my blog Art Resurrected for more craft tutorials!

Until next time, safe travels! ~ Tracy

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