The Upcycled Mummy's Curse! A spOoky #Cre8time #DIY by Tracy Alden

Hello! Tracy with another home decor creation using Amazing Casting Products! I had some rather odd inspiration for this project and it all started with me finding some fun plastic Halloween skulls at a Thrift store. With two of them, I made Ghoulish Glam Skulls and the rest I saved for Halloween decor around the house.

While I was outside in the garden one of our dogs, Luna, decided to play in the house, the skulls were close to her toys and she cracked one of them. I of course couldn't be angry with her playing though her rather adorable "I totally did NOT do that" face also helped. When I was about to throw out the skull, an idea came to me, why not use the cracked skull as a base for a Halloween mummy head prop?

Supplies:

• Amazing Casting Resin
• Alumilite Dyes
• Liquitex Gloss and Matte Varnish
• Acrylic Paint
• Aluminium Foil and Paper Bags
• Stir Sticks
• Plastic Halloween Skull
• Cotton Muslin Fabric
• Black leaf tea bags
• Beacon's Gem-Tac
• Paint Brush
• Paper Tape Roll
• Hot Glue Gun and glue sticks

With the crack being along the side of the eye socket and most of the left side of the skull I needed to stabilize the now fragile skull. I thought of using Amazing Casting Resin but I needed to seal the hole before filling the skull with resin. I taped up the crack with clear packing tape, creating a temporary seal for the resin.

Knowing if I were to fill up the whole skull with Amazing Casting Resin would require not only a lot of resin but make the skull on the heavy side I needed to put some sort of filler inside the skull. Using used clean paper bags and aluminum foil crumpled up I slipped them inside the skull through a hole in the bottom.

Next I made small batches of Amazing Casting Resin poured it through the hole in the bottom of the skull. By pouring small batches and then tilting the skull I was able to make sure all of the inside of the skull was equally covered with resin, stabilizing the plastic skull. This process went very quickly because Amazing Casting Resin sets up in 10-15 minutes. I ended up using 3/4 of a resin kit to fill the inside of the skull.

Once I had filled up the inside of the skull I hot glued a tape roll to the bottom of the skull to create a neck for the mummy head. Any gaps between the tape roll and the skull I filled in with aluminum foil and hot glue.

I then mixed up some Amazing Casting Resin and poured it into the newly formed neck of the mummy head. I put some extra foil into the neck cavity and filled it up with more Amazing Casting Resin, using up all of the kit.

Once the resin was cured, I removed the tape from the now resin filled crack and removed any excess resin spills off the skull.

Since not much of the plastic would be visible under the wrappings but I didn't want it looking like a skull I painted the skull a mixture of yellow, brown and black acrylic paint. I glued on used tea bags to create eyelids and created a nose out of paper bags and tin foil. I glued on some loose tea grounds to give the look of sand/dirt and sealed it with Liquitex Matte Varnish.

To create wrappings: I dyed cotton muslin fabric in a bath of hot black leaf tea and bags. I let it soak for a few hours to stain and then let the fabric dry. Once dry I tore the fabric into 2 inch strips to make wrappings. I started applied the wrappings to the skull with a bit of Beacon's Gem-Tac and started to wind it around the skull. I didn't use any set pattern or style; I just had fun and made sure to cover up any of the more skull-like features of the head.

Once I was finished wrapping the skull I liked the overall look but felt it needed something more to create the look of age.

Since real mummies still have old oils and resin still visible on the surface of their wrappings I created some out of Liquitex Gloss Varnish mixed with some Brown Alumilite Dye. I used the varnish instead of resin because I wanted to control how it dripped and needed it to dry quickly. The Alumilite Dye allowed me to tint the varnish without losing the transparent nature of the varnish.

Once dry this spooky decor is a perfect addition to my

creepy curiosity cabinet on display for Halloween!

 

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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The Mummy Gets Moldy!!! When #Cre8time meets #AmazingMoldRubber by Sandra Strait

It's ALIVE!!! My mummy experiment has worked and the ancient Egyptian Mold RubberRa has risen. I can hear the slither of his ragged feet as he approaches. He comes for me!!

What have I done!

MUSIC CUE: Horror Music

Supplies:

• Amazing Casting Resin 
• Amazing Mold Putty
• Amazing Mold Rubber
• Two Baskin and Robbin Tasting Spoons
• Two Sponge Daubers
• Two Googly Eyes
• Alumilite UMR Mold Release Spray
• Duct Tape (a brand that tears easily)
• Golden Fluid Acrylics: Yellow Ocher, Phthalo Blue, Primary Yellow, Naphthol Red, Titanium White
• Aleene's Tacky Glue
• Toothpick
• Scissors

This project consisted of four phases: 

• creating the prototype mummy that would be cast
• building a molding bag to mold it in
• making the mummy mold
• casting the resin mummy

Creating the Prototype

I didn't have to buy anything for my prototype, because I used things that I had in my crafty stash. I LOVE thinking up ways to use what I've already got. Especially... when it means I'll have to go to Baskin and Robbins so I can replace the tasting spoons that I've used. Those things are awesome for crafting with!

To make the mummy:

• I tore off several strips of duct tape.  
• Then I tore each strip into 4 narrower strips.
• Stuck a toothpick into one of the Styrofoam balls and dribbled on some Tacky glue.
• Stuck the second ball onto the toothpick as well.  
• Glued and taped on the spoons.
• Pulled the sponges out of the two sponge daubers.
• Glued and taped the tubes on for legs.
• Wrapped strips of duct tape around the whole thing until I was satisfied it was a mummy.  
• Glued and taped on the googly eyes.

Building the Molding Bag

I had gone through all my cereal and craft boxes looking for one that would fit my mummy. However, because of the reach of the arms and the legs, I knew I'd be using lots (lots) of Amazing Mold Rubber, and I wanted to reduce that amount as much as possible.

Finally, I decided a bag would be better than a box. A bag that I could pinch inward to mirror the shape of the mummy.

The answer was right at hand. Duct tape!! If you've ever made a duct tape wallet, you'll be familiar with this portion of the process.

• I tore off a strip of tape that was about an inch longer than my mummy.
• Placed the strip sticky side up on a non-stick mat.
• Placed a second strip, sticky side down, to overlay half the first one. 
• Placed a third strip so it overlaid the remaining sticky half.
• Flipped the tape so the sticky from strips 2 and 3 was facing up.

• I continued doing this until I had a band that would surround the mummy without touching any part of it.
• Taped on a bottom.
• Pinched the bag inward at places, to take up extra space, and taped it at the top.  

Making the Mummy Mold

To make sure that neither the mummy nor the bag would stick to the Amazing Mold Rubber, I poured some olive oil on a paper towel, and rubbed it all over the mummy and the inside of the bag.

Amazing Mold Rubber comes with a base liquid and a catalyst. You can mix up small batches by using the measuring cups and ladle that come with the kit – but I knew I'd be using all of it, so I dumped entire bottle of the pink catalyst directly into the white base. I ended up using two and a half containers of Amazing Mold Rubber. You can view mixing/preparations instructions for using Amazing Mold Rubber HERE.

To prepare each batch of the mold rubber:

• I mixed the base and catalyst until everything turned pink. 
• Poured the mixture into my duct tape bag.
• Let it cure (letting one batch cure before pouring the next helps prevent air bubbles).

I left the top of the mummy's head exposed. This was because the feet weren't entirely flat, and I wasn't sure they would leave holes for pouring (turns out they did). Just in case, I wanted a hole at the top.  I had a plan though--my mummy wouldn't be left without his brains. Although – aren't all mummies brainless? Didn't they pull the brains out through the nose or something? Eeuccch!

Once the entire mold was cured, I tore away the duct tape bag.

You may have noticed that there is no way to remove the prototype from this mold. Yep. I knew this would happen, which is why I had some sharp scissors handy to cut it in half. But before I did that, I needed something to hold the mold together again once I had the mummy out. 

So I sprayed the top and sides of the mold with Alumilite UMR Mold Release Spray. I received this after I had started the project. The olive oil (or any vegetable oil) would have worked, but this is easier and more certain, especially when there are lots of nooks and crannies. I'm doing this so that the addition of Amazing Mold Putty to the silicone mold rubber mold will not stick together.

I rolled out equal amounts of Amazing Mold Putty, parts "A" and "B" and smooshed them together until the putty was a uniform yellow {CLICK HERE to view mixing/preparation}. I smoothed the putty over the top of the mold rubber mold, and also covering the mummy's head, and also an inch or two of the sides inside of the mold rubber mold. I the turned it upside down and let it cure. Now my mummy's brains will be intact!

Almost a work of art in itself!

Casting the Resin Mummy

Amazing Casting Resin also comes in two parts, "A", which is yellow, and "B", which is clear.  You mix equal amounts together and pour them into your mold.  You can find more complete instructions for using Amazing Casting Resin at the Amazing Crafting Products library or CLICK HERE to view.

Once I had the mold rubber cut in half, and the prototype was out, I sprayed the inside of the mold with the Alumilite UMR Mold Release Spray and let dry.

I prepared and mixed up 2 oz. (1 oz. of each part) of Amazing Casting Resin and poured them into the arms as well as filling a little of the head and body.

Then I let that batch of resin cure. 

I placed the rubber mold back into the putty mold and added rubber bands so the resin couldn't push the top half of the rubber mold apart. Then I mixed up 3 more batches of resin (2 oz. each batch), poured and let cure. After letting Amazing Casting Resin cure and cool {a thick/deep mold that can hold larger amounts of resin will cure faster and generate more heat in the curing process}, I opened the mold and took my mummy out. 

I used Golden fluid acrylics to paint my mummy, adding details with a small brush.

• I lightly brushed yellow ochre, everywhere, rubbing off most of it immediately with a paper towel. This was to age the 'rags' and bring out the detail.
• Painted the eyes with primary yellow.
• Painted the pupils with phthalo blue.
• Added depth (and horror!) to the eyes with a circle of red.
• Highlighted the eyes with a dot of Titanium White.
• Painted the strip around the eyes with all three colors, letting the colors mix as I painted.
• Painted the mouth with the same mix of colors. 
• Painted the teeth with Titanium White.

**Note** I did let the paint dry in between colors, but they dried so fast that I really didn't have to wait.  It might take more time according to temperature and humidity in your area.

And with that, my Mummy was ALIVE!!!

He did the mash, he did the monster mash

The monster mash, it was a graveyard smash

He did the mash, it caught on in a flash

He did the mash, he did the monster mash

Wah-oooh!

~~Bobby Pickett - Monster Mash Lyrics

To see more of my work and weird humor, please visit
my blog, Life Imitates Doodles. ~ Sandra Strait

What creatures have you conjured up
in your Cre8time lately???

Join us each Monday for Mold Rubber Mondays – where we will share projects and inspiration using this fabulous product available at Amazing Crafting Products!

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