It's Wine o'Clock Somewhere... by Brenda Burfeind #12DaysofHomeDecor

Good day and thanks for stopping in to see another installation for our 12 days of Home Decor. Brenda here from Creativity is a State of Mind and today I am going to show you how to use Amazing Mold Rubber to recreate a lightweight version of a heavy object.

Most of you know I am a wine snob. Well, not really – I just love wine and everything that goes with it. I recently started a job at a wine store where we carry only local wines. Who knew that South Dakota had wineries??! Yes, in fact we have over 20 wineries all across the state.

Well as I said, I love wine and everything that goes with it and that includes these fabulous flattened wine bottles. My only concern is that they are made out of real glass wine bottles and am always afraid of dropping them and breaking. Imagine the mess those glass shards would make?

Image: Kenzie Mastroe, E-how.com

You can even use them as cheese platters or hang them on the wall. In fact, I have one that functions as both... yet I am afraid to use it as it could break. I have always been intrigued on how they are made and did a bit of research. You need a kiln, of which I do NOT have {if you do have one, there is a great tutorial here on ehow.com}; nor do I think my hubby would let me get one as my house has already been overtaken with my crafties.

So, instead I decided to make my own faux flattened bottle. I started out by finding something long enough for my existing flattened bottle to fit in with no avail. I did however find a plastic lid, so I built my mold box up using duct tape. I added two layers of tape around the entire lid to serve as side walls.

Here is a close up shot of the mold box.

Now I know I would need a lot of the Amazing Mold Rubber to cover this big of a project, so I cut up some of my previous molds that I will no longer be using to use as filler. That's the beauty of mold rubber, it will attach itself to itself when building up or creating another mold. I just chunked it up and placed it around my bottle.

Usually you would need to hot glue your item down, but because the bottle is so heavy I know it won't float up. Then I mixed up my batch of Amazing Mold Rubber – you can see mixing instructions HERE in this video.

Here is the backside of my mold. Some of the chunks floated up, or were a bit higher than the pour. No worries though, it won't have any effect on the mold itself.

Once demolded, you can see that the mold rubber ran under a little – but no worries there either. Just snip the excess mold rubber skin off and keep in a safe place for future use.

Look how nice this shape took!

Now I wasn't sure of how much resin it would take so I filled my mold with water to get a general idea of how much resin to mix up. By using Amazing Clear Cast resin my faux flattened bottle will also be FOOD SAFE! Not only will it become a nice home decor piece, but you can use it to entertain as well!

Once I got an estimated measurement of how much resin I would need, I mixed up a batch of  Amazing Clear Cast Resin with the Alumilite Violet Dye {you can see mixing instructions in a video HERE}.

I wanted to be able to hang my faux flattened bottle so I shaped some plain wire in a "C" shaped form and placed it into my resin to cure. I used a paintbrush handle to keep it from sinking to the bottom of my resin. Once the Amazing Clear Cast Resin cured I added some beads to the top with wire to jazz it up a bit.

Now for the fun part, you can use a chalk pen to write on the bottle and it will wipe right off. You could personalize your bottles any way you want. Write a special sentiment when gifting?

I took the bottle to work and am using it for a display piece.

I plan on gifting this to a friend and here is the box I put together for her. All local goodies and few extras. Remember, if at all possible, shop local!

Now I have a lightweight faux glass flattened bottle...

and do not have to worry about it breaking.

How fun was this? I hope you've enjoyed my tutorial

today and would love if you left me some comments.

What heavy or breakable object
would you recreate in resin?

Thanks for stopping by and until next time...

It's Wine O'clock somewhere! ~ Brenda

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

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#Cre8time to make Meaningful Jewelry with Rachel Whetzel

Hello, Amazing Creatives! Rachel Whetzel here! Looking for a way to create something with a little bit of sentiment and meaning? I created this piece of jewelry for myself as a kind of a Mother's Day gift.

The triangle rock is one of the many I have now, because my boys like to find and present me with triangle shaped rocks instead of heart shaped ones. Every time the give me a new rock, they say, "Here, Mom! I triangle you." I have to admit, I kind of like them more than I thought I would when the shenanigans all started. Now the jar of them on my counter reminds me of how much they really DO triangle me, and I love that my collection grows every year. I also like the sense of humor in which they are presented, and their shape, along with our tradition helps me remember our relationship centered on love and laughter. 

Here's what you'll need to make a necklace of your own:

• A cool rock with some sentimental value to yourself (Or it could just be really cool! That's OK too.)
• Amazing Mold Putty curing mat (I made mine by rolling some Amazing Mold Putty thinly, and allowing it to cure). Please CLICK HERE for more detailed instructions on how to mix Amazing Mold Putty.
• Amazing Clear Cast Resin 
• Wire
• Vintage and Thrifted bits and jewelry 

I started out by placing the pieces I wanted to use with my rock, and taping them into place with duct tape on the back. Make sure your rock is also clean before you start. This will be important in keeping your resin clear (directions for mixing Amazing Clear Cast Resin HERE).

Then I mixed some Amazing Clear Cast Resin, and painted over the piece to "glue" my spoon, wire and gem into place. Don't worry about your resin dripping down to the back. That's fine, and we'll address that once your coat has cured. I speed up my cure time by placing my mat and piece into the toaster oven on a low 125 degree heat.

Once the front side is cured. Turn your piece over, and trim any over spill on the back side. Then sand the remaining resin until it's smooth. 

Add a layer of resin to the back side of your piece, and follow the same steps to cure it. If you need to sand any over spill on the front, you can. Add one final layer of resin to the top of your piece again, and over any areas on the front side you had to sand. This will return the sanded finish to a smooth resin finish. 

Then string your new jewelry piece! 

I love the polished look that Amazing Clear Cast Resin gives to my rock, and the way it eliminates the need to solder! All of my pieces are secure and waterproofed with one product. 

Thank you for reading! Want to see more of what I'm up to?

Visit me on PINTEREST and INSTAGRAM, or like MY PAGE on Facebook!
Thanks for stopping by! ~ rachel

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AMAZING Inspiration from DeeDee Catron...

Hello everyone!! DeeDee here today, back in a familiar place and super stoked to share my molded goodies with you again ;) --- ok ok not THOSE goodies, besides.. they're all real! But my molded ITEMS :D

One of my favorite things is finding vintage figurines and replicas to mold and cast for use during my crafting. To date my favorite FOUND object to mold has been a super old nautical themed frame. It came complete with pier pieces, two pelicans, a net, shells, an anchor and more! You bet your sweet self I molded each piece separately and again in combinations with each other. Now when I'm working on a nautical themed piece I always get out my molds to see if I can work them in! Here are THREE different projects I've used my lovely pelicans on!

(All three were molded with Amazing Mold Putty and cast in Amazing Casting Resin which dries white!)

The first is a WOODEN SPOON that I altered for the lovely Susan M. Brown - she held a spoon altering blog hop and it was SO FUN.

The shells on this are actual shells from the beach, accompanied by May Arts ribbon, cheese cloth, and some Tattered Angels glimmer glaze.

The 2nd project is a LAYOUT that was featured in the SPRING 2013 issue of Somerset Memories! Here's a corner shot of the resin piece :)

Along with the resin bits I've used half pearls, cheese cloth, Tattered Angels glimmer glaze, MME paper, and Viva Las VegaStamps! images.

And finally here is an altered tray:

This tray was featured on the CropChocolate blog last month, and is currently featured for the "April Showers" at Anything But A Card Challenge this week! It has Teresa Collins papers, tape and enamel dots, Thickers, Viva Las VegaStamps! stamps, cheese cloth, ranger ink and more.

What are some of your favorite vintage finds to mold?? How many times have you used them? Over and Over?! that's ME! :) :)

Visit me at my blog for more molding goodness, details on some of these pieces, and some fabulous inspiration!

A Queen's Dose of Vintage

Hey, Gang!! It's Rachel Whetzel again! This project took some thinking!! While I was teaching an art class for my middle son, I came across a dead bumble bee in my stash of goodies I had brought to use in class. I instantly knew it would look really awesome in some resin, and got to thinking about how I wanted to create a piece with it. Turns out I used a little bit of everything in this piece, and I'm really excited about how it turned out!!
I decided that in order to have a nice and round form, I'd have to get creative. I ended up choosing these cutters.

 

First, I used two equal parts Amazing Mold Putty and mixed them together until they were uniform. Then I rolled out the piece, and set the two larger cutters into the mold putty.

Once the putty was set, I used Amazing Clear Cast to set the bumble bee. I chose the smaller of the two forms.

It took some doing to get the resin out of the form, so next time, I would figure out how to use the cutter to create a press, and make an actual mold with the mold putty. Once I sanded down the edges, I glued some dictionary paper to the back of the pendant.

Next, I used Amazing Casting Resin and Alumilite Black Dye to create a "shell" around the outer edge of the pendant. When mixing dyes into your resin, (especially the quick setting Casting Resin) be sure to mix the dye into Part A before you combine Part A and B in order to preserve your pour/set time as long as you can. 

Once everything was mixed, I used a Q-tip to "paint" the black shell onto the outside of the pendant.

I rested the pendant on a plastic bag to keep it from sticking, and only painted the sides of the pendant.

Next, I used a large vintage spoon with it's handle cut off and bent to create a necklace setting, and poured more dyed Casting Resin. While it was still wet, I set the bee pendant, and some vintage rhinestones into the piece. A really cool tip I saw somewhere, and I can't remember where now... is to use RICE to keep rolly pieces level. That's what I did when I poured this portion of resin.

Once the resin had started to set more firmly, I pressed some smaller rhinestones into the piece as well.

I strung the piece onto a vintage strand of costume pearls, and used some "dog tag" chain to add interest to the necklace.

This piece took a while because of the clear cast resin's cure time, but I love the way it turned out!! I'll be using casting resin to set more pieces of silverware jewelry for sure.

Be sure to share any projects you make using ideas like this on the Amazing Mold Putty® Facebook Page!!

I'd also love it if you visit me at "my house"!!
And too?
There's a discount code for you when you decide to go and try this stuff out for yourself!
Use the code AMP20at check out, and get 20% off of your order!! Offer expires - Sept 30, 2012.

A little Snip.. A little stitch.. a whole new mold!

Hey folks!! DeeDee here!! I'm so honored to get to help AMP another 6 months! I love working with this product and this product loves working with me :) 

Today I want to share with you a mold that I altered to fit my needs better..

I was working on a Graphic45 exploding box and needed a miniature spoon.. at the time none of those souvenir shops were at hand so I had to figure something else out. What was instead at my immediate disposal was a measuring spoon.. which tend to run a little long so you can get way down into spice jars. 

So I took my Molding Putty... equal parts A and B (in appropriate sizes equivalent to the measuring spoon I was molding) and kneaded them together. 

I then molded the spoon! After the spoon was set I demolded and thought about how long it was.. I knew I needed it to be smaller.. but still smooth and obviously recognizable.

so I measured out a part of the mold to cut out. I tried to keep in mind where the spoon would reattach.. so that I could make it flow -- after I had "dissected" my mold and had 3 pieces.. I just threw out the middle portion. I grabbed a minute amount of A and B of the molding putty and worked them together until they were uniform in color.. then I pressed the putty against one side of the spoon mold where I had cut.. and I brought the other side of the spoon mold to meet it. It's much like using SLIP to reattach broken pieces of pottery!

I made sure to work the new putty into all the cracks... but to keep everything flowing evenly and smooth!

And here is how my mold looked!! I realize it's  not the smoothest on the OUTSIDE but it's the in that really counts!!

Then I grabbed my Quick Cast White Resin

and my Alumilite Black Dye

I mixed equal parts of the quick cast again.. until it was CLEAR.. then I added minute drops of black dye -- stir until a consistent color.. then pour into mold!!

Out came a nice even black spoon which I glazed with a cheap metallic craft paint... and here is my finished exploding box tab!

so don't be afraid to alter an already "finished" mold!! - DeeDee