UTEE Roses from a Mould

I ordered some bronzed pendant blanks from ebay (see future posts for experiments) and the very nice people sent a little red plastic rose as well, so I thohght it would be perfect to try and use it to have a go at making a mould to pour utee into.

Rather than investing in some of the pricier mould making products that are around I brought a tub of playdoh for about a pound.  I pressed the rose into the playdoh (which smells as good as I remember!) and eased it out, then poured in my utee into it, let it cool and popped out the rose. The first cream rose in the picture is my first attempt, the second one wasn't quite so good on the detail, this was to do with how I coloured the utee.

Those little stringy bits just snap off.

To get the rose out of the playdoh just ease it a bit and the rose falls out.

I have read that you can colour utee with normal embossing powder, I tried this by adding some yellow 

powder to the melted utee, it only turned it cream rather than yellow. So for the second rose I added more yellow powder, this seemed to make to utee mix much thicker but didn't change the colour at all.  When it came to pour out the utee it it was too thick to fill in the detail on the mould, maybe adding more utee would have thinned it out again.

As for the actual playdoh as a mould, I was very impressed. Obviously the mould doesn't last, so if there's something you know you'll want to make again and again something like Mould N Pour but for a one offs I'd go with playdoh.

The red one is the original, the middle is the first attempt and the last one is the slightly lumpy one poured out when the mixture was too thick.

Not so good brads/buttons

The next thing I tried was to make some domed embellishments using a silicone chocolate mould. I poured a bit of utee on then placed a card button in the mould and poured more utee on top.

As you can see they haven't turned out so great. I think I used too much utee before putting card on, plus the utee is a bit cloudy.  I'm guessing this is because it was reheated from earliers left over utee. Oh well, lets try something else.

First Go

Using a silicone muffin case I placed in the bottom a picture, some gilding flakes and some glitter then poured a layer of melted utee over it, I then added a word, more flakes and glitter, poured again then repeated.

It came out ok but there are a few crater holes and a bit of a sqiggly pattern from where there wans't much utee in the pan and it came out in a drizzle rather than the nice big puddle you need for a smooth finish.  The first thing I've learnt is "don't skimp on the utee".  You can also see how quickly the utee "yellows" once its been in the pan a while, I quite like this look but it might bother some people. Another thing I've found is that the words and picture were printed on paper and as you can see they almost look as though they've got wet, I think card would work better in future projects.

Its not perfect but overall I'm quite pleased with this, I love the layers, it's so tactile and a little bit magical.

Its here!

Finally my melt pot has arrived! Have been playing already and will show my creations, successful and not so sussessful.

Crocheted Toddler Jumper

I finished this project a little while ago so don't have any in progress pictures, but as its my first attempt at a garment I thought I'd pop it on here.  Its made with Sirdar Snuggly Crofter Baby Fair Isle effect DK wool in shade 0159 Tilly, the pattern is King Cole pattern 3033.

The colours are a little crazy but I thought that was ok for kiddies clothing. There are three different coloured buttons on the back. It seemed go on for quite a while but I'm really chuffed now its done and will definitely be having ago at another garment. 

Birthday Card for my Sister

Heres my first attempt at an easel card, with a bit of gesso fun and quite a bit of stamping.  I added an extra fold to a 6x6 kraft card to create the easel part then stamped each section with a different design.

I cut a square shape out of floral cardstock and a plaque out of another patterned card. The floral square had wildflowers stamped in black and then heat embossed with clear gloss powder, the paper flowers were stamped with a map design, inked and layered up with a button in the middle. I then inked around the edges of the square beacause I have some kind of addiction and have to distress everything (damn that Holtz man!).  

I've tried with the gesso again but still not doing great with it. A thin layer was spread over the top right corner of the square and left for a while, I then spritzed a script stamp with water and stamped into the gesso but it didn't really leave a clear impression, maybe the gesso hadn't dried enough. Then I inked up a butterfly stamp with turquoise ink and stamped over the gesso again, this seemed to work better being a simpler stamp.

The little plaque was stamped with a ticket design, with brown ink topped with clear gloss embossing powder, and again, inked around the edges.

 

To make the stopper for the easle card I cut a strip of the floral paper, I

inked around it and stamped with a tall daisy stamp. Added a strip of lace and a sentiment to make the actual stopper part of it to hold up the top part of the card.

and here it is, I really had fun making this andexperimenting with gesso, even if I'm still not very good with it.

P.S.  Still not Melt Pot delivered :( 

Hexagon Box made at Craft Club

A six sided box with curved flaps making the top which can be concave or convex. The two hexagons on the template make up the base, one on the outside bottom of the box and one on the inside for rigidity, trapping the bottom tabs between them.

 

Also, still no melt pot, not very happy!!

1st Blog

Current Craft Status:
Finished 'dance' themed card for Craft Club homework (see pic).  I am waiting very impatiently for my Melt Pot to arrive, am desperate to play and show, have already bought loads bits and bobs to try out with it