Polymer Clay Molded to Perfection! AMAZING Desk Drawer Knob Redux by Niki Meiners

Hello everyone! Niki here today with a project using Amazing Mold Putty to dress up my desk drawers with some handmade knobs.

Desk drawer knobs get tons of use in my house. I am not a fan of clutter. If the clutter is out of site I am happy. The kids desk in our play room is used and abused by our kids and their friends. A few weeks ago, a knob fell off and could not be fixed. I tried to find a replacement for it and I even called the manufacturer. No luck. I tried a few from the hardware store and there was a ring around the hole that they would not fit over.

Being the crafty lass, I knew I could make a replacement... AND  I also knew I wanted to give the desk a little something to make it "POP". My daughter wanted pink and purple flowers and my 10 year old son begged me not to. I came up with a motherly compromise, knob that had a flower imprint and in masculine colors. My son suggested black and silver. I think they are pretty neutral so I agreed. 

I found a button I liked. It was the right size and right pattern but not deep enough. I came up with a plan to use more Amazing Mold Putty than would be needed to make a mold of just the button. I rolled the putty into a short fat tube and pressed the button in the center and pressed down through the tube to make it a deep mold. This worked great.

To make the drawer knob...

I conditioned black Sculpey Premo clay. I rolled it into a ball and pressed it in the mold.

Then pressed a screw into the back of the clay about half way in.

To secure the screw, I made a little snake of clay and added it around the opening.

   

I baked the clay on 275º for about 40 minutes. Follow the manufacturers directions for how long to bake. After allowing the piece to cool, I painted on Metallic Silver DecoArt acrylic paint. The paint really made all the details pop.

Using the Amazing Mold Putty really captures all the tiny details. Now I have to make 4 more knobs and finish the desk.

What furniture could you creatively update

using Amazing Mold Putty and polymer clay?

Thanks so much for dropping by! To see check out more of my creative work, please visit

http://nikimeiners.wordpress.com and http://www.365daysofcrafts.com.

Have a fabulous evening! ~ Niki

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Skull and Skill Collide just in Time for Halloween! AMAZING Halloween Jewelry Tutorial by Tracy Alden

Hello! Tracy here with another Amazing Crafting Products tutorial! With the Fall season coming up so quickly and so many great craft ideas out there, I can't wait to get started on Holiday projects. Color for me can make or break a project and Amazing Crafting Products makes that easy with all of their wonderful dyes. Their dyes inspired me to make cute and colorful little beads perfect for a Halloween necklace.

Supplies:

• Amazing Mold Putty
• Amazing Casting Resin
• Alumilite Dyes in Black, Violet and Flo Green {Flo = Fluorescent}
• Polymer clay
• Ceramic tile
• stylus 
• acrylic block
• Martha Stewart Crafts Multi-Surface Craft Paint Beetle Black
• Pentel Outline Markers in Pink, Green and Black
• Jumprings 5mm
• Jewelry eyepins
• 6mm green glass beads
• Jewelry clasp
• Two mini flat nose and One round nose pliers
• Small hand drill
• Craft knife
• Sharp Craft scissors

I started with carving some cutie-style skulls out of scrap polymer clay using a craft knife. I placed them on a ceramic tile and used a stylus to draw in the details. I then baked them on the tile to manufacturer's instructions.

**You could always use instead of polymer clay pieces your favorite Halloween buttons or craft embellishments to make molds for the beads!

I placed the polymer clay skulls to the acrylic block flat side down and mixed up some Amazing Mold Putty. I use acrylic blocks to make sure that the molding putty is plumb to the piece and that there is little to no creases forming when placing the molding putty on the piece. I then let the mold putty cure.

To tint the Amazing Casting Resin in a small measuring cup I put 2 drops of dye per 1 TBSP part "A" of Amazing Casting Resin. I then added the tinted part "A" to a equal part "B", stirred well and poured them into the  molds. The Alumilite Fluorescent (Flo) Green, Black and Violet Dyes are color rich, and as you can see by the photo I got perfect Halloween color tints.

Once the resin was completely cured and set up in the molds I popped them out and trimmed any drips and sharp edges off with scissors and a craft knife. I then very carefully drilled a hole through the top of each piece to make them into beads. Dust was easily rinsed off and the pieces dried.

I have found that the Martha Stewart Crafts Multi-Surface acrylic paint bonds well with the resin pieces. I used the Beetle Black paint mixed with a little water as a color wash to coat each bead. Before the paint dries I wipe most of the paint off leaving only paint in the indentations. I let the paint dry completely before moving onto the next step.

Using the Pentel markers I then ran the markers over the high points of the beads, highlighting the sculpted elements. The green pen for the green beads, pink for the purple and the black for the gray beads.

Once the markers were dry I could start making the links for the necklace. Using an jewelry eyepin, I added a green glass bead, one resin bead and one more green bead.

Carefully I snipped off the excess wire, and using round nose pliers I rolled the end of the wire into a loop. I repeated this with all of the resin beads.

I opened up a 5mm jumpring with the flat nose pliers and put the jumpring through two of the resin and glass bead links. When I closed the jumpring with the pliers I created a two part link. I repeated this for the rest of the bead links and added a jewelry clasp at the end to finish off the necklace.

I added some earrings and now I have a fun and festive Halloween necklace!

What AMAZING arts and crafts can you create???

Please 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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How about a 20% Coupon to shop

for Amazing Crafting Products???

Use coupon code { celebrate } at

http://www.amazingmoldputty.com/products.cfm

Coupon Expires September 30, 2013.

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bloglovin' or via email on the right side bar:

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Summer CAN Last FOREVER! Make an AMAZING Faux Coral Necklace with Tracy Alden

Hello! Tracy here with another Amazing Crafting Products tutorial! I wanted to try out the new Fluorescent dyes but wasn't sure what to make. After a trip to the beach I knew I had to try a coral branch necklace!

Many seaside shops carry coral jewelry but it can be very expensive and is often harvested in harmful ways, so I thought up a way of making my own coral branch necklace.

Supplies:

• Amazing Mold Putty
• Amazing Casting Resin
• Alumilite Dyes in Red, Flo Red and Flo Orange {Flo = Fluorescent}
• Polymer clay
• Ceramic tile
• stylus 
• acrylic block
• Jumprings in sizes 4mm, 5mm and 7mm
• 18 inch chain necklace
• Connie Crystal 6mm bead strand (has crystal beads, pearls and one teardrop)
• Two mini flat nose pliers
• Small hand drill
• Craft knife
• Sharp Craft scissors

I started with carving some branch like shapes out of scrap polymer clay using a craft knife. I placed them on a ceramic tile and used a stylus to draw lines into the clay. I then baked them on the tile to manufacturer's instructions. Once cool I removed any jagged edges with nail file, then they were cleaned with water and soap and let dry. These pieces I made to make the molds for the coral beads.

Placing the now-finished coral shapes on an acrylic block flat side down, I mixed up some Amazing Mold Putty. I use acrylic blocks to make sure that the molding putty is plumb to the piece and that there is little to no creases forming when placing the molding putty on the piece. You can use small clear glass titles as well. I then let the mold putty cure.

Alumilite Dyes are super concentrated and normally one has to be careful not to use too much when tinting the resin. Since the original Amazing Casting Resin is an opaque white resin, it needs more dye to make a color-rich piece. In a small measuring cup I put 4 drops Fluorescent (Flo) Orange, 2 Flo Red and 1 regular Red dye (see the size of the drops I used compared to a US penny). I wanted super vibrant color so I added more than normal otherwise the coral piece would come off more pastel.

I then added 1 TBSP part "A" of Amazing Casting Resin to the dye and mixed thoroughly. You want to make sure the dye is mixed in the part "A" only first. If you were to mix both parts and then add dye the resin would start to set up before you could add all of the dyes you want. I then added the tinted part "A" to the "B" part, stirred well and poured them into the coral bead molds.

Once the resin was completely cured and set up in the molds I popped them out and trimmed any drips and sharp edges off with scissors and a craft knife. 

I drilled small holes through the top of each coral "stem" to be able to put jumprings through each coral piece. I opened up a 7mm jumpring with the flat nose pliers and put the jumpring through the coral bead and then closed the jumpring with the pliers. I repeated this for all 10 coral beads.

I then added a 5mm jumpring on to each coral piece; the extra jumprings allow for more swing of the beads and nice cascading effect.

I then opened a 4mm jumpring stringing on the coral pieces and hooked the jumpring into a loop on the chain necklace. I then added the Connie Crystals pearl beads and tear drop in the same manner as the coral beads. 

There you have it! A fun and simple way to create a faux coral necklace. :)

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

...........................................

Don't forget to subscribe to our blog via email, Networked Blogs

or bloglovin' on the right side bar:

Twitter at @AmazingCrafting | Pinterest at AmazingCrafting | YouTube at AmazingMoldPutty

Making Clay Tools Using Amazing Mold Putty

You know that saying 'All good things must come to an end"??? It is true and a very good thing comes to an end for me today. This is my final post with the Amazing Mold Putty Design Team. My six month term is coming to an close and I will miss the team, but it is time for me to move ahead and allow some fresh, new talent to show what they've got <3

I have loved being on this DT and over the past six months I have made some pretty awesome projects, if I do say so myself :D

I was able to preserve, forever, a four leaf clover that Christopher found in our back yard.



I made my own frozen Charlotte from a vintage doll that I got at a yard sale.



And I learned that Amazing Mold Putty is pretty handy and can be used for more than just making traditional molds.

 

Which leads me to today's post. I have been working with clay a lot lately and I have been on the search for the perfect clay tools. I really wanted some soft, pliable tools to use in places where my fingers are just too big. I was unable to find what I had in mind, so I decided to make my own. I had a clay tool with a nice long handle, so I decided to make soft, interchangeable covers that would go on the end of the handle.




I mixed up equal amounts of part A and part B of my Amazing Mold Putty, and while it was in the 'molding' phase, I molded it into the desired tool shape and pulled some of the putty down around the handle. I let it set for 15 minutes and then made the next shape. Within an hour I had created the exact tools I had been searching for, for months! They are the perfect tool for clay because they are soft, flexible and smooth.





 I hope you found this project helpful and I hope you have enjoyed all of my work on this team. I will still be around the internet, on other Design Teams, on Live shows and on YouTube. I hope you will continue to follow me on those adventures <3

BoooooOOOoooook

Hey Everybody, It's Edie!

Normally I have a strict rule about waiting until October 1, to start watching Halloween movies or looking at Halloween decorations in stores. I don’t want all of the spook and excitement to be over before the season even begins. However, this year, I will be making a TON of Halloween themed projects, so I figured I better get a head start!

Hocus Pocus is one of my all time FAVORTIE movies! We watch it every Halloween without fail and someday I WILL make one of those witch costumes. Christopher and I decided to watch Hocus Pocus last week and I made the offhand comment that we should make Book. Before I had even finished the sentence, technique ideas flooded my brain and I exclaimed “We should make BOOK!!!!”

So… we did!

You can view the video with a full picture tutorial below.

Thank the Spirits for HDTV and a pause button! I have scrutinized this book for days and tried to get every detail as close as I possibly could. I found the perfect book to alter at my local thrift store. I thinned some of the pages and hollowed the middle of the book.

 

Next I started sculpting. I made the first knotted snake on a base using polymer clay. I started making the second snake but it was not tuning out as good as the first, so after some mental debating, I decided it would be much better to have a mold. I mixed up some Amazing Mold Putty® and created a mold for my knotted snakes. Since Amazing Mold Putty is oven safe, I was able to fire my polymer clay right in the mold which helped a lot! I made the two long snakes and the basic eyeball shape, also using polymer clay then fired them all in the oven for about an hour.

 

While the snakes were baking, I started working on the spine of the book. I sculpted the fingers with polymer clay, then I debated on how to fire them. If I pulled them off of the book, I risked ruining the shape and fit. If I left them on the book, I risked setting my house on fire. I decided a more precise replica was worth the risk, do after much dowsing with water, I put the book in the oven.



The original Book has an intricate clasp, with a circlet around the eyeball on the front, an animal claw on the back and a braided piece connecting them in the middle. I needed the clasp to be sturdy and hold up to regular wear and tear, so back to the polymer clay I went. I created the circlet and added a gem on the end. I had to make sure if fit exactly around the eye, yet still leave room for the stitches. Once that was finished, I sculpted the animal claw for the back, again leaving room for the stitches. I added tiny hinges to each piece, and then created the connecting braid to fit. All of the pieces were fired then painted with a coat of black, then layers of metallic silver to create the look of aged metal.

 

The next step was adding the stitches. I decided to use Creative Paperclay® instead of polymer for the stitches because I really didn’t want to have to bake the book two more times. I added Paperclay logs, and then sculpted the cuts and thread holes with a tool.

 

I painted the eyeball and attached it to the cover of the book, then using more Creative Paperclay® I sculpted the eye lids and creases of the eye.

 

 I needed to create the look of skin, so I covered the entire book with layers of tissue paper until I reached the desired look. Next came three coats of paint in flesh tones and titan buff, and that was just the under painting!

 

I still needed to darken and age the book, so I created several different washes of brown paint and just layered it on until I was happy with the color and look of the book.

 

While the cover was drying, I painted all of the large pieces, first with a coat of black, then layers of metallic silver to match the clasp. I made the base plates for the long snakes by embossing chipboard, then painting them to match the other pieces.

 

The stitching was the trickiest part for me because no matter what thread I used, nothing looked right and everything kept raveling. It wasn’t until I tried using help cord that I got the look I wanted. I spent four and a half hours cutting and gluing each individual thread on the book.

 

Once everything was set and dry, I glued all of the large pieces to the book using E-6000. I let it set for a full 24 hours before moving on to the final step.

 

 For the finishing touch, I added actual spells from the movie to the front of the book. I printed my pages, soaked them in a tea bath for aging, and then glued them in using gel medium. I had left a few original book pages in the front of the book, so I glued one spell page to the front and back of each of those pages.




And so, after five days of pretty steady work, that is how BoooOOOooook came to life :D

I love, love, LOVE the way Book turned out and I hope you enjoyed the tutorial. You can see more photos in the video slideshow below. Feel free to ask any questions in the comments section.
 

I was actually considering making and selling these replicas, as well as the eyeballs, so if you are interested in purchasing one, feel free to message me, or VISIT MY BLOG and leave a note in the comments.