Experimentations In Craft
Aug. 6th, 2015 09:32 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kerravonsenNot content to stop with embossing powder, I continued on in my pendant-making, this time playing with hot glue and glittery mica powder. And silicon molds.
Various pendants; hot glue + glittery mica in silicon molds, then glued onto black anodized aluminium disks
It was probably on Pinterest where the idea came from to squirt hot glue into silicon molds to make bas-relief forms. I can't remember whether I got the mica idea from elsewhere or thought of it myself. What was the mica idea? Take a brush, dip it into the really really fine glittery mica powder, and brush the inside of the silicon mold with it. That way, the powder is on the surface of the molded item, but it also sticks to the glue as the glue hardens. The other twist to my method was that I was using black glue rather than the usual semi-transparent glue. This was partly because that was the glue currently in my glue gun, but I didn't want to change it over anyway, because I thought the colouring would be more dramatic and effective if it was done over black - and it was.
I had four colours of mica powder that I had bought at the craft show: a dark purple, a middling purple (called violet-bronze), a pale purple, and a bronze. The violet-bronze looked violet in powder form, but when the things came out of their molds, it looked a lot bronzer than I expected. Hence the butterflies with purple lower-wings and bronze-ish upper-wings. So I did some butterflies with the actual bronze powder, and some of the violet-bronze, but there was too much bronze powder, so one couldn't really see the violet-bronze. Oh well. The pale purple powder was a bit lumpy, so some of the forms came out looking spotty and diseased and I threw them out. Some I threw out because they were malformed, even after I trimmed the edges; while I got better with practice, it still didn't always work.
Most of the rest, I glued them to black anodized aluminium tags (with the black glue again). And then did some more powder-dusting and glue-squirting. It was kind of addictive, I didn't notice the time passing. Though I got clumsy with the gluing at one point, and burnt my finger. (sigh)
Then, when I decided I'd done enough and had better stop, I used the despised Vintaj Glaze to seal the decorations, because otherwise the mica powder might wear off. This time I used it sparingly, and that seemed to work.
Then I found that the fine mica powder really really didn't want to come off the silicon molds when I washed them. (sigh)
Various pendants; hot glue + glittery mica in silicon molds, then glued onto black anodized aluminium disks
It was probably on Pinterest where the idea came from to squirt hot glue into silicon molds to make bas-relief forms. I can't remember whether I got the mica idea from elsewhere or thought of it myself. What was the mica idea? Take a brush, dip it into the really really fine glittery mica powder, and brush the inside of the silicon mold with it. That way, the powder is on the surface of the molded item, but it also sticks to the glue as the glue hardens. The other twist to my method was that I was using black glue rather than the usual semi-transparent glue. This was partly because that was the glue currently in my glue gun, but I didn't want to change it over anyway, because I thought the colouring would be more dramatic and effective if it was done over black - and it was.
I had four colours of mica powder that I had bought at the craft show: a dark purple, a middling purple (called violet-bronze), a pale purple, and a bronze. The violet-bronze looked violet in powder form, but when the things came out of their molds, it looked a lot bronzer than I expected. Hence the butterflies with purple lower-wings and bronze-ish upper-wings. So I did some butterflies with the actual bronze powder, and some of the violet-bronze, but there was too much bronze powder, so one couldn't really see the violet-bronze. Oh well. The pale purple powder was a bit lumpy, so some of the forms came out looking spotty and diseased and I threw them out. Some I threw out because they were malformed, even after I trimmed the edges; while I got better with practice, it still didn't always work.
Most of the rest, I glued them to black anodized aluminium tags (with the black glue again). And then did some more powder-dusting and glue-squirting. It was kind of addictive, I didn't notice the time passing. Though I got clumsy with the gluing at one point, and burnt my finger. (sigh)
Then, when I decided I'd done enough and had better stop, I used the despised Vintaj Glaze to seal the decorations, because otherwise the mica powder might wear off. This time I used it sparingly, and that seemed to work.
Then I found that the fine mica powder really really didn't want to come off the silicon molds when I washed them. (sigh)
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2015-08-07 10:41 am (UTC)I rather like the bronze and purple together. Though what would happen if you mixed them: would that produce the colour you were expecting?
no subject
Date: 2015-08-07 02:11 pm (UTC)Though what would happen if you mixed them: would that produce the colour you were expecting?
I doubt it.
no subject
Date: 2015-08-06 02:25 pm (UTC)I enjoyed looking at all the variations. I can see where that could get addictive!
no subject
Date: 2015-08-06 11:05 pm (UTC)Which is one reason why I like crochet so much - there is an "undo button" for it. It's called "frogging" (rip-it, rip-it).
But I didn't mind so much throwing away these molded items because the materials were so cheap and I could try again quickly. Other crafts - like sewing, or metal stamping - not so much; more expensive materials, can't really throw them away.
no subject
Date: 2015-08-07 08:54 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-08-07 10:28 am (UTC)