Frame Fragments with Amazing Mold Putty

Frame Fragment created using Amazing Mold Putty!

My first project as a design team member for Amazing Mold Putty®!! I made a gift for Ian's graduation... Visit the Amazing Mold Putty BLOG and check out my post with instructions on how to make your own frame fragment, and see more pictures of the completed project!
As Shared on the AMP blog:
"Hello! I'm Rachel Whetzel. I'm so excited to be sharing for the first time here on the Amazing Mold Putty® blog!! Let me introduce myself a bit before I share my project with you...
I am a mixed media artist and doll maker. (Among a billionty other things! lol)
When I first saw Amazing Mold Putty®, I just KNEW that it would fit into my mixed media art and doll making. All of my pieces contain some form of thrifted, vintage treasure from my vast collection of collections.
You know. Because when you find something you like, you need to collect more than one of them... right?
For the piece I'm sharing today, I used one of my very favorite metal frames from my metal frame collection.

My favorite metal frame

The problem is... I love this frame. I used to have two. I used one of them in a piece of art, which I love. So now, I have one left. You see where this is going? I've been avoiding using the second frame, because I didn't want to NOT have it to use any more. If you're an artist or a collector, I don't need to explain how THAT works in a person's mind.
ENTER
Amazing Mold Putty®!! 

Can you hear the angels singing?

 Supplies you'll need:

• A cool thingy that you have been hoarding in your collection because it's the only one you have.
• Amazing Mold Putty®
• Amazing Casting Resin
• Other goodies to add to your art piece

First, I used equal parts mold putty A and B and mixed them together in my hands until they were a uniform color yellow. (no white/yellow stripes)  Then I molded the putty over the corner of the frame I was going to use. My frame is large, and my art piece was not going to be, so I only molded a portion of the frame, and created a frame "fragment" of sorts for my art piece.

 Here's the backside of the frame with putty around it.

 Once I allowed the putty time to cure, I pulled it off of my frame.

 Because I was only making a fragment of the frame, and since that made the edges of the mold too shallow for resin to stay in, I added a small lip to the ends of the fragment to help hold in the resin when I poured it. That's actually one of the neat things about Amazing Mold Putty. You can go in and add to previously cured parts of a mold!! That's what I did here.

 Next, I used equal parts of the Amazing Casting Resin, mixed them together, and poured that into the mold. Here's a photo of the resin in mid cure. It's pretty neat to watch it turn white as it cures.

 Once the resin was hard, but not totally cured, I pulled it from the mold and trimmed sharp edges. I also sanded out the holes in the frame piece. I'm sure this can be done on a fully cured piece, but doing it on an only slightly cured piece seems to be easier.

 Next, I painted my piece with a metallic paint. I painted a few coats to make sure I covered the resin thoroughly. After that paint was dry, I added dimension and age by painting a dark paint over the whole piece, and wiping off the top layer. I left the dark paint in the crevices of the piece.

 Next, I got to work on my background piece. The base is an oval piece of glass I've had just waiting for a new life for a while now. I painted stripes on the back, glued map pages to it, and then spray painted lace and doilies on it.

 Dribbled paint, and splatters added. I glued the frame fragment and other bits and pieces to the glass, and added a line from one of my son's favorite songs to it.

 Close up of the frame fragment and all it's finery... Now I can use and use and RE USE my favorite frame without having to worry about not having it to use anymore!!

Thanks so much for coming along with me on this project!! 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"!!"Disclosure: As a member of Amazing Mold Putty's design team, I recieve product at no cost to myself.

Barn Raising

What do you do when you rent your property, and you need a new barn? You make a portable barn! A long time ago, my mom saw an idea in Mary Jane's Farm Magazine about using the portable tarp carports for barns. They are 10X20 feet. I loved the idea, and have been saving to get one for a while now!! We're using 3/4' plywood that was given to us to line the inside walls. This will keep the goats from pushing against the tarp walls. Travis is going to help me build a wall on the right 1/3 of the side of the barn. That side will be my "milking parlor" and where I'll keep my stanchion. Possibly my hay also. It will be about 6X10 feet. The rest of the barn is for the girls. That will be about 10X14 feet, with the last 4X10 at the far left being sectioned off into two 4X5 stalls for kidding pens, leaving the middle area 10X10 for the rest of the girls when there are does with kids in the kidding area. The carport is just over $200.00 at Costco, and so far, we had all the pieces for the walls. It will take two cattle panels to create all the divisions inside that I'd like, so total cost should end up being about $250.00 Not bad for a barn I'll be able to take with me if we move. The boys will be getting the old barn, and the girls will soon be living in THIS:

 Door to the right, gate across the awning area in the middle. Because the barn isn't predator proof, the barn is in the goat pen where Keena can access all sides at night while she is paroling the area. Another thing I did to the hoop houses I made, is to paint the tarps that are covering them with a KOOL SEAL flexible roof paint. I think this will help keep the tarps from rotting, and keep the areas inside the houses dry!!

 Kidding pen end. I'll be dividing the middle with a wooden pallet, and making "gates" out of cattle panel sections. Harriet thought you should have a goat in the photo for cutesies.

Speaking of does with kids...
GINGER IS PREGNANT!! I haven't said much because I just haven't been too sure... with my bad breeding luck, I was starting to think we might NEVER have yummy goat's milk again... but it's official. She's a big as a house, and in the last week or so, her udder has started to fill out. She's due to kid at the end of May. Cross your fingers for me! I'd really like her to have at least one girl. I get to keep a girl from this breeding for my breeding stock, so I'd really love to have a doeling in there.

Oh, Whiskers.

I forgot whiskers!! But here's a photo of my White Rabbit!! Complete except for his whiskers. I'll share more later!!
 

Creative Paperclay® Design Team call!

I LOVE Creative Paperclay®!!  I've been using it ever since I learned how to make cloth and clay dolls... it has opened a whole new door for me!! I missed the Design Team call last time around, and they are having a new  call now. I decided to try for it!! Creative Paperclay is the coolest stuff ever!! I love how it works just like pottery clay. (which I have used and worked with for years...) The best part about it, is that you don't have to have a KILN to dry it!
I've been using Creative Paperclay® to make goggles for my Steampunk dolls...

and in art journaling...


 I'm working in the White Rabbit from Alice in Wonderland right now... I'm going to make him a pocket watch with casting resin and Creative Paperclay®. :)

One thing I'm especially looking forward to, whether I make the design team or not, is to use Creative Paperclay® with Amazing Mold Putty. I think it will be a blast to use in creating new elements in my dolls, and I've got some ideas for using it on canvas too!! I'm hoping that this logo right here, will end up in my sidebar saying I'm part of their team! Click on the image to visit the Creative Paperclay® blog!

Wish me luck!!
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