| Welcome to the flexible mold info, instructions and customer art gallery page! The Enchanted Gallery molds work best with polymer clay, or materials that do not need to be thicker than 1/4" to 1/2" (such as art doll faces, jewelry and buttons.) The deeper molds that may also work with poured materials such as resin, utee, soap etc. are shown on the lower part of the Faces & Buttons page. If you want to share images of artwork made with my molds, please email me at enchantedgallery@gmail.com along with your name/link you'd like featured here :) |
| Important Note: Even though these molds are SAFE (non-toxic, requires no release agent) to use with ANY material pushed or poured, they were created to work best with detail clays like polymer clay (I've used both sculpey and premo brands for most examples around the site,) or air dry polymer clays (like Makin's Clay brand) or paperclay. The mold depth is limited to 1/4" to 1/2" deep (depending on the carving it was cast from.) If I try to build higher than the master cast the compound would set inwards (a lip that would not be upward, but folded in where the edge ended) blocking the impression. This would make removing your material, especially for people using clay or other unhardened media unable to remove the art without warping the edges. Because of this, my molds have low edges. There may be some difficulty using liquid/poured materials that need to be thicker than 1/4" without leaking out of the sides. ***How to use my flexible molds with POURED materials (Utee, Wax, Soap, Hot Glue etc.)*** *It's as simple as heating up your material (a melting pot is best) and pouring it into the mold to cool. BUT you will need to set up your mold to lay flat. Since most molds have rounded backs, they will not stand even on their own. Simple cup bases can be made from anything, such as lego blocks or scrap paper, but I would use play-doh, silly putty or other bubble-gum textured material available to easily make bases for the molds that fit their shape. You could also build higher walls for your molds if you need to pour your material thicker than the 1/4" to 1/2" deep most of my molds are. I recommend trying some of the round shaped faces and buttons molds first to experiment with, since they have more easily defined edges than my Goddess/Nature Spirit carving molds. You can also create your own molds from my mold compound or heal a damaged mold with Mold N Pour self-healing (sticks to itself) here. Soap: My molds are safe to use with soap, however none of them are large enough for entire soap bars. You can make small cameo attachments or inclusions from your poured material, but I recommend testing a mold from the faces/buttons page first since they have easily defined edges. The walls/lip of the mold will be easier to control liquid in than my uneven molds such as nature spirits.) Most of my molds are around 1/4" deep up to 1/2" deep depending on the carving it was cast from, but you may be able to build higher walls for your purpose by using a material such as clay/play-doh for a base or by adding layers of mold putty as snakes around the edges etc. Utee: You'll have to pour already heated embossing powder into the mold. Don't try to heat the powder inside the mold with a heat gun. Use a melting pot such as the "melt art pot" by Suze Weinberg / Ranger Ink (available at most Michaels craft stores in the rubber stamping aisle.) After your cast has cooled a simple way to bring out the details is to gently rub metallic paint over the surface (Rub 'n Buff brand metallic finishes in small tubes work best.) Glue: If you can find black glue sticks, there is a really cool looking technique for hot glue. After your glue has cooled in the mold, pop out your design. Use a heat gun or hot blow dryer to very quickly pass over the surface (just enough to make it sticky again, not to ruin the impression.) Apply gold/colorful mixes of metal leafing by rubbing it on with your finger. The glue keeps it in place for a rainbow metallic finish and the black glue is a great background for any tiny missed areas. Resin: Usually resin comes in a two to three part system: resin, catalyst (hardener) and color (oil based inks/dye.) Follow manufacturer instructions for mixing and pour into mold. Usually resin takes 24-72 hours to set. Since molds are shaped to the item cast, you'll need to build a base to keep it level with your table. Lego blocks work well for building temporary bases. If you are making jewelry that will not be glued onto fabric for beading/other backing, and need a thicker piece entirely out of resin you may need a deeper mold than I offer. Putty/clay can be built up around the edges to create higher wells for those deeper projects. ***Using molds with PMC (Precious Metal Clay) or CERAMIC (Kiln fired) CLAYS*** My flexible molds are heat resistant to about 600 degrees. Since kiln temperatures are usually much higher than this, you can only use the molds for molding the wet clay. PMC3 (or anything in fine particle clay form) will work fine. You can use these molds the same way you would use polymer clay. Press the PMC Clay into the mold and flex the edges to pop out your design. You'll need to remove the image before applying any heat, not only because of the temperature, but because PMC shrinks 10-20% while baking and the molds will not. Ceramic clay could be used (for the impression, pre-bisque firing) but only with the more deeply carved molds. I know that this type of clay is more gritty and wet, thus not able to pick up the finer details of many molds. Nature spirit carvings and button molds should work, probably not the more shallow molds such as vintage art nouveau items or simple faces. ***Tips for making flat backs on your molded artwork*** For most of my projects, pushing them mostly flat as I make the impression works well enough for me. Sometimes when I need a flatter back (say for using glue to attach a the art to a board/stiff panel) I cut away the back of the clay before i remove it from the mold by using a craft knife (the long flat ones made for polymer clay are best.) If the clay is really sticky I put it in the freezer while in the mold for about 10 minutes to make the clay firm enough for cutting. You just have to be careful not to cut too deep and damage the mold. Another way would be to bake your molded clay, then sand the back with any kind of sand paper in a well ventilated area before adding your paint finish. I recommend removing your polymer clay from the mold before baking, but the molds CAN be baked at temperatures up to 650 degrees.You could also use hot glue, candle wax, soap, paperclay, UTEE (poured heated embossing powder), plaster and much more! This is a non-toxic mold compound made for use with the "Melting Pot" by Suze Weinberg/Ranger, available online and at Michaels craft stores. The melt art pot allows you to melt wax, UTEE, chocolate, etc. Copyright notice: You may use my molds for your art for sale, published works or online galleries. You may even sell plain, ready to paint beads/cabs made with the molds, but please do NOT use your cabs to make new molds for resale. Some are my own design, commissioned carvings or antique replicas past their copyright domain. You have permission to use my craft supplies to make anything OTHER than molds or machine reproduced images. Store Index: pg.1: Rubber Stamps, pg.2: Acrylic pieces to decorate, pg.3: Mounting Foam for stamps, pg.4: Mold Making Compound, pg.5 Face & Button Molds, pg.6: Nature Spirit Molds, pg.7: Goddess & Mythology Molds, pg.8: Fairy & Mermaid Molds Gallery & Information Index: pg.1: Customer Art Gallery, Mold Info & Instructions, pg.2: Kimberly Crick's Art Gallery, pg.3: Artist Biography & F.A.Q., pg.4: Shipping & Store Policy |
| Made from UTEE (Poured embossing powder) heat set ink and rub n' buff metallics: |
| Click the image below to check out Karol's Etsy shop at venvysboutique.etsy.com |
| ***How to use flexible molds with POLYMER CLAY, air dry clays or Paper Clay.*** With these flexible molds you can skip the "release agent" used in other brand/hard molds (usually corn starch or water to prevent clay from sticking to the mold.) It's totally easy to use the molds with clay: You can use any fine-particle clay such as polymer clay (I have used both sculpey and premo brands which give great detail, for functional button making try a stronger clay such as Cernit, Pro-Sculpt or Diamond Paperclay. I've also had good luck with Paperclay or the air-dry polymer "Makin's Clay" if you'd prefer to avoid the baking step) and roll it into a ball roughly the size of your mold. As a softened (hand-warmed) ball, press the clay into the mold firmly, creating a flat back as you fill the mold. Some molds that have odd shapes are difficult for beginners, so overflow the edges and trim with a craft knife. If your clay is really sticky or so warm that it warps the image when you try to remove it, just place the mold (with the clay in it) in your freezer for 10 minutes while your clay becomes more firm. Flex the edges of your mold and the clay should pop right out. Follow manufacturer directions to bake your clay. I recommend getting an inexpensive toaster oven (I got mine at Target for about $20) for craft use. I prefer not to use the same oven I cook food in, this also allows for better temperature control and visual monitoring. |
| ***Tips on painting, coloring and bringing out the details of your polymer clay cabs*** Before you bake your clay: If you have a mold that has small features a toothpick can be your best friend! If your mold lacks details such as defined eyes, mouth , nostrils, etc. don't be afraid to make them more pronounced. Even add new lines or fancy designs to your cab, never let your mold limit your creativity! I love using pearl ex powders, metallic mica powders come in tiny jars but go a very long way. You can use a fluffy paint brush to dust your clay cab, however you get a lot more detail on intricate designs if you lightly coat the tip of your finger with the powder. Tap the powder gently onto your cab's raised areas and allow the dark clay crevices to show through. After baking your clay - A two-coat quick and easy method with beautiful results: If you are working with white clay, or any clay color you'd like to completely cover up, I recommend using a quality acrylic paint. If you've got a lot of time you can use multiple colors to fill in each detail. Usually I just use one color (like the gold Lumiere paint shown above.) Then, to add a glossy protective finish, you can use a wide variety of sealers such as DuraClear Varnish (by Deco Art), Multi Purpose Sealer, Mod Podge, Polycrylic or Sculpey glaze. To add a color tint to your sealer add a drop of acrylic paint or dye ink (can also use ink from any ink pad when you mix it on a non-stick surface.) When you want to preserve a metallic powder finish (like details done in Pearl-Ex,) just spray with acrylic sealer for shine. I sometimes use "Polycrylic protective finish - clear gloss" which comes in a hairspray style can you can buy at most hardware stores like home depot or the wood crafting area at Michaels. A lot of the example art on this site was created using light colored polymer clay, Sculpey Glaze Gloss and acrylic paints applied after baking. Sculpey glaze, like most other clear drying sealers, can be mixed with any color acrylic paint you want and will settle into the deeper areas of your cabs, doing your highlighting job for you. The following images are great customer art examples of how you can paint your mold cast to make your own personalized work of art. (Click an image to check out that artist's website or ebay shop!) Polymer Clay Jewelry painted with Acrylic Paints: |
