Hello everyone! Welcome to a special bloghop celebrating the launch of the new e-book "Cool2Cast" - a collaboration between Tiffany Windsor and Bella Crafts Publishing. "Cool2Cast" is filled with tips, techniques and project ideas for jewelry, home décor and other embellishments using Cool2Cast, as well as a gorgeous gallery of project images to inspire you.
I have been a follower of Tiffany Windsor for years over on Cool2Craft and I love her Cool2Cast casting medium. Her new book inspired me to combine my love of moldmaking and casting with altered books... and I've transformed a plain jane kraft journal into something with old world Italian charm.
You don't have to make your own molds like I do. Cool2Cast has loads of ideas and inspiration using the Cool2Cast medium for a plethora of art projects using shapes from sorts of fun items we all have in our crafty stash. I couldn't wait to use Cool2Cast in my existing Amazing Mold Putty and Amazing Mold Rubber molds. Cool2Cast is a fiber plaster medium which brings a whole different feel, texture and effect to my stash of molds - and totally expands their use. What I really love is that it sets up really fast unlike paper maché casting and paper based air dry clays.
For my book I started with a plain blank spiral bound journal book. This particular one has a window already cut out of it and that's what I plan to house the casting in.
Since the cover made of craft paper, it's already primed and ready to go. I grabbed my three metallic colors of Ranger Distress paint and which have a dauber top, and I quickly painted the cover and around the edges, on the inside of the window and around the edges on the inside of the cover. When I am all done, I can go back and line inside cover with a pretty paper.
In just a few minutes the paint is dry and I'm ready to move onto my molding the Cool2Cast centerpiece.
I grabbed my Amazing Mold Rubber texture plate that I made from molding a vintage glass tile. I place the cover over it to decide what section of the design I want to have featured in my window. On the inside of the cover, I applied some removable blue painters tape to protect it from the liquid Cool2Cast from sticking. When it hardens, I plan to gently pull the cover off and place the casting back into the window after sanding/painting.
In hindsight - I really needed to protect the front of the cover and do this process I'm in reverse so that don't bend the casting in handling. Then I could have just mounted a piece of cardstock directly to the back of the inside cover to secure in place after it was hardened. Not a problem though, I got the results I was looking for... and the cracks that I created in my clumsiness actually added to the old world charm of my finished book.
I used some bags of glass beads to way down my cover so when I pour the Cool2Cast mixture it would not seep under the edges of the book cover.
In a Ziploc baggie I prepared a small batch of the Cool2Cast following the easy instructions - which is a 2 to 1 ratio of the casting medium to water, mixed to a pancake batter consistency. When ready, I snipped off the corner the baggie and squished onto my mold.
I used a small rubber spatula to spread the mixture around evenly and then I let it sit to harden for about an hour.
This created thin casting since I matched the thickness of the cover - next time I would go over and add second layer of Cool2Cast to reinforce it as I remove it from the flexible mold. I was so excited to see the result I really wasn't being as gentle as I should have been. It's all good though!
After sanding the edges slightly to square it up to fit back in the cover, I mounted a piece of chipboard {painted to match} as a backer and glued in place. I brushed on the same colors of the Distress Paint to give my Cool2Cast mod texture a nice matching patina.
I applied some coordinating metallic trim to line the edges and metallic bronze photo corners to finish it off add a little extra bling and interest.
Now I have a beautiful book ready to go that I can customize for a gift or I can use this as one of my many art journals in rotation. I really love the option of using the Cool2Cast because it gives a more natural and distressed result when used in my Amazing Crafting Products molds as opposed to the using resin that I normally use {that gives you such a perfect and pristine casting}. The Cool2Cast insert really looks like it's a piece of old antique weathered ceramic tile.
I really love the finish on this and I'm looking forward to doing it again with couple more of these books in my stash! I have loads of my existing molds Amazing Mold Putty molds filled with Cool2Cast to have embellishments at the ready for inks and sprays and use in my mixed media projects. Thanks for visiting! Sb :)
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The following is a list of participants for our blog hop today with their names and websites. All you need to do is click on the participant’s website and that will take you directly to their website for more ideas and inspiration!
ALSO... be sure to drop by www.cool2craft.com - Tiffany is hosting a huge giveaway that you don't want to miss!!!
"Cool2Cast" Book Launch Bloghop Participants for Nov. 6th
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Purchase the "Cool2Cast" book here
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