"Never Drive Faster Than Your Guardian Angel Can Fly"

My youngest child just passed the test to receive her driver's permit.  Once again I will be hitting the road with a new driver...starting in the parking lots and then making our way to the actual roadway (yikes).  It has been 6 yrs since I went through this with her sister and 9 since her brother, so (to be perfectly honest) I am a bit nervous to be venturing out again.  I am sure she will do a great job as she is the first of my children to pass the test on her 1st try...it is just the getting started that has me asking for help from up above.

With this in mind I looked through my many angel charms and doodads.  I found a small metal angel holding a heart...PERFECT!  I placed a small ball of clay on her backside and pressed her onto a metal tray, cutting away any clay that squished out.  The tray and angel were sprayed with a bit of PAM cooking spray and set aside.

This month we are working with a new product called ComposiMold (www.ComposiMold.com).  It is a molding material can be heated in the microwave and then poured over parts to form a mold that is extremely flexible (think firm Jello) and makes great impressions.  I melted the ComposiMold according to the directions, poured it into the metal tray covering the angel charm,

 

and then waited (this may have been the hardest part of this project!)...and waited...touch, wiggle, pull, WAY COOL!! 

The mold release worked perfectly and it came out without any rips or tears that I would have expected.

Now to pull out the polymer clay (I know, that is SUCH a surprise).  I placed the angel mold on my work surface before I rolled a small ball of clay.  Pressing it into the mold I discovered that the mold release was still at work and the clay wanted to move around quite a bit.  So I rolled a ball of clay again and then pressed it into the deepest part of the mold (the heart I thought) spreading the ball out to fill the entire mold.  When I pulled the angel out I discovered that the heart was a beautiful pull, but the face was none existent :-(  Second try I pressed the clay into the face first and then into the other areas...better impression than the first, but still not quite right. 

One more try gave me a perfect angel right down to the smile on her face!

 

I can tell I need a little more practice with this product.  If you look at the bottom of the angel's skirt you will see a bubble that I didn't notice until I used the mold.  As for the rest of the angel mold I am pretty happy with the precision it allows. 

 

Want to know the coolest thing about this molding product??  When you are finished with a particular mold, it can be cut up and put back into the container to be re-melted and turned into something completely different!  What a wonderful cost effective product this is :-)  So glad that I am able to experiment with it.

 

So, back to the Guardian Angel.  I used an exacto knife to cut away the excess clay.  The wings, hair, face, arms, and heart can be detailed with powders or ColorBox inks (note: I applied the inks after baking rather than before) to bring out the detail in each area.  Once finished the angel bakes at 275 degrees for 15-20 minutes.  Now she is ready to use on a card or hang from a keychain or make a pendant or perhaps a small magnet to attach to the car as we "fly" along. 

 

 

Wish me luck!