Friday, October 12, 2012

Metal Molding and Scratching

I purchased these molds from Dick Blick's online store and wanted to see what I could do with them. Some are easier to work with than others, but it was so much fun. For all of the pieces, you take your piece of metal and cut it to one inch bigger than the mold on all sides. Cut the corners of the metal off and then bend the metal around the mold. Using different tools, I started by first molding the metal to mold. You have to use several different tools, preferably plastic or something that will not scratch the metal. You need different sizes of tips to get into all the crevices and make sure you uncover every detail of the mold. After you're satisfied with the molding, each piece can then be detailed according to what you want it to look like.  I will show the picture and explain what was done to each one.

Leo the Lion:
This was created with brown metal with a silver core. After molding, I used a sanding block to remove the brown metal. I then used green rubbing cream on the grass and gold rubbing cream on the lion. Because the rubbing cream will never dry on the metal, I set it using a matte setting spray. The metal will usually have rough edges, so to hide them, I created a frame with the brushed gold card stock. Layered that on brushed brown card stock and then brushed green card stock. The card is a 5.5" x 5.5" square.

Silver Elephant:

This one took a while because he went through several changes. He was molded the same way with silver metal. One thing to remember is silver is that color all the way through, so you won't see the same details. I sanded the elephant and then used a gunmetal and green rubbing cream and set it with matte spray. I matted the elephant with a brushed gunmetal card stock, then black and then brushed silver. I really wasn't liking the way it looked...so, I then scraped off all the gunmetal rubbing cream to expose the silver again. I sprayed the background with a sparkle spray and then added a metal Happy Birthday charm. I'm still not as happy with it as I could be, but I would definitely use a different color metal next time so there is a better contrast on the background.

Lady Liberty:
This was done using red metal. She also went through a couple of phases. I would not do all the scrapping on the burst around her next time. The mold had burst lines and I added blue Copic marker to that and then started scrapping in between them. I scrapped the stars and then added blue Copic to that. Lady Liberty was scrapped and then sprayed with matte spray to seal it. I added a matte silver card stock as the frame, then red card stock, then matte silver again and then dark blue. You have to be very careful of how you mount the metal to your card stock. As you can see in the upper right corner, the metal is forming around the sticky dot and there's no way for me to get it off now. So, be careful your tape is flat.

Metal Ship:
I think this one is my favorite by far. The camera will not capture the teal color of this. It is looking more turquoise, but trust me, it looks amazing in real life. This was done with black metal with a silver core. I tried to sand this one, but found out really quickly that the contours of this would not allow that. So, this ship was entirely scrapped. I used a teal Bic marker on the water and then matched that with card stock for the base of the card. I used the matte silver card stock to frame the ship and then added a shiny black card stock (matte card stock did not look good at all). This card is going to my good friend's son because I thought about him the entire time I made this ship.

Thank you so much for looking!

19 comments:

  1. I'm so amazed, impressed and my brain exploded! These are exquisite works of art, Susan - enter them into the Laguna Nigel Art Festival!!!! When we lived there, we used to go down in the summer and just drool over what people can do. Yours are so beautiful - think about it :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. I was going to say what Cheryl said. They are sensational. They are so fabulous. Just love what you have created.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Susan, these are amazing!! you are truly an artist.

    ReplyDelete
  4. These are stunning Susan! So glad you've joined our Follow Me forum at The Outlawz and to have found your blog!

    ReplyDelete
  5. OMG, these are fabulous, Susan! The ship is my favorite, but they all take my breath away! Beautifully done! I saw your comment at the Outlawz, and popped over to check out your blog - I'm your newest follower now! Hope you will follow me, as well! Here's mine: cherisheachpreciousday dot blogspot dot com

    Thanks or sharing!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Oh.My.Goodness. I could not believe these cards. So unusual, and so beautiful. All that detail. Reading through your 'how-to', gracious, that was a lot of work. Even the one you said you were not happy with, I thought was gorgeous!! This is a new art-venue to me, never have seen this before. Thank you for sharing (and becoming a follower). I had joined here - I thought - but did not see my 'face', so I joined as a follower (maybe again!) This happens to me & I'm not sure why it is.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Gorgeous! It must take a long time to get all the details in these. Very impressive.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Fabulous! You did a wonderful job with the molds. All of your projects are well done and I love the outcome. I have a challenge which requires the use of metal on the project and this is nice information to have.

    I am your newest follower. I found you at The Outlawz. I hope you will follow me!
    http://redoralee.blogspot.com
    Hugz,
    Chana, Team Leader
    The Outlawz Greetings Challenge

    ReplyDelete
  9. These cards are just gorgeous. I love how you used the metal for your images.

    Found you over on The Outlawz and became your newest Follower. Hope you'll follow me too. www.maggiescathouse.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  10. Egads! Just when I thought how can she possibly out-do herself? You went right ahead and did it! Wow. I love these metal embellished cards. All of them are absolutely breath-taking, Susan!!! All that work, and truly dazzling results! I don't know where you find these new things? But, I am excited for the next one, and be in awe all over again! Well Done!!

    ReplyDelete
  11. I told you I would take a look at your and I was so surprised to fine the medal pieces. Very nice! Then I went on to see that you have won two of the GKD challenges. WOW! Your blog is very nice. I just created my blog and at this point, have had no visitors. That's ok as I feel that is is not quite as good as others. Keep on creating.

    ReplyDelete
  12. WOWZERS!!! These are AMAZING! Gorgeous projects!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  13. WOW! Susan, this was the address I wanted so I can see your work. Just amazing, so beautifully done. and so unusual. Boy! wish we were closer to take a fun class together. I would love to learn how to do these medal pieces. Especially the elephant. My husband loves the elephant. Your blog is so nicely done. Keep up you gorgeous work.....LOL

    ReplyDelete
  14. This is some great looking art! It looks like all of the templates you were using were all the same size, so if you ever want some different custom rubber moldings, you should look at the site I linked and start expanding the art supplies you use.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Thanks for sharing such a nice information about metal moulding and scratching the metals. Metal Mouldings are done through cutting, coining, flanging, embossing and bending operations, and these are the different methods involved in this process. The process involved in making metal mouldings are said to be Metal Stamping process.

    ReplyDelete
  16. These are great! Thank you for sharing your art with us! I have gotten a few things like this from Dick Blick but I never thought about doing moldings before. I want to do custom rubber molding for my living room with some designed templates but I'm not sure where to go to find something like that.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Thanks for sharing this article, it has really has been helping out a lot. I've never dealt much with custom rubber molding in Salt Lake UT. I'm so excited to look more into this and give it a try. Thanks for everything!

    ReplyDelete
  18. Really cool, it makes me want to do this job for custom rubber molding in Salt Lake UT how awesome would that be!?

    ReplyDelete