Hectograph update

Just a quick update on the hectograph experiment.  Last night I remelted the small batch with vast improvement. The unmolding from the silicone pan was super easy.  The top surface is a little bubbled, probably from being poured too fast but look how smooth the bottom side is!!  It also became a little more clear looking which is neat to see.  Baby is waking up now so no time to play & try it out.  It sat out all night in the container on the kitchen counter.  There is no change between last night & this morning.    It no longer shows sticky finger prints.  I'm excited to play with this mini loaf, I have ideas!  I scraped out the bigger pan into the plastic measure & remelted one minute at a time in the microwave, about 4 minutes total.  It is cooling off & destined to go into the fridge for an hour once it is not hot.  I will update again when I can.
Cheers!

?!Hectograph?! what?

I have happily stumbled into the world of youtube surfing.  And pintrest, and craft gawker...  I'm doomed to not have any free time with these great eye candy sites, and a busy family too.  I really enjoy Lindsay from "The Frugal Crafter."  permanent gelatin printing plate aka hectograph video & post.  I was inspired to try it too.  The first video I saw she showed a recipe using alcohol and water and gelatin.  Another youtuber told of her trial & error & this, and the horrible stink it made in her home.  Revisions were done & showed Linsay changed her recipe to 7 packages of gelatin, 1.5cups glycerine, 1.5 cups boiled water.  I also heeded cautions not to use equipment that would be used for food.  I even commented asking what type of tray she used, but I couldn't find anything similar.  So at the dollar store I bought a cheapie 8x8 pan, a plastic measure, and a little silicone loaf pan to try it out.  For the 8x8 pan I went with 3 packages gelatin, 3/4 cup glycerine, 3/4 cup boiled distilled water.  The mini loaf pan took 1 pack glycerine, 1/4 cup glycerine, 1/4 cup boiled distilled water.  Why distilled water?  Our water has a lot of calcium, some iron and fluoride, which I didn't want to chance react with it.  I prefer to use distilled water for my crafting because it doesn't get scummy as fast if it sits forgotten in the craft lab.

I left the experiment on the counter & it set up slowly.  I stuck it in the fridge to move it along.  Hours later it did indeed gel up firmly.  The little one  was disappointing to unmold.  I had high hopes since the silicone pan is bendy & easy to twist.  It was a gooey mess.  I put it back in the microwave, remelted & tried again in the fridge.  It did set up again, but is getting tacky at room temperature.  The 8x8 pan, straight from the fridge was nice & firm but sitting on the counter at room temperature became sticky.  Phooey.  I thought once it became plastic it would be okay at room temperature?  I'm not digging another thing to store in the fridge.  Did I mention we are currently in a heat wave?  Precious fridge space is for cold meals & drinks, priorities right?  Maybe I don't have quite enough gelatin in there?  I will remelt & add a bit of alcohol & see if that helps.  It can't hurt as it is destined for the garbage otherwise. 

CTMH Liquid Glass

Hi again.  A friend showed me a trick with glue I have not seen anywhere so I would like to share it. As always, click on any picture to enlarge.

 I used unbleached kitchen parchment paper & made a row of dots of Liquid glass, and let them air dry.

 I coloured on the parchment paper with Outdoor Denim colour CTMH markers & then dripped on a few dots of Liquid glass, those are the 2 lil dots in the lower part of the picture.  They give me eye-deas!  On some clear dry drops I coloured them with the base & shade markers, to the left is the base, to the right is the shade.  They would be nice accents for flowers, boy theme projects, rivets, water bubbles, bullet points for journaling...

Here is my results using sharpie markers.  The penny is to reference size of the dots.  The dots closer to the penny were done by colouring on the parchment paper & covering with the liquid glass.  The darker coloured dots to the left were coloured with the same colour sharpie on dry dots.  The bottom dots are clear to show the difference.  The one on one's position on top of the 11 is a dry dot upside down showing it would make neat distortion effect.  It is a bit cloudy on the flat surface which could be attributed to air drying on the parchment paper?  I would adhere these dots to a project using more liquid glass. 

A few words about this Liquid Glass adhesive glue.  It is super strong & bonds most surfaces really well (paper, cardboard, metal, wood, plastic, fabric, fibres).  There is a possibility it could stain through fabric if just used to tack down so you would need to plan for that with strategic cover up elements like buttons, flowers or something layered over contact points.  If you get it on your fingers, it is there for awhile & feels like dry crazy glue (if you've ever had that stuff dried to your fingers, you know, it's just strange feeling.)  It dries in about 10-15 minutes beautifully clear & glossy.  I've used it to glue down old rub-ons of footprints that were dry & wouldn't stick, they looked like epoxy stickers when done (it was a great save for that old project).  After using Liquid glass a good tip is to thump the bottle against your table to bring it down out of the nozzle, then to squeeze the bottle gently to blow any remaining out of the tip to keep it clear.  Storing it upright also helps.

I always wanted to try this:  Look what happens when you dry it (on parchment paper) with a heat gun!  It reminds me of baby drool, kids slime crafts, learning to beat egg whites, learning to pull taffy or candy, or even scuba bubbles...  The clear blob is a dot of glue heated.  The double " blob is marker coloured on the paper & dripped with Liquid glass & heated.  The bottom half of the squiggle is purposefully over heated & became caramel coloured, The middle section is bubbled a bit with the proximity of the heat gun, the top half is air dried clear.  The puffy bubbles are firm, which could be a great texture experience in a brag book.  This adhesive is great value, a little goes a long way!