Friday, May 31

Dine In Style... Making Hand Crafted Chopsticks
with Isabel Villarreal


I LOVE making things that are both beautiful and useful and with Amazing Crafting Products anything is possible! Sushi is one of my absolutely favorite meals and I'm a firm believer that everyone should own a few pairs of "good" chopsticks. After attempting to shop for what I wanted I discovered that the pretty ones were also pretty expensive, so I decide to put my craftiness to use and make my own. It's very simple and you can make them in any theme. In the next few frames I'll show you how to make your own custom hand crafted chopsticks that will WOW your guests!

   

I started by preparing equal parts (A & B) of Amazing Mold Putty and set them aside while I found a pair of chopsticks in my kitchen drawer. I had a couple of different types and I decide to use a pair of round wood ones that I felt were weighted and balanced nicely. I mixed the parts of the Amazing Mold Putty together until it was a solid color yellow, rolled the putty into a tube shape as long as the stick, then firmly pressed the stick into the putty until it was halfway covered. 


I allowed the mold to set for about 15 minutes. Before making the top haf of the mold, I coated the bottom half of the mold in Alumilite Mold Release. This is VERY IMPORTANT!! The rubber to rubber mold release insures that the two halves of the mold (top & bottom) will not bond together, allowing you to create a two part mold that will make this project a breeze. A thin coating of petroleum jelly will also work for this purpose.


I made the top half of the mold and pressed it onto the bottom half, making sure to leave a little overlap. Once it set I made marks on the mold using a Sharpie. The marks will make it easy to line up the two halves so that you have a perfect casting every time. I used Amazing Casting Resin using equal parts of "A" & "B" and mixing until it was clear. Pour resin into both halves of the mold and when it begins to turn white, join the two mold halves making sure to line up the marks you made earlier. Amazing Casting Resin sets in about 5 to 10 minutes but I gave the resin about 40 minutes while I ate my dinner. I cast several sets so that I would have lots to play with.


After removing my casting from the mold I smoothed out any rough edges using a 1,000 grit sanding sponge. The chopsticks will have a matted white finish. The next step was to coat the chopsticks in a thin layer of Amazing Clear Cast Resin with a little Alumilite Pearlescent Powder to give it a finished shine and also some added strength. After coating the chopstick wait about 40 minutes and then press in your desired decorations like stickers, pictures, beads or anything you can imagine. You can use a toothpick to help press them into the coating. The clear coat will be slightly tacky and act as adhesive and permanently set them onto the surface once it's dry. Drying time is 24 to 48 hours depending on temperature and humidity.

Dining In Style!


I used foil stickers to decorate mine and made them all unmatched for fun. They are all different but still look like a set. I plan on making tons of these chopsticks for myself and as gifts for friends (sorry to spoil the surprise guys!). 

If anybody decides to try this project, please let me know. I'd love to see what you create!

.................................
__________________________________________
.................................

Want to SOCIALize? Please follow Amazing Crafting Products on
Twitter at @AmazingCrafting and on Pinterest HERE -or- join us on our Facebook page.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...