{"id":5021,"date":"2014-08-21T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2014-08-21T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/spookymoon.com\/wp\/?p=5021"},"modified":"2014-08-20T19:34:25","modified_gmt":"2014-08-20T23:34:25","slug":"fauxpals-faux-opals-with-hot-glue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spookymoon.com\/wp\/?p=5021","title":{"rendered":"Fauxpals: Faux Opals with Hot Glue"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"fauxpal<\/a><\/p>\n

I was working on stuff for my Month of Spookdays, experimenting with adding stuff to hot glue, when I stumbled upon something very unexpected: a pretty decent faux opal, made with hot glue. They look much better in person, and are hard to photograph. Here\u2019s a slightly better shot:<\/p>\n

\"fauxpal<\/a><\/p>\n

Here you can better see the internal texture.<\/p>\n

This is how you do it:<\/p>\n

\"fauxpal<\/a><\/p>\n

You will need:<\/p>\n

\u2013Hot Glue Gun. Mine is high heat.
\n\u2013Silicone mold. I\u2019m using a Mod Melt mold. I wish I had one for a plain cabachon, but I could only find facets.
\n\u2013Ultrafine glitter in Light Blue Transparent, Lavender Transparent, and Gold. My blue (Powder Blue) and lavender (Plum Fun) are from Suzie Sparkle, and the gold (Tang) is Barbara Trombley\u2019s Art Glitter. Sparkle has no web presence, and is a small independent in Oregon. I\u2019m sure other glitters will work\u2014experiment!
\n\u2013Pearl Powder in Interference Green or Blue. I\u2019m using Pearl-Ex Interference Green.
\n\u2013Chunky salt of some kind. I\u2019m using \u201cPure Ocean\u201d salt, which I bought from some wankery place. They probably thought I was going to cook with it. Nope.
\n\u2013Soft paint brush.
\n\u2013Heat gun (optional)
\n–Popsicle stick<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Line your mold with glue and let it cure for a few seconds. It should be soft, but not liquid. This is so you get a decent top. Remove as many air bubbles as you can. I used a toothpick.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Get ready to work quickly. Fill the mold about a third of the way up.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

While the glue is hot, layer your glitter. Use mostly blue first (more than you see here\u2014I did a better one later). Add about half as much lavender. Finish off with a tiny bit of gold. The gold here is more centered, but I often put it off to the side.\u00a0 TIP: Glitter will stick like mad to the mold. Clean it off with a baby wipe.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Add several salt crystals. Keep them away from the edges, and press them firmly into the glue.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

With the paint brush, apply a thin layer of pearl powder. Don\u2019t overdo. Blow away excess.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the thing: hot glue doesn\u2019t stick to salt. Unless you don\u2019t want it to. That means all that salt is just sitting there, and if you put the glue gun nozzle down by it, your salt will move. So drop the last layer of glue on top from a few inches up. Once all the salt is covered, you can move the nozzle down and make sure all the edges are filled. I usually end up over-filling a bit.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Coat the back of the cabochon with pearl powder.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

If you have over-filled, you can flatten things out while the glue is still warm with a popsicle stick.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Allow the glue to cool completely, and pull your gem.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Give it a trim. This is more easily done with scissors than a knife.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

I think a milky look is more opal-like, but if you want to increase the clarity of your gem, hit it with a heat gun for a few seconds. I flipped over my mold for a heat-resistant surface. If you have facets, this will soften them.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The gem on the right has been clarified.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Of course, they don\u2019t feel at all like opals. But they sure are pretty! If you try this, I\u2019d love to hear back how it went. There\u2019s lots of room left to experiment with colors, glazes, etc. I found that the gems look less opal-like when I used a nice, neat mold. Blobs on the work surface have a wonderful color. Fixing that problem is another project.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I was working on stuff for my Month of Spookdays, experimenting with adding stuff to hot glue, when I stumbled upon something very unexpected: a pretty decent faux opal, made with hot glue. They look much better in person, and are hard to photograph. Here\u2019s a slightly better shot: Here you can better see the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5021","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-craft"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/spookymoon.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5021","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/spookymoon.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/spookymoon.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spookymoon.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spookymoon.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5021"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/spookymoon.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5021\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5124,"href":"https:\/\/spookymoon.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5021\/revisions\/5124"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/spookymoon.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5021"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spookymoon.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5021"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spookymoon.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5021"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}