When I last stayed with Marc at the cottage in Worcester, he introduced me to the wonders of Iron Orchid Designs and had me spellbound watching various tutorials on YouTube on ways to use them, I was hooked.
https://ironorchiddesigns.com/
However, when I got home I put most of the ideas to bed, as they seemed to be more appropriate for furniture type projects I might have liked to have a go at, if it weren’t for the space limitations of The Towers, although mirror frames, boxes and vases are also a few other options of many, but then, what does he go and do to me ……..
……. only sends me one of their new release, limited edition, Ginger and Spice moulds, knowing how much I love a good old gingerbread man! I was speechless! So, after ordering a bucket of Crayola Model Magic, air dry foam (only because I’ve used it before and liked it)………
……… plus a pack of white Fimo air drying clay for good measure, I spent the next evening watching more tutorials, so I was sure I wouldn’t cock up too much, when I finally had a go myself.
You are supposed to brush a little cornflour into the moulds to help them release easily, but as I didn’t have any. I used talcum powder on this one occassion as I was impatient to get started, it seemed to work ok though.
The mould tell you how much clay you will need to fill each shape and also has a raised edge round each shape, which, when you tidy up round them leaves no straggly bits round the extracted shape. They have thought of everything.
The detail is unbelievable. The candy canes and wrapped sweets were a bit fiddly due to the shallower depth of the twisted part of the wrapper and the shape of the cane, but I got there in the end, leaving them to dry for a day or so before I was ready to paint them.
https://www.yorkshiresittingpretty.com/collections/iron-orchid-designs
Iron Orchid products are not cheap, the moulds cost around £26.95 each. I’ve added a link above to a UK company that appears to have a good range (including Iron Orchid air dry clay), however I must stress that I haven’t actually purchased anything from them ……. as of yet!
I was going to put everything together to make a wreath, however what I have doesn’t look right, so I think I need to pop into The Works and see if they have anything among their wooden plaques etc. or perhaps I might find a frame or something of a suitable or interesting type nature on my charity shop travels.
Happy days Marc …….. look what you’ve started!
