My New Melting Pot
Well I promised that I would let you have some info on the Ranger Melting Pot that my wonderful Hubby bought me for Christmas so here it is! Whilst I was working with it today I took some photographs to give you an idea of how it can be used.....not very successfully I might add! The great thing about it is, if you make a mess of anything, you can just melt it down and re-use it. I hate wasting anything, so this is perfect for me........
As you can see it's looking a bit messy, but it is getting used a lot! I usually clean it out when I finish with it, but I was too lazy last time so it's still got enamel in it from a couple of days ago, but it's a good introduction to cleaning....
The black parts on either side are the handles - the silver bit is the tray, and it is HOT! So be careful when handling or cleaning. Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel is what you are cleaning and because it only turns into a liquid when it is at the correct heat, it must be cleaned at full temperature. It usually takes 4 or 5 kitchen towel sheets to clean the tray, but it's not hard to do and only takes a few minutes....just watch those fingers as the enamel you clean out of the Melting Pot is still very hot so make sure it stays on the kitchen towel and not on your hands. You can do what I did on my lazy day and just switch it off when you are finished and the enamel left in the Pot will harden up and can be used next time round, but if you are going to be using a different colour you will have to clean out the earlier colour. Don't worry though, you don't need to throw any of it away as you can pour the hot enamel out onto a heat pad (you will see it underneath Melt Pot - it cost about £7 (around $11.50) and I bought it on Ebay very easily. You just pour out the hot UTEE and it will pool and harden within 30 seconds and you can then just put it to one side for the next time you want to use that colour.
This is UTEE (Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel).....
Normally you would buy this in jars (you will see a pic of a jar further on), but this is clear UTEE and I plan on using more of this than any other so I bought this in bulk on Ebay and put it into one of my own tubs.
I'm using my Pot at the highest temperature (the red temperature gauge at the top of the Pot allows you choose the temperature). As the Melt Pot has a temperature dial it means it can be used for other heat-based crafts such as candle making and encaustic art (I hope I got that right - I believe it is the name for melting crayons!).
This is the UTEE melting. It melts a little quicker with the lid on but I quite enjoy watching it melt! :)
Here's one of the jars I mentioned earlier. This is a light copper colour and I'm going to add some of this to my clear UTEE. I'm going to add a few different things just to show you what can be done with the Melt Pot. I added about 1 teaspoon of this to the clear UTEE.
Oooh, I just love the sparkle when it's melting!
Always use silicone tools (for example, a spatula) when working with the Melt Pot as they can withstand the heat. Now, what I still find amazing is how this UTEE hardens. I have slid my spatula into the Pot and brought out some of the melted UTEE. It hardens very quickly and after 20 seconds or so you can just pull that bit of enamal off the end of the spatula because it has cooled and is once again solid. You can just drop it back into your Melt Pot now. Always be careful though, as if you try to do this too quickly you will get burned.
The other thing I need to mention here is to be careful when mixing colours that you don't stir too much with your spatula as this will cause air bubbles to form. Now, I actually like the air bubbles as I think they give a piece of jewellery a more natural and "rustic" look, but many people don't appreciate air bubbles in their jewellery pieces.
From here, the colours just do not look good in my photos so you have to pretend all the colours look really pretty! In this picture I have added a few drops of emerald green ink. If you are going to add ink to your UTEE, make sure it is an ink that can be heated. Don't add any old ink or you could find it spits at you and that would not be good! I have used a cocktail stick just to mix the ink in a little with the light copper UTEE. To be honest, I'm not very happy with the way the ink works with the UTEE as I have noticed that adding ink also seems to cause air bubbles.
I have these lovely giant new bezels so I thought I would try one out with my melted UTEE, but as you can see it didn't look too good, so I popped the solid UTEE back into my Pot and melted it down again.
Okay, looking a bit better this time round.....
I am the sort of person that just can't leave something as it is, so as I wasn't 100% happy with my pendant, I popped it out and redid it AGAIN! I won't show you the rest of the pictures as they are not pretty at all!
Anyway, I hope this has given you a little idea of what a Melting Pot is capable of, even if the final results were really crap!
I'm also working on making silicone moulds so I'll be back soon to show you my disasters with that too!
Have fun crafting, Sue :)