Childhood Pleasures

[CRAFT MADE IN DECEMBER 2014, POST WAS CREATED IN JANUARY, EDITED AND PUBLISHED IN APRIL] You're all witnesses to my extreme procrastinating skills that is worth an Oscar or Grammys. Thank you. Oh and now that I think of it, I haven't post my 2014 achievements and new year resolution wtf. 

I've been on holiday for quite some time now and it is safe to say that I spend most of my time eating, sleeping, rotting, watching Korean dramas, Running Man and some english movies. Basically rotting. Oh, and one of my biggest achievements is blogging! Here it is if you haven't seen it yet >>> http://smallminitiny.blogspot.com/2014/12/day-2-rainbow-waterfall-sungai-lembing.html

Another smallminitiny thing I did last year (muahhahhaa sounds so long but it's not really long... just a week or so), in which I'm extremely proud of is ze Mould&Paint Glitter Mermaid!!! :DDDDD I remember very clearly that my sister and I played with Mould&Paint when we were younger and this brought back so many memories. Like how our end product were so ugly wtf (that's why we didn't keep it and I don't have any thing to display with this post & also because they were too ugly to take picture of).

I'll just disappear and let the photos do the talking.

I got this box at ToysRus for RM21.90 months ago (with GST now I dunno how much d la)

 Literally everything in the box. The black rectangular thingy is the magnet. Used to be round ones tho

Another angle in case you can't see the plaster moulds

 The oh-so-colourful-and-interesting brochure that makes you wanna buy them all

Jumping straight into it, you only need ONE packet of plaster powder to make ONE round of 6 mermaids (complete tray)

 Use the exact measurement they recommend on the brochure which is 50 to 70ml. Then mix well and pour them into each mould. Do it quickly because they dry up quite fast.

 Tadahhhhh!!! I used a plastic disposable spoon to scoop it so that it's not too messy

[TIP] Do not overfill the moulds because the extra edges will be fugly

 Ahhhhh I'm so tidy :D 
8 year old me didn't end up with such a clean and tidy mould in the past

 The box says it'll take 30 mins to dry up and they dry up as it is, so try to flatten them. Oh, and my little research tells me that plaster will become warm as they dry, so don't leave the extra plaster to dry on your hands or any other body parts

 There, no more sharp ends pointing out 
[TIP] Use the back of the spoon to smooth those points

3 hours later, I took them out of the moulds. They still feel a little damp, but you can remove them after this amount of time although you should let them dry completely before painting them. Recommended to let them dry overnight

First try failed 90% wtf. I didn't expect there to be air bubbles :( A whole batch has been wasted. My mermaids has no boobs lol

This was what happened and to avoid this, lift the entire tray up and bang it on top of the table immediately after you have poured the plaster into the moulds. Repeat and carefully check if they plaster has sink into every inch of the mould

 Oh well, so I used my second packet of plaster mould and did another set, left them overnight to dry and they look perfect! :D

 Put them on top of a thick cloth and gently pry them out. Some came out rather easily, some required more effort

My babies came out well. I remember when we were younger, some died during the process of popping them out from the mould. They would just break apart and into pieces. So this is an achievement unlocked! :D

 Another thing to note. Batch 1 on the left is the first try while Batch 2 on the right is my second try. Now, I didn't do this intentionally, but I noticed a tiny difference

I used about 55 to 60ml of water for Batch 1 and the back of these mould turn out really smooth and pretty

Meanwhile in Batch 2, I used about 65 to 70ml of water and the back turned out rather holey. They just look like coral, but don't worry if yours turn out like these because it's still very hard and will not break. And, 30 mins after I poured the plaster into the mould, there was excess water on the surface (forgot to take a picture because I panicked) and I used toilet roll to absorb the extra water.

 There you go... the tiny difference

 Oh, and you're ready to paint! I used my own paintbrush and paint because the kiddish paint and paintbrush is not quite suitable. Trust me, I've had experience. The colours they provide in each box will not enough even if you mix them multiple times

I dripped the extra plaster onto a flat surface for fun but they turn out to be quite useful. As you can see, my paints are old and all dried up, so I have to add water to them. And the little extra dots come in for me to test the colour (to see if it's too dilute and the colour intensity) before I actually paint my mermaids  

 My first 3 pieces and also my favourite ones (before I got tired after the third one and simply paint the rest)

 These are my babies! Tho I'll like this picture better if I have the skill to make the background white without changing the colours of my subject

 Last step! Is the coat them with clear paint so that the colour doesn't come off
(because I didn't use the special paint they provided)

Got my bottle of clear spray paint from Mr DIY
[TIP] Hairspray is fine too if you already have it

From my past experiences, when you utilise them and stick them onto your fridge, there's a possibility that they'll fall off and crack/break if you put too much paper between the fridge and magnets. But if you're just sticking them on to decorate your fridge, there should be no problem at all. 

Another thing is that because there's a lot of natural sunlight beaming on my fridge, I noticed that over time, the colour on top of my handmade magnets faded slightly. But! If don't worry about this if your fridge is away from direct sunlight :)

Verdict : They're super fun to do, but very tiring to paint because of the small details 

Warning : This might cause addiction and you might be contemplated to buy ALL the other boxes but on the other hand, might cause user to feel excessive exhaustion to the point where you only want to eat and sleep for the rest of your holiday