Homemade Sidewalk Chalk

Need another idea for your silicone molds?  How about some homemade sidewalk chalk?

First get all of your supplies collected. 

1. Molds of your choice
2. Plaster of Paris
3. Powdered tempra paint in color of choice
4. Bowl for mixing the chalk
5. Water
6. Spoon
7. Knife 

Mix together 1 cup of plaster of paris with 3/4 cup of water.  Add colored tempra paint to get desired color.  Blend well and let stand for a  few minutes.  Line up your molds so you are ready to pour.

Pour mixture into the molds.  Just a little hint here - DO NOT lift the mold and drop to get out air bubbles like you do with chocolate.  This could result in a huge mess and sidewalk chalk mixture all over your laptop.  Of course - I'm just guessing that could happen?

Allow the chalk to set and then remove from the mold.  I was able to remove them from the molds after 45 minutes.  Then set the chalk pieces aside to dry thoroughly - this takes approximately 24 hours.

Now, I'm all ready for warm weather to get here so I can go out and play!  In the meantime, Jax and Mari ran outside for a quick test.  Future note -- add a little extra color -- the pink was a tad light.  

Mari was cold and wasn't staying outside any longer!

Molds used:

Gecko Mold

StarFish Small

StarFish Medium

DTC Molds...for soap making?!?! YES!

Disclaimer...I am somewhat of a new soap maker. My friends and neighbors are clean due to the amount of "mistakes" I have given away. But I am getting better at this crazy hobby and I am ready to try something new.

Glenda sent me several sea urchin molds, aren't they cute?


First step is to fill them with water to get an idea of how much soap they will hold (soap and water weigh approximately the same). The three molds contained about 2.55 oz which I will round up to 3 oz when I make my batter.

I opted for something colorful for my first attempt, thus a lemony floral with lemongrass was chosen. My cold process soap recipe contained olive, palm, coconut, and castor bean oils were all melted together and added to the lye water.

Cold process was used rather than hot process soap, because I wanted to make sure and get all the fine details from my molds. That requires having a thinner soap batter when pouring into the mold...which you can see here. Pretty!


Now...I let it sit. At least 24 hours, maybe longer (depending on the weather...humidity can cause issues). I hate waiting. Oh by the way, while I do not personally make melt-n-pour (MP) soaps, the thinness of the MP batter would work quite well in these molds too. MP is a tad safer for older children to use; I think they might have a lot of fun. But I digress...


Unmolding was a snap...but why no pictures of the beautiful lemon? Some child of mine who will go unnamed TOOK one into his shower. You don't want to see it now. BUT I will show you my next couple of examples: a fun oatmeal stout soap with gorgeous color and just look at the detail from the mold along with the rosemary and calendula flowers in my "woodsy" soap. Just beautiful! And yes, I do need to do a final "clean up" step and trim the bottom, but I wanted to show how they look fresh from the mold.


...and of course clean up is a snap! I have since acquired several more sea-creature molds from DTC and have had a ball with them. Customers of mine with beach themed bathrooms have had me make specific scents or colors, they love the detail of the molds. I love the ease of use!


FUN! Now...off to make more.... :) THANK YOU GLENDA!

April MacKinnon, crazy soap maker at April's Soaps (aprils.soaps@gmail.com)

Products Used:
Sea Urchin Single
Sea Urchin Set of 2

April's Soaps Facebook Page

Homemade Crayons

I have been wondering what else we could use the molds to make.  How about some crayons!

First get all of your supplies collected.

1. Crayons - I ran out on Black Friday and got a great deal on the 96 Crayola pack.  You don't need to buy new crayons - this is a great opportunity to recycle the broken nubbins in the bottom of your craft box. 
2. Molds of your choice
3. Knife 

Peel all of the paper off the crayons.  Then chop them into smaller pieces.  You can play with different size pieces to get different patterns in the finished crayon.  Pile up the crayons in the mold.  For the seahorse it took 3 whole crayons.  The koi fish took about 6 crayons.

Preheat the oven to 150 degrees.  Place the molds in the oven for 15-20 minutes until the crayons melt.  After partially melted I added a few extra bits to make sure the mold was full when done.

When I removed the molds from the oven I used the back edge of the knife to slide the melted crayon from the edged into the cavity and clean it up a bit.

Let the crayons rest a bit until cool.  If you are a tad impatient you can pop them in the fridge to help them cool.

Once cool, gently pull the sides of the mold away from your new crayon to remove from the mold.

And there you have it!  Some great new crayons for the kids.

 

A couple close ups of the colorful creations.

 Used the metallic crayons for the seahorse.  Can you see the sparkles?

Close up of the seahorse face.  Very cute and I love the colors!

Added a sand dollar at the last minute.  

Remember if you use the molds for non food items they are not considered food grade after.  Keep these molds separate from the ones you are going to use for food.  I place a black "X on the back so I remember.

Products Used:
Seahorse Mold
Koi Mold
Sand Dollar Mold