A Time for Rain and a Time to Set Things on Fire

The other day, from the window at work, I saw the first butterfly of the season!

This week I mostly did gardening and replaced some annual flowers in the front yard.


It's raining again today.  It's a good time for gardening.






Besides plants, I got another toy at the hardware store...






I have a bunch of these silicone molds meant for making candy.

These silicone molds are meant for baking, and are good for up to 400 degrees.

Last year, I experimented by using a soldering iron to melt plumber's solder into the molds.


The results were very interesting but not something I'd wear.


Kinda spiky.

Also, I don't think I used the right kind of flux (a material that helps metals stick together.)







Later on last year, I also tried melting hot glue into the candy molds.

Glue was easier than solder, but I still wasn't satisfied with the results.

The trinkets were colorful, and looked like candy.


But the material was tacky looking and feeling.



It didn't make inspire me to anything from them.

This week I saw a tutorial on making faux pewter trinkets using hot glue and cardboard.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZErAsYvzZsw

This crafter pressed a regular rubber stamp into the hot glue.


Then painted the hot glue trinket with a layer of black then silver acrylic paint.

This seemed easy enough. 


I hoped it would make my trinkets look more like jewelry.

Better, but not the same as the real metal.






The other day I saw a popular video on YouTube:

The Try Guys Try 90s Crafts ft. LaurDIY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2CjbqFCN9fU

One craft was Perler Beads or Fuse beads.

I had a big container of these that I got from the thrift store, but never used.

I didn't grow up in the 90's so I don't think I ever did this craft before.

I guess you put them on a peg board and iron them to create something.

I have a generic heat blower tool, which is like a 300 degrees hair dryer.

I think they used a similar tool in the tutorial.

It doesn't solder metal, but I tried to melt these Perler beads into the candy mold.

It went slowly.

The resulting trinket looked like chewed up bubble gum.


But melting things again reminded me how much fun it can be.

This week while I was at the home store, I decided it was time to get a real torch:

This one is much smaller and less intimidating than my dad's big propane torch.

The handle itself is a tiny refillable tank.

It has a push button trigger so you don't need to hold a lighter to it.



It's also the kind of torch you can use to make creme brulee in the kitchen.



I have had this for a few days now, looking at tutorials,

(and finding the spare fire extinguisher)


I only just filled it up with the butane, this morning.



I'm still trying to work up the motivation to melt something...

I'm sure after a day at the office, I'll have plenty of motivation!