AGNES THE RED ART and CRAFT TUTORIALS

                                                                                     WHAT IS UTEE ?

Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel is a versatile specially formulated version of crafters embossing powder and has much thicker particles to enable thicker coverage. It can be used in the same way as the finer powders, over an application of ink onto card etc and heated with a craft gun but what makes UTEE extra fun is that it can also be melted in a Melting Pot to provide a thick pourable liquid that hardens. Dip and coat items, pour into moulds to create 3D articles, stamp into it, set items into it, make original one off art and jewellery, the possibilities for this material is only as limited as your imagination allows. Mix colours to create rainbow effects, or your own unique colour range, remelt unused UTEE again and again or pieces that you don't like can be melted down for another project - no waste!

There are a number of brands/types of UTEE available on the market, some are good, some are not so......I prefer using RANGERs Melt Art by Suze Weinberg.

                                                                            WHAT IS UTEE F-L-E-X ?

A product specifically designed by RANGER that is a resilient resin additive to give extra durability and strength to Rangers Melt Art UTEE when using a Melting Pot. It is added in a ratio of 1/2 scoops (special measuring scoop supplied in the packet) per 4 scoops of UTEE. DO NOT melt or try to use UTEEFLEX alone in the MPot as it will congeal and ruin the non stick pan of the MPot. UTEE must be allowed to melt first, then the FLEX is applied as per instructions.

I do not know of any other brands/alternatives to UTEEFLEX, and as this product is made for use with Rangers UTEE, I cannot say, or advise if its fine to use with other makes of ultra thick embossing powders.

For more info on Ranger products  including MeltArt, info, tips, techniques and projects - check out their website HERE

For Suze Weinbergs website - check out the Melt Pot queens tips, projects etc HERE

OTHER IMPORTANT INFO:

NOTE - WARNING any tool that is used with UTEE MUST NOT be used for food use and must be kept seperate from items used on food.

I use metal cake decoraters cutters from my old cake making days - but these are strictly for UTEE use only now and NEVER used on edible products.

UTEE is extremely HOT when melted and the MPot keeps it at this very hot temperature, so under NO circumstances should you touch the molten UTEE. Take care not to spill any on 'non' nonstick surfaces or skin. Once poured into the cutters, moulds etc, the metal, surface will become VERY HOT and retains the heat for quite a while. I suggest leaving them until cooled before removing but if you can't wait that long, use heat resistant oven gloves to pick them up and place out of harms way on a heat resistant surface. The UTEE shapes should be left until cool and hard before touching and soaking or you may spoil the surface texture with finger prints etc.

A non stick silicon craft sheet is a MUST when working with UTEE, any spills and drips can be left to set, then peeled off and put back into the pot to remelt and it will protect your work surface from damage by this holt molten material.

This is the transfer technique that I use most, probably due to the fact that I have the most success with it, and it uses two of my favourite toys - UTEE and my Melting Pot!

Tools/Materials required

Printed images, UTEE and UTEEFlex, Melting Pot (or other) plus heat resistant spatula, Craft silicone sheet, Metal cutters various shapes/sizes (not to be used for food), Glycerine, Scissors, Container for water (not for food use), Metallic marker pens or similar, Metal piercing tool (for making holes if required).

7. Pour in required amount of UTEE.                                   8. Cutters all filled (and some additional moulds)               9.  Carefully lift off the cutters - they should

                                                                                     Leave to cool as the cutters are VERY HOT!                   come off easily. Be careful if cutters still warm.

10. Carefully cut off excess paper from around the shapes          11. Place in water and leave to soak                   12. Once the paper is saturated, start very carefully

                                                                                                                                                               rubbing off the paper backing.         

13. The paper came off this one very easily as it                14. I left a lot of the paper on the coloured parts         15. The prepared UTEE shapes ready for the

was a black and white image.                                          as these images do not transfer so well.                      next step in my project.

16. I coloured the back of this one with KRYLON              17. The finished piece.                                             18. I choose a gold metallic marker for the back of

copper metallic pen.                                                                                                                                  the Geisha image.

It is said that Laser printed images are the best type for Image Transfer Techniques, but I do not have, or want to buy another printer, so I have to make do with my Ink Jet one. As you can see a transfer of sorts IS possible with Ink Jet images, although care must be taken when rubbinbg off the paper backing. Rub too hard and you'll rub off the image.

I have found black and white printed images work best with this technique - you can remove practically all of the paper. Take a look at No.13 - This is a black and white Green Man image (digitally realtered from a colour photo of a stone carving) and it came up totally clean of all the paper. I've found coloured images are not so successful and you will loose alot of the coloured parts when rubbing (they just don't transfer so well) so I work around this by leaving parts of the paper on which leaves more of a distressed/shabby effect - See No.14 and No.18

Metallic markers are not the only thing you can back the UTEE shapes with - I purely used them in this project as I like the foil backed effect they give. Once you've transfered your images the world is your oyster on what you want to do with them.

GLYCERINE - moulds/cutters etc that are not non stick/silicon need a fine layer of releasing agent coated on them. There are special products available but can be expensive. A cheap bottle of glycerine from a chemists is just as effective and a little goes a long way - so it last ages!

PIERCING HOLES - if you require a hole to thread jewellery/wire findings through, step No.8 is probably the best time to pierce the UTEE with a sharp object while still malleable. I advise rubbing a bit of glycerine on the tool to prevent sticking. I often drill holes afterwards with a craft drill and fine bit, but care must be taken as the UTEE can crack or shatter.

Click HEREfor an example of a circular UTEE charm with a Frida image transfer.

                                                     19. The finished piece.                                                            21. The heart was coloured copper and used

                                                             on this card.

When I first started playing with UTEE, my immediate thoughts were that it'd make a great faux amber to use in art/craft pieces where the real thing would just not be cost effective. You could also make large costume jewellery pieces, tailored and containing whatever objects you desire - Real amber containing insects are rare and very expensive so the possibilities with using UTEE are as vast as your own creative mind will allow.

Colourising - Amber is well known for it's deep orangy brown tones, but in fact it can be found ranging from creamy opaque ivory to the palest yellow through to oranges, browns and reds....and green. This means you have no perfect or exact colour to try to match up to when colourising your UTEE, so it's quite an easy thing to achieve. If you don't have any dyes at all - don't worry, by leaving your clear UTEE in the melting pot on constant heat, it'll eventually start deepening in colour. You can also gently tint it if you're adding UTEEFlex - this has a subtle yellow tinge to it and will produce a lighter coloured faux amber but your embedded objects will really stand out well.

BUBBLES - going against the normal practice of gently combining and stirring your UTEE to minimise bubbles, in this technique you want them - so stir it up !!!

In the following tutorial I have made some simple tiles that can be used for various projects. As for the obejects to embed? - A quick scout around the corners of my shed and greenhouse found a couple of dead wasps and moths, and a spider - but this was a little too big for my project. I've never used a wasp before and it's quite a big one, so it needed quite a deep pouring of UTEE to enclose it.

If you're really too squeemish to use dead insects (although for that genuine look, and amaze your friends etc, there's no other alternative) you can just stick to plant/flower matter, even stamp out some images on card and use those instead.

      1. Melting UTEE, then add some Flex, stir in and                  2.  Smear inside of cutter with tiny bit of                   3. Secure and stabilise the cutter with some

      add colour. Stir quite well to produce bubbles!                      glycerine and place in objects of choice.                          bluetack and pour in molten UTEE.

      4. The UTEE and cutter will be VERY hot, leave                5. The finished square tile containing moths.               6. Pour the unused UTEE onto craft sheet to

              to cool and set for at least 10mins.                                                                                                      set and store, or make freeform amber shapes!