UTEE & the Melt Pot - The Basics

O.K. ~ we're ready to begin using UTEE in the Melt Pot!

If you've never seen or heard of the Melt Pot before it's a handy little tool to have around. You can use it to melt UTEE, beeswax, soap, glue, candy and more...you can even bake your clay pieces in it!

Since I know alot of people haven't used one before we're going to start with the basics....

When you're ready to begin, plug the melt pot in and place the lid on the pan. Set the pan on a Non-Stick Craft Sheet to protect your work surface. Move the temperature control to the hottest setting and let it pre-heat for 5 minutes.

Pour in the UTEE....

Replace the lid and make sure the pot is on the UTEE setting. Let the UTEE melt ~ the time ti takes to melt will varies depending on how much UTEE you have added to the pot.

While it's melting gather the desired molds you will be using. To make your own custom mold you can use Ranger's Mold-n-Pour. Check out the video - Custom Mold's using Mold-n-Pour.

In addition to using Mold-n-Pour molds you can also use polymer clay molds, soap molds, candy molds and silicon molds. You can even use some of those cheap flexible shape ice cube molds! Any molds that will withstand a bit of heat will work fine with UTEE.

Some people have also used cookie molds but I've never tried them personally. Since most cookie molds aren't flexible I would think you'd have a hard time getting the UTEE out of the mold. They say you can use a release agent but cookie molds are too expensive to experiment with in my book.

Now, once the UTEE has melted, pick up the Melt Pot using the black handles on each side of the pan. It's best to use two hands because the melted UTEE is VERY hot as is the Melt Pot. (Shame shame, I didn't use both because I was taking a pic.) Fill each mold with the melted UTEE.

Once you've filled the desired molds, let the UTEE cool and begin to harden. This normally takes around one minute for smaller molds. The larger the mold, the more time it will take to cool.

After the UTEE has cooled sufficiently just pop them out!

Easy as that!!

A few things to remember when working with the Melt Pot & UTEE....

* Melted UTEE is VERY hot!!

* Mold n Pour molds are re-usable over and over again for a LONG time...Years and years and years!

* If you are using clear UTEE the longer it is heated the darker it will get. It will never be colorless so don't be surprised when it turns anywhere from a light yellow to a dark amber.

* There is never any waste!! What do I mean by this? Well, if you have pieces that were incomplete, have a bit of spillage or even some UTEE left in the pan - DON'T throw it away....you can re-melt it and use it again! In fact, I usually pour my excess out on the Non-Stick Craft Sheet and save it for later use.

Well, there you go ~ the basics of UTEE and the Melt Pot!

Tomorrow I want to share a few examples of what you can do with the molded pieces by incorporating them into a variety of projects so be sure to check back then!

Till then friends hope you can find some time to go get crafty!