ThermoMorph - Moldable Plastic

Hi Everyone and Happy Sunday! Today I have something different for you, no card to share today. I was asked a few weeks back by David from ThermoMorph to do a review. The product sounded pretty interesting so I agreed. ThermoMorph, what is that you ask? Well ThermoMorph are moldable plastic pellets made out of polymorph granules. 

Here is what it says on the company website about it:

Thermomorph is an amazing new moldable plastic compound that can be used in numerous different ways. Hack things, fix things, make things and sculpt things, with Thermomorph it’s all possible.

It’s super easy to use, boil a kettle of water and pour some into a bowl, sprinkle the required amount into the water and wait until it turns clear. Once clear Thermomorph becomes pliable for around two minutes, mold into the desired shape using your hands or tools and then wait to cool to room temperature at which point it sets rock hard again.

The price for it is MSRP $19.95 and it comes in a huge 500g jar.  This will last you quite a while as you don't throw out anything you can reuse even the tiniest bit!

Ok and here is what I did with it and what I have have to say about it:

I wanted to try and make some embellishments using a silicone mold, cut out some shapes using tiny cookie/fondant cutters and fixing the broken handle on my favorite small wire whisk.

This is what the ThermoMorph granules look like.

 

Here they are in the hot water. Directions say to boil water and let it cool down to approx. 60C. You can see that they turn clear very quickly about 1-2 minutes. Looking a bit like frog spawn now ;-)

This is the big soft blob after I removed with tongs from the hot water. It's very easy to shape as long it is hot. I immediately started shaping it around my wire whisk to form a new handle. 

This is what it looked like after I was done forming it and...

....this when it was completely hardened. I tried to shape it a bit using my Dremel tool and have to say it is not as hard as I have imagined it to be. Well I have to say I am a trained dental lab technician and compared to the polymers/plastics I was used to work with it is quite different and not as hard...obviously. So I just sanded it a bit with a very fine sanding paper. Conclusion: My favorite wire whisk has a new perfect handle and I'm more than happy with it! Yeah! :-)

Next I used it to form some flowers and leaves using a silicone mold. This silicone mold is usually used to shape fondant or gum paste. There are special flower molds for for crafting which are little more detailed but this is all I had on hand.

The first picture is how it looked like when I took it out of the mold. It was still a bit soft and not as opaque yet. In this stage it is best to cut off any excess using crafting scissors. The second photo shows it when I already trimmed the excess off and completely set. I was impressed that really all the details showed. You can see that better later once it's colored.

Now I would like to try if I can cut it out using tiny cookie cutters/fondant cutters. I flattened the big lump with a rolling pin. Then I tried to cut them out. It did not work as good as I wished. I had to wait until it was a little harder and still it was not easy to cut it out with these tiny shapes. Might be easier with bigger ones but I have no use for those large embellies on my cards and projects.

The good thing is you can use the ThermoMorph plastic over and over again. Just throw it back into the bowl with hot water and wait until it's all clear and soft again. So there will be almost no waste at all! Like that, very good!!

This time I tried to add some glitter. It worked great! Just make sure the ThermoMorph is really soft for an even distribution. The softer the plastic when you start mixing in the glitter the better. You can see it on my flower. It already started to harden when I mixed it in. Compared to the leave where the glitter is more evenly spread. 

Trimming off the excess is easily done with crafting scissors. If the plastic is a bit too thick to be cut in the hardened state just drop it back in the hot water for a few seconds. Just don't wait too long to not ruin your shape. Watch it and as soon as the excess parts begin to clear take it out carefully and trim.

My last experiment for today will be coloring my flower and leave. There are lots of ways and coloring mediums that can be used. I decided to try my alcohol markers. Well coloring it directly with the pens worked yes, but the result was not very satisfying. So I wondered if it would maybe be a better way using my Copic Airbrush System to color.

I started laying down the first layer of color and liked it much better. The color goes on more evenly and doesn't look clotted like before. 

I continued laying down different shades of color and was really impressed by the end result. It turned out fabulous! What do you think?

So these were my experiments with the ThermoMorph. There are endless possibilities to use this fun product. It really is very easy to use for everyone. From fixing things til making your own embellishments. Next time I was thinking of trying to make some beads or buttons. So stay tuned and thanks for stopping by today!

Hugs,