HOW TO RESCUE your moulds when you've used the wrong product!

What do you do when you used the wrong product in your moulds? 

I used the same products I used for my cake lace, but the moulds were too deep - so I was left with a lot of residue, as you can see here.

So... what can you do to rescue your mould and clean the left-over mess?

First... try not to panic (or throw your moulds in the bin)! 

Pull off as much as possible, so you have as little left-over product as possible. The mould above is by La Blanche, and is very deep. I used modeling paste, and let it dry overnight. The top surface was dry, but felt squishy underneath (in other words, not dry) so I left it another day. Still not dry! So I pulled out what I could.

The result I wanted

As you can see above, this product lifted out perfectly from the shallow cake lace mould (see my earlier post and reviews). 

I'm now panic mode - the mess

The picture above (with the cake lace) was the kind of result I was hoping for. However, this is what I actually got (I had a session where I did a whole heap of moulds, then nearly died when I saw what a mess I had on my hands).

The result I actually got!

You can't blame the product - I used the same ones I tested as completely successful when making my cake lace and this included Viva, Stamperia and Imagination Crafts (Cadence). You can't blame the moulds (Prima, Stamperia, La Blanche). The problem was the depth of the moulds - these should only be used with resin or air-dry clay.

The solution

As you can see, there is a lot of gunk left in the bottom of the deepest moulds, which didn't remove with wipes or tweezers (I tried both when wet and when completely dry).

So I needed a product to bond with whatever was left in the moulds, which would dry and then lift out clean. Cheap ordinary PVA glue to the rescue! I poured on a liberal amount, straight from the bottle, and left for 2 days for the deepest moulds to set completely.

I filled the moulds to the top, and levelled the excess glue off with a spatula.

It then formed a skin, and simply lifted out! Taking all the mess with it. 

Don't be tempted to remove the skin too early, as you will still be left with residue at the bottom of the mould. If this does happen, just add more PVA and repeat the process.

Et voila, no more mess, and the moulds back in perfect condition, ready to use again.

PHEW!