Hello, welcome to Steve McDonald's arts and crafts.
Now, what I've got today is these molds that make crochet hooks.
Now, I've had a lot of comments about these lot questions about
these, and everybody seems to have had a bit of a disaster with them.
Either. They're not casting very well.
They go out a shape, or they just bend and break really easily.
So what I thought I would do is test out the mold.
Now, they've all got the sizes on them, which is great, but
I'm going to see if I can work out a way of not only making
making them, but making them.
So they're a little bit more robust than they would be if
you just filled them with resin.
And I've got a couple of tricks up my sleeve.
I'm not saying it's going to work, because it may not,
because I purposely didn't buy these mold, thinking that they
wouldn't work.
After having so many questions, I thought I've got to give it a go
One of the things that I am going to do with these hooks is
going to make some with just resin to see how well they Bend
and what happens to them.
And the other thing I'm going to do is I've got an old coat
hanger here. And I find coat
hanger metal is really quite strong, much stronger than just
normal aluminium wire.
And also the ones that I've got that I keep.
I've got a coating on them as well, so they're not likely to
make a mark or anything in the resin.
I don't think I'm going to put it into the hook itself, the
hook part there, but what I am look at that mold that's got a
rip in it already, even before I even start.
So the quality of these molds just isn't fabulous anyway, but
there we go.
So I'm just going to measure up a few of these like this and
cut the coat hanger to the length that I want them.
And I can pop that inside the resin.
I've got my resin mixed up now, and obviously I'm going to have
to apply this with a pipette.
There's no way I'm going to be able to do this by just free
pouring it, because I just get it everywhere.
Now I'm pushing the actual PU resin polyurethane resin.
I'm using for the first two here into the bottom of this mold,
and trying to get as much into the hook end as I possibly can
before I put this piece of cut coat hanger into them.
Now I'm topping this up now with it being a PU resin, to be
honest, this should be cured within about, I don't know, an
hour two hours, but I'm going to leave them all for the same
amount of time to cure them.
I squidgy widgying as much as I possibly can, because
I can see there are so many trapped bubbles in this tip
because of the shape of it.
And I want to avoid as many trapped bubbles as I possibly
can, because that would again would be detrimental to the needle.
These are such flimsy little molds that you have to be
really careful not to knock them over and spill the resin out.
So this is second one with the PU resin, just like to say a quick.
Thank you to all my members whose names are coming up now.
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So these two I'm doing, I'm not adding the metal to them.
So we're going to have a comparison of whether the metal
rods makes any difference whatsoever here.
So again, filling this up, I will have to make sure that I
do quite a bit of squidgy widgying.
And again, I'm really being careful not to knock them over.
And that's what I'm using these sticks for, because once
they're full, they're even more unbalanced.
So now using using this stick to get it as straight as possible as
well, because it has took on a oh, no, I've dropped it, and
that I've dropped again.
So
So messy, and so have to top this up, but they do kind of
take on a natural bend bursting any bubbles that come up.
The top I don't want that to create a rough top surface.
Now, what I'm using is a normal epoxy resin.
I've used an art resin for this, because I know that that is
what the majority of people use.
Although a casting resin would probably be better because it
would dry and cure a little bit harder.
Again, having difficulties with this one with the bubbles.
I think I'm pushing more bubbles into it, and I'm
actually taking out of it and getting a little bit frustrated with it.
But hopefully some squidgy widgying will help this.
So fill this up all the way along again and again, I will
go over them to make sure that there are no bubbles on the top
that could be rough.
And want to say a quick thank you to everyone that got me a
coffee last month.
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So these two are
Now another one's gone over,
at least it's not too much resin came out of it.
So these are the two with the clear resin and the metal in
look, how much mess I'm making.
They should have made them out of thicker silicon, or in one
large flat block, I think that would have been much easier.
And these now are the 2 that are going to be without the
metal rods in them.
So we've got 4 with metal rods.
We've got 4 without each time two with epoxy and two with
polyurethane resin.
What we'll do is we'll leave these overnight to cure up, and
then we'll come back to them.
These are all cured up now.
And actually I left them two days to ensure that they were a
solid as they could be.
I don't want to do anything that is going to be
intentionally negative towards these molds, because I think they're
going to do that for themselves.
So the ones I put the metal in, or the piece of metal coat
hanger with the PU resin.
They did cure up really, really quickly.
Firstly, I quite difficult to get out now.
That is, I have to say, that is a lovely, smooth, beautifully
smooth hook.
But it has got a little tiny air bubble in there, despite
all the squeegee widgying which I think is going to be
detrimental to the wool.
It's also really, really strong.
II can't see that that's going to bend, but it is
a little bit rough here where the mold meets the top.
So you're going to have to sand that down, because if not,
that's going to be quite uncomfortable in your hand.
And that 7 mm one.
So that's one of the larger ones.
And I definitely think that has worked not too bad.
But apart from that little air bubble that's in the tip.
Now, this one hasn't got an air bubble in the tip, but it has
still got that roughness on here.
So you would have to sand that down to make that nice and
smooth, because you thought that in your hand when you're
using it and again, that one is really quite hard that isn't
going to go anywhere.
I think that one would be fine to use.
Yeah, it's almost flawless that one would be fine.
And that certainly does make a big difference.
Having that metal in there, the clear ones with the epoxy resin,
as opposed to the PU resin or polyurethane resin.
Well, that one I didn't obviously get any resin in the tip.
So that's a complete blah, isn't it.
I mean, what you're going to use that for, I might use it
for something I don't like waste, even though I give these
as much of a squeegee widgying as I possibly could.
And that one again, look air bubble there.
So that's not going to make it.
I just can't see how these molds are worth the effort and
the time.
So they're the ones with the metal in they are strong enough to use.
There's definitely no doubt about it.
And now this is the one without the metal in. So awkward, get
out again, bit missing off the tip, tiny little air bubble in
there, despite that, if you put them in a fresh pot that might
happen.
But look how bendy that is.
I mean, who's gonna want that as.
And also, as it gets warmer in your hand, that is going to
bend quite a lot.
Let's have a look at the PU one that has no metal in or again
definitely a nice smooth end to that one would need sanding.
There's no air bubble in that at all.
But even with the PU that is a little bit bendy, but I
think that would be usable.
Slightly smaller.
One tiny little air bubble got in there.
So that's going to split your wool and do things with it.
And again, that is quite bendy.
And then the large one, no air bubble in that one.
So that's come out.
Okay, the hooks.
Okay, you wouldn't need to sand this off down here.
There's no doubt about it, because that is quite harsh,
and that hasn't got too much bend in it.
So I think that large size, the 8 mmm one would be okay.
at a push, definitely putting the metal.
in them gives them a lot more strength and rigidity.
If anyone's going to go to all the effort of making these,
then I think putting the metal in will make a massive difference.
You really have got to squeegee widgy these to death,
because you don't want these little bits on this tip of this hook.
Your also got to ensure that you sand these down, because I
think they would make your hands quite sore, over all that one's
not too bad.
The large one seems to be the better ones.
I think these molds are just not worth the effort and the money
and the time and the wastage that you're going to get from
them, because if you get a little bit of a bubble in one,
then it's finished, I think, complete waste of money,
complete waste of time.
And there's much better things that you could making with
resin than these.
Definitely let me know if you've had any success with
them yourself, or what method you've used in the comments
below, my suggestion would be buy yourself some crochet hooks,
because they can't be as experience. Look how bendy that one.
I mean, that wouldn't be any good within minutes.
You'd have that broken so rough.
And by the time you've taken off the edges sanding it down,
it's going to be smaller than what you had in the first place.
Well, hope you found this useful.
My advice, don't buy them they are a complete waste of money,
resources and everything.
But if you have used them successfully, then let me know
in the comments below how you've done that.
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I'll leave the links to these in the description below,
although I don't recommend you buy them.
And the link, if you want to buy me, a coffee is in the
description below as well.
Take care.
Enjoy your resin, Bye.