Hot glue casting

A hot glue gun is an extremely handy tool for many crafts, but did you know hot glue could be used as a medium? Hot glue has even been called "the poor man's resin." While I think the aforesaid statement is a bit of an overstatement, it is true that hot glue can, in many cases, stand in for more expensive or finicky materials. 

What do I need to do hot glue casting? 

At the very minimum, you need a mold and a glue gun. It also helps to have some kind of drop cloth (can be just a piece of paper) to catch the drips from the glue gun.  Silicone molds (like for candy or resin) are probably the easiest to use for hot glue casting.  I recommend not trying to cast very large shapes. Such molds are available on Amazon, at craft stores, or wherever you can buy candy-making or cake-decorating supplies or wherever you find resin supplies. Soap molds are generally larger than you want, but you might find something you want at a soap making shop. 

You can use plain, translucent hot glue for casting. The resulting casts will generally be either white or yellowish, with some degree of translucence. They can be pretty as they are, depending on the shape cast and your application. You can also paint them various colors with acrylic paint. Depending on the degree of translucence, flat shapes may be painted on the back only, allowing the paint to show through the glue, as with the earrings below. 

You can also buy colored, glitter filled, and even metallic hot glue sticks for casting. These can be harder to find than plain ones, but if you can find them, they are fun to work with. The earrings pictured here were made with purple, glitter filled hot glue. 

How do you cast hot glue? 

Turn on your hot glue gun. Once it is hot enough that the glue flows freely, start filling the mold. Start at the bottom and work your way up. For more complicated shapes, like flowers, you may need to separately insert the tip of your glue gun into the smaller details, and you may need to use another piece of silicone to help push the glue into the mold. Allow the glue to harden fully before removing it from the mold. 

What can you make with hot glue casts?

You are really only limited by your imagination (and, to an extent, what molds you have). You can make jewelry and hair accessories with hot glue casts. They make nice earrings when glued to earring backs. They also work well as embellishments for other projects, such as painted cans, journal covers, and decoupage projects. They can also be used to create dollhouse miniatures. Unfortunately, the cannot be used for applications that require strength.