Appliqués, mouldings, embellishments, whatever you want to call them, have been about for time immemorial. In its simplest, most humble form a moulding is used to seal joints in a building – dating back to Ancient Greek architecture. Mouldings of this variety are still used in this manner today, in fact WoodUbend carry a number of trims which can be used for just this purpose. If you’ve ever been inside a building you will have seen a moulding in its most humble form, so we won’t dawdle at this point for much longer.
A cursory Google search of the term ‘wooden mouldings’ brings up a plethora of different items, from the humble covings and skirting boards right through to the more decorative mouldings.
So where does WoodUbend fit in? Why would you not just pick the first decorative wooden moulding you come across and have done with it? Well if quality, simplicity and sustainability sound positive to you, then read on!
Heat Bendable Mouldings
There are a wide selection on the market, you heat the product up and voila it becomes pliable and you can contour it to fit your design. Fantastic! Useful, easy to use but certainly not revolutionary. Often made from silicone or resin, these designs work well – but are they the real deal? Are they, for all intents and purposes wood, before they’re heated up? In short, no.
Now this is where WoodUbend steps in, where it carves out a path of its own.
Made with such a high percentage of wood, when cool WoodUbend mouldings are effectively wooden. They look like wood, act like wood, smell like wood. In fact, they can be sanded, sawed, stained, varnished, drilled, painted, distressed…you name it! Whatever you can do to wood, you can do to WoodUbend and you can expect it to act in the same way.
When things get a little interesting is with the introduction of heat. Use a heat gun, a griddle or even a hair dryer on these mouldings and they become flexible! Once cooled, WoodUbend will retain its shape and effectively turn back to hard wood. Bendy wood!
Watch it in action:
Get the Most out of WoodUbend
First up, this isn’t difficult, these mouldings are so simple to use but the finished product looks superb. We’re not talking rocket science…just bendy wood.
So, you’re ready to get bendy but are a little unsure on how to proceed? Not to worry, many people are often a little uncertain when first embarking on their bendy endeavours. First thing’s first, make sure you have a good quality, flexible wood glue – remember WoodUbend has all the properties of wood so the proper glue is critical. Generally, a good wood glue will be creamy in colour so look out for that, Dixie Belle sells Titebond which works well.
Wood glue at the ready it’s also important to make sure that your moulding is warm, you may not be bending just yet but the surface you’re sticking to is unlikely to be completely flat – especially if you’re upcycling. Having a warm moulding just means that it will contour to the smaller curves and stick much better, it’s always worth applying a bit of heat whilst you’re actually sticking the moulding down too.
A top tip if you’re using a trim design, keep it curled into a tight spiral and only unwind what you need. This ensures the heat remains in the trim better and you don’t end up getting all tangled up in 2.2m worth of trim!
If you’re using a good quality, flexible paint you can even paint the mouldings before bending! Mixed with a good top coat sealer our Posh Chalk products work perfectly this way around.
Do you need to cut your moulding down to size? Not an issue, heat it up and it can be cut with a craft knife – no need to be butchering the intricate designs with a hacksaw or file. Not that you couldn’t do that when it was cool though!
We’re only human and we do make mistakes, perhaps you’ve cut a moulding too small? Perhaps it doesn’t quite fit where you want it to? Simple, stretch it. When warm, the thinner designs and especially the trims can be stretched to hide your mistakes! Heat the up and hold it in place for a minute or so whilst it cools and nobody will even know. They do warm up and cool down quite quickly so take that into consideration when playing around. Do be careful with a heat gun however, they generate a lot of heat.
So there we have it, heat is your bendy friend, use a good quality wood glue and don’t worry about making mistakes.
You’re really only limited by your imagination!
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