Pie Plate and Plastic Gelatin Valentine's Wind Chime

This Valentine's wind chime was really a craft fail of mine, recouped into a project for the girls.

Last night, I made a couple of batches of plastic gelatin (5 tablespoons of boiling water mixed with 3 packets of unflavored gelatin, and food coloring).

It starts out rubbery, and can be cut into shapes, but dries hard like plastic.

I cut out a few heart shapes with different sized cookie cutters, using a straw to make a hole in each heart, and in the extra bits left over after I cut the hearts.

My intention was to let the girls make necklaces, or some sun catcher window thingamajigs, or maybe a Valentine's mobile with them.

However, I wasn't careful enough when I mixed up the gelatin, and I didn't get it totally dissolved, leaving my hearts with a lumpy texture, and totally ruining them for sun catchers, since you could see the undissolved bits when they were held up to the light. Not to mention the fact, that the glue drizzle I added to the clear hearts, didn't dry white, the way I had hoped. And, the hearts themselves, curled more than I cared for, as they dried, making them undesirable for jewelry.

But, with the addition of a disposable aluminum pie plate, a hole punch, and a few pieces of balloon ribbon (and a little bit of care, because cut aluminum is quite sharp)...

...the girls were able to turn my disaster, into a pretty, and functional Valentine's Day craft, after all.

It's great to be a homeschooler.