Often our crafts are more aimed for younger children, but as Mr O is getting older he likes to try out some different crafts, particularly those that require more concentration. We were sent the Gel-A-Peel Deluxe Craft Kit to review, which is a great kit to create your own jewellery out of tubes of gel that turns into rubber.
What is Included
Inside the pack are 5 tubes of different gel-a-peel coloured gels, 7 designer tips (nozzles), 24 patterns to trace, clear drawing sheet and jewellery hardwear (uincluding a headband, earrings and keyring findings).
How To Use
To begin you need to choose your preferred pattern and lay it underneath the clear drawing sheet. Then choose the coloured gel you would like and the correct shaped nozzle. Don’t throw away the little stopper underneath the lid of the gel tube as you will need this when you are finished using the gel tube to stop the rest of the liquid drying out.
You squeeze the tube following the lines on the pattern onto the clear plastic sheet and when you’re finished put it out the way overnight to make sure it drys thoroughly before peeling off and wearing.
For those pieces of jewellery that you need to fold round and reattach you simply use a little more gel and hold in place with a peg or something similar until it dries and sticks together.
Difficulties
Although I do think this is a great ideas for older children, there are still some issues with the craft kit. The main problem is that the clear drawing sheet has been packed folded in half and it does not flatten back out, making it almost impossible to keep it flat and draw with the gel-a-peel without making mistakes. It would be better if the plastic was smaller so it could fit in the packaging flat or redesign the packaging with more room for it?
The next problem was following the lines, which takes a bit of practice. When you first use the gel-a-peel tubes it would be a good idea to practice with a few of the smaller patterns to get used to the amount of force needed to slowly let the gel flow out and also how to move the tube without it messing up the design.
If you pull the dried jewellery they can get broken easily, but if they do you can add a little more gel and let it stick the pieces back together again.
Summary
This is a great kids craft kit that is a bit different from the usual craft kits for children. It would definitely suit older children from around 8 years old, although younger children could do a lot with just a little help from parents. The major problem we had is the drawing sheet which is bent in half, but you can use books to weigh it down on each side or cut it in half to make the drawing easier.
Have you tried the Gel-A-Peel craft kit?
J x
* I received this craft kit for the purpose of this post, however all opinions are my own.
RachelSwirl says
We also reviewed this and won’t be buying it in future, it is really fun to use but is simply too messy, toxic and quite frankly too weak to withstand wearing.
Plutonium Sox says
I actually don’t really like the look of this, not sure I’d buy it for my girls even when they’re older. There are much nicer ways to make jewellery. Great to read your review though, always good to hear what people think of things as I know it’s something the girls may ask for in future.
Nat.x