Friendly Plastic - Make your own tools

So I'm sitting here playing with Friendly Plastic this weekend and I want a marbling tool that has twice as many teeth as the one that Amaco makes. I pop off an email to Amaco and tell the exactly what I want (well, how else are they going to know if we don't tell them stuff like this?) And then I remember reading a website where someone was using Friendly Plastic to make their own tools.

I found the site - Instructables

And of course the thought hit me - duh! make my own marbling tool!!!

I laid down Amaco's comb and cut a strip of Friendly Plastic the same size, and laid heavy duty straigt pins across it.  Not sure how this would come out, I decided to set them half way up the plastic as I didn't want them moving when I use the tool.

Once I got them where I wanted them, I placed the silpat which was already on my tray, on the griddle and let the strip melt and then pressed the pins down into the plastic:

Then I laid another strip of Friendly Plastic over the top of that and let it melt down into my base.

Looked like this on the griddle:

After it was melted, I dipped it into cold water and decided it wasn't thick enough, so I set the piece on top of a strip of black.  It definitely needs 3 layers of Friendly Plastic in order to have enough depth to feel right when you use the tool.

Here's my first attempt.  Yes, I can inlay and decorate the top, but hey - it's a tool!!  I may just leave it the way it is!  And it absolutely works.  I'll try to post my comparisons later today.

And yes, I still want Amaco to make me one because I like professional looking tools.  But you can see that I can now marble and chevron in much narrower paths and I think this is just what I was wanting!  If you want blunt ends to the pins, just take your wire cutters and cut them off.  I think I'll leave mine sharp - no kids here!!

I think it's just beyond amazing that you can use this medium to make a tool to increase what you can do with this medium!!!  Dare I show this to Kerry?  He'll be off making all kinds of tools for his model trains!  LOL!!!  And I just hope that the next time I'm going nuts looking for a tool that I can't find anywhere (I did google for a narrower comb and didn't see it anywhere).....I hope I will remember to try and make it using Friendly Plastic!!!