InstaMorph | Thermoplastic Beads, Meltable Polymorph Pellets | Lightweight Modeling Compound for DIY Crafts, Sculpting, Cosplay Accessories | Temporarily Repair | Six Ounce White

I was clued into this product by a Youtube video demonstrating how to make a retainer out of this stuff. Unlike most people looking to make retainers, I still have my original upper and lower Hawley retainers from 20+ years ago, and yes I still wear them every night, and yes my teeth still look great!! I've had new dentists stare at me like I'm a rainbow-colored unicorn sitting in their chair.I was interested in getting a second set of retainers for short-term travel purposes, so I wouldn't have to move my original retainers from container to container, possibly forget to pack them, and there's always the risk losing them. My original orthodontist has retired by now, so I looked into how much it would cost to get a second set from an unaffiliated dentist/orthodontist and found I was not willing to shell out hundreds of dollars for something that would mostly sit idle except for a couple days' worth of travel a year.Enter this InstaMorph plastic. I wasn't sure whether to get the 3oz or 6oz size, and eventually chose the smaller one. Turns out 3 ounces was more than enough. I made my retainers quite thin for comfort, but I also have tons of beads left, even after accidentally wasting the first small spoonful by putting it into water that wasn't hot enough. You'll know the water isn't hot enough if the beads don't turn from opaque white to clear. If they stay opaque, they don't bunch up together, and instead stay loose and unusable. What I should have done at that point was add more, hotter water to get them to turn clear and bunch up together, but I wasn't thinking at the time and just dumped the whole mixture into the trash, Luckily, I had plenty of the stuff left to try again.My next attempt was successful, as with hot enough water, the beads turned clear and bunched up together such that I could scoop them out of the water in one piece and start to mold them. I basically rolled them into a log shape, then used a small plastic rolling pin to flatten the log out into a really thin rectangular piece, and then tried to mold the piece to my teeth. This took a long time and a ton of trial and error, and I was constantly refilling hot water and re-dunking the piece to get it more pliable again so I could roll it out even thinner, shape it to my teeth better, or cut off excess with scissors (it's way easier to get smooth cuts when semi-pliable than when hardened). Creating the upper retainer was a huge chore. The lower retainer went way quicker and easier, but I'm not sure if that's because I created the upper one first, because I wasn't fighting gravity, or some combination of both.In the end, I now have an extra set of retainers for those rare travel days, it only cost me about $10, and despite how long and how much effort it took, I am very pleased with how they turned out. There is some pliability in the plastic since I made them so thin, but that makes them more comfortable and I can tell they are plenty rigid enough still to hold my teeth in place overnight. Very happy with my purchase, and wondering what other nifty uses I can put the remaining beads to.

I purchased this on a whim as I was restocking some hardware and glue and it came up with great reviews.When it first arrived I thought I would just try it out to see how it worked -- since it is supposed to re-useable it wouldn't be a waste and if it didn't really work as well as everyone said then I could return it.It was VERY easy to use. I put 1 cup of water in the microwave for 1 minute and my digital thermometer read almost exactly 140 degrees (I have tried it since at even higher temps and it still works great -- just test the water temp before plunging your hand in!). Once hot I dumped in 2 tablespoons of the little beads waited 2 minutes then picked up the rubbery lump right out of the water and started forming it. It was very moldable (and fun) and set up hard and strong in about 3 minutes.But that was just testing it out... The "Very Handy and Surprisingly Effective" part came later when my wife asked me to fix her toilet? The plastic nut that holds the handle had cracked and while the company graciously said they would ship a new one for free, they also said it will take several weeks. Several weeks without a flushable toilet in the Master Bedroom isn't an option so, I heated up a cup of water and dropped in about a table spoon of InstaMorph. Even 1 tablespoon was more than I needed, but one of the great parts about this stuff is you just put the unused stuff back - no waste.After 2 minutes in the warm water I took it out and formed it into something like a gummy worm, about as thick as a straw and 2 inches long then simply wrapped it around the threads and squished and formed it a bit to make sure it got in deep. A couple of minutes later it was HARD PLASTIC and holding on very tight. I used pliers to un-screw it and looked in amazement at this perfectly formed replacement nut (I could easily have used a crescent wrench to make flat parts for tightening too).Looking at it installed I realized I probably won't even need to put the replacement nut on when it comes. I will try to use that moment as a reminder to come back and update this, but know that if I haven't updated this yet, then it is probably still working.Clean up... none. No mess or fuss, just dump the water (it is all non-toxic) and put any leftover bits away to reheat and reuse later. I did decide to form them into several long strands instead of one big lump, though, just because they will heat up faster and it seems like a useful shape to start with.Net conclusion is that I'm really impressed with this stuff and recommend that everyone have a little bit around for quick fixes.