Resin casting mold suggestions

Aloha everybody!

So, some progress on my resin pieces! I have finished making a few masters from Super Sculpey and they have come out great! Thanks for the suggestion!

I'll be getting the silicone in a few days and making the mold as shown here.
http://www.b9robotresource.com/molding1.htm
My queston now areises in the final 2 steps on that page where he shows a layer of molding clay. I have tried emailing the site operator but to no answer, so I now turn to the good people er...villagers of TC for help. What is a good medium to use as that molding clay? My thought was Play-Doh and just spray a little extra release agent onto it.

Mahalo!
-LT

[ Edited by: The Lounge Tiki 2009-07-15 16:24 ]

[ Edited by: The Lounge Tiki 2009-07-15 17:13 ]

Bondo on a stick will work if you are planning on carving it only. Trying to sculpt Bondo is near impossible. However, the pitfall with carving Bondo is all the little bubbles that will appear as you carve into it.

I agree with Clarita about using Magic Sculpt. You can sculpt it, carve it, sand and polish it, and add on to it after it has set. I can't get it here in SD either, so I order it from The Complete Sculptor: http://www.sculpt.com/

Another solution is to make your piece out of whatever, mold it, cast a resin, sand, smooth, touch it up, make it perfect, then mold it a second time to make your master.

Good luck!!

Bowie

dude, i have nothing in my area. i sculpt my masters from bone, wood, jade and pewter. hunt around your local hobby stores for stuff.

order stuff from online vendors.

learn to work with what you have.

it's hard and i know from first hand experience. people around here will help you.

i love magic sculpt. no one in my town carries it. i order it online. there are ways to make it work.

Mahalo for all the help so far!

I should have mentioned this I guess. I don't have a credit card. I have been afraid to get one with all the identity theft going on, not to mention the current state of the economy. The one idea I had was to use and American Express giftcard. Does anyone know if that works online?

Mahalo (again)
-LT

I'm no master, And I don't work for them.

http://www.sculpey.com/Products/products_poly_supersculp.htm

I read some pro's use it.

Aloha

you can get a visa/MC/amex gift card to order stuff online. most grocery stores sell them.

the great thing about magic sculpt is that it's water soluble until it hardens. you can smooth it out with a damp finger or tool. just don't put it in your mouth after you do that. it doesn't taste very good.

Mahalo all for your great suggestions and advice. Sorry it took so long to thank you all, but I've been spending a little too much time in the Bilge area. Anywho, I was given some very sound advice thru a PM which I will follow. Hopefully this all pans out and I'll be posting some pictures of either a finished product...or a catastrophic failure. Either way, we'll have a good time!

-LT

I carved my originals in wood and then made silicon molds for casting. Sometimes I'll make a cast and then refine it a bit further and make another mold from that one..... I get my materials from micro-mark partly because I am amazed by their catalog of supplies for model train enthusiasts! I can't believe how many specialized tools there are for that sort of thing! You can see my tiki necklace molds on my site: http://www.thetackytiki.com
:)

You can get Sculpy at Michael's or Hobby Lobby.

Get the flesh colored stuff, the White is cheaper,
but the texture isn't as nice.

For large projects, you can layer it over
an armature of paper/cardboard/masking tape.

Do not use plastic, since you have to bake it in the oven.

After baking, the piece can be filed and sanded.

Another option, is Plaster of Paris.
Any hardware store should have it in 1lb boxes.
Just follow the instructions.

Cuts easy when it is damp, sands nice when it is dry.

Probably needs to be sealed, with clear, before making a mold.

"Sulfur free" Plasticene is easy to work,
Plastilena makes Sulfur free Plasticene in different hardnesses.

Silicone Rubber doesn't want to cure properly, if you use the regular
Plasticene. The Sulfur creates some sort of chemical Voodoo.
So you need the Sulfur free kind.

That's the deal with Smooth-On products,
I'm guessing similar products are the same way.

Dude, If you have no means, do it how I started. Try carving the family size of Ivory Soap. That you can get locally. Then you can make a mold out of whatever you can get a hold of.
You can even make a serviceable mold from Unflavored Gelatine and a third of the water you'd use for "finger jello" except cut that water in half and substitute auto anti-freeze. (It keeps the molds from drying out, and also prevents mold- the icky kind.)
By the way, that mold will eventually shrink, since the water will evaporate.
To cast, you may want to mix resin and bondo to slush-cast figures.

Try it!

[ Edited by: Kewlava 2009-06-29 09:33 ]

B
U
M
P

If you're still having resin casting & mold makeing issues, these are the best guys to contact:

http://www.silpak.com/

Give them a call & let them know what you're trying to do & they'll help you out with everything.

Good Luck!

[ Edited by: Tobor64 2009-07-16 08:00 ]

If you're still having resin casting & mold maker issues, these are the best guys to contact:

http://www.silpak.com/

Give them a call & let them know what you're trying to do & they'll help you out with everything.

Good Luck!

Been working with resin, RTV mold making stuff for about a year... Now when I say year I mean about 40 hours total resin time. Mostly did stuff for warhammer 40k bases with rocks and other terrain features. I have always had a problem with make mold boxes. Then what do I find here? Legos.... LEGO's! I have tons! Never thought of using legos as a mold box! Jeesh! Right now I'm educating myself for future projects for next years tiki Oasis. locating inexpensive resin and RTV mold making stuff has been a chore. I have used Jgreer down in San Diego for materials. but in a pinch I'll go to http://www.reynoldsam.com if I want it faster. Glad to find a place on here that may have some insight and tips for working with the goop.