making duplicates / molds of your small carvings?

Is there a fairly simple way to make molds of your wood carvings?

I've seen a few threads that talk about resin casting with clay molds and rubber molds and even seen Buzzy's thread where his Brady Bunch tiki molds almost look like they're made in homedepot-polystyrene insulation.

any advice on the easiest way to make a mold of a tiki? There's a craft show coming up that is tied to our local newspaper and for employees of the paper only. I was thinking I'd try making a few small tikis out of basswood, or even casting one of my current ones (if it doesnt have too many undercuts), and selling those at the craft show.

thanks in advance!

Nick

A two part vinyl polysiloxane material will pick up the smallest detail and has a high tear strength.
Cheers :)

You want the type that you pour.

Go check into some of the companies that make and sell resin, they also have how-to videos to get you started.

TapPlastics has something that should work - they have a pretty impressive demo at my local store.

http://www.tapplastics.com/shop/category.php?bid=33&PHPSESSID=200910152151292115088623

great, thanks guys.

I also picked up some clay over the weekend- I can't remember the name now, it's super-something, I think. You can harden it in the oven. It's supposedly pretty popular because it's easy to use. dunno

i was thinking of trying to make something out of that and then harden it and wrap it in fresh clay,remove it, harden the negative and ta-da, i have a mold that i can pour something into.

i'll check the stuff you posted above as well. thanks again.

I've been wondering about this myself. I have done things with clay but never messed with casting or molding. Keep us posted, I'm very interested in this topic.

On 2009-10-19 07:29, kinggargantuan wrote:

I also picked up some clay over the weekend- I can't remember the name now, it's super-something, I think. You can harden it in the oven.

Super Sculpy ?

http://www.smooth-on.com

The most available in my area. Great resources for simple how-to, to advanced techniques.

Here's a whole thread of mold info started and shared by Bowana:

Silicone Molding 101

That's where I learned how to do it.

I get all my stuff from Fiberlay now. That's only because they are a couple miles from the house and I save a lot on shipping by picking it up there. They have a website but it sucks.

Buzzy Out!