Casting plastic and latex from the same mold?

[TChiu]

Hi everyone!
I'm making a batman helmet out of a pep file and have started thinking that it may actually look good as a latex mask.
So my question is can I make ONE single mold that will be able to cast both plastic and latex in?
I would like to make both styles to wear but don't really want to be making 2 separate molds if I don't have to. And from what I've seen, plastic helmet are casted from latex molds supported by a fiberglass jacket, while latex masks are made from plaster molds.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advanced.

 

[EyeofSauron]

how are you gonna wear a rigid batman cowl out of plastic?

 

[TChiu]

how are you gonna wear a rigid batman cowl out of plastic?

I cut the back out and will reattach it using magnets. It was either that or cut out the chin strap which I thought would take away from the look too much.

 

[Kevin Gossett]

More importantly, why would you want to wear a hard resin cowl?

 

[Darth Lars]

I don't think that is possible. Plaster absorbs water, and can also give away water. That property helps when casting latex but can be disastrous when casting resin because it does not like water. For casting resin, you would also want to have a rotocasting machine to be able to get even layers of resin while latex is usually brushed on inside the mould in many layers.

Anyway, plaster is pretty cheap. I would suggest making a plaster mould and latex cast, then see if that is enough.

BTW, moulds for casting resin are usually made of silicone, not latex.

 

[TChiu]

I don't think that is possible. Plaster absorbs water, and can also give away water. That property helps when casting latex but can be disastrous when casting resin because it does not like water. For casting resin, you would also want to have a rotocasting machine to be able to get even layers of resin while latex is usually brushed on inside the mould in many layers.

Anyway, plaster is pretty cheap. I would suggest making a plaster mould and latex cast, then see if that is enough.

BTW, moulds for casting resin are usually made of silicone, not latex.

Yeah that's what pretty much what I've found through looking around. I just wanted to see if there was another way. Thank for your help!

 

[FenixTalon]

If he had a silicone rubber mold, could he not cast both urethane rubber and urethane plastic into it?

I'm not the master of molding, but from my understanding as long as you have two chemically different compounds (mold/casting) it should work.

The problem is that I hear urethane is really smelly when you're wearing it. Pro would be that it's more durable.