I need expert advice on mold making and resin casts

[Volksfrei]

Hi everyone,

I'd like to try my hand at resin casts. I've never made a mold before, but I've seen those blue silicon mold kits. I think they require mixing A+B parts or something of that nature, but I'm not entirely sure. Would you mind sharing required materials, advice, suggestions and methods for creating molds to make resin copies of small items? Also, can you cast the final piece in black?

Thanks in advance!
John

 

[division 6]

Your first stop should be Smooth-On for product types, uses and how to videos.
They also sell dyes and even black resin.

Next there are tonnes of videos on you-tube.
Even check out the videos from Adam Savages Tested Series.

 

[Volksfrei]

Thank you for the suggestions. I'm checking them out now.

 

[Sluis Van Shipyards]

I'm not an expert, but a simple one part or two part mold isn't hard at all. Don't be intimidated by it.

 

[Volksfrei]

Thanks. Yeah, it's definitely intimidating when you don't know where to start. But I think I got this. Thanks everyone!

 

[Miiyamoto]

one good start will be smotth on, mold max 30 or maybe 25!, i use them for all my molds, later you can experiment on less usage of silicon as you learn the curves and shapes of some pieces, and for resins, most of them are easy to dye, i use poliester resin for fiberglass, it´s a shampoo like texture and the catalyzer it´s a by using 2% of a droppper bottle, and you can use ANY oil based paint to dye it, you can make cast from every color by just adding the oil paint, like the one you use on your doors or metal tubes in your backyard. for the molds i will allways sugest silicons with color changing catalyzers since some brands use a transparent castalyzer and will be a bit harder to realize if it´s all mixed in well.

 

[Monkeyboi69]

I found this playlist quite useful when I started

Molding & Casting 101: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6q0fd3ileWLwTQ6pOUb8isS4BYLjkNhH

 

[Volksfrei]

This is all great advice. I feel I can tackle this based on the info you've all shared.