molding help.

[weizie]

hey i have a bio i need to make a mold of im not really sure on how to do this. i have looked threw all the huntorials and nothin is really helping me. if anyone can please help me with making a mold it would be highly appreciated.thank you very much.


~Chris

 

[Maverick118]

Isthis your own sculpt bro'? if so we'll need toknow what clay you've used, as some can inhibit silicone from curing if you mold it that way, a few pics and some more info would be useful too?

 

[MEANGENE83]

You Must have missed this tutorial i posted.

24.63.3.23/gfsales/TUTORI...TORIAL.rtf

Pictures to go along with the tutorial are here
24.63.3.23/gfsales/Sculpt...%20sculpt/

--------------

Silicone Caulking Tubes Mold

How to Mold a Bio Helmet Sculpture.
(REFER TO PICTURES IN THIS LINKED FOLDER FOR REFERENCE)
1. Gather Materials.

&nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp 1. 7-10 tubes of SILVER brand GE 100% silicone Caulking. (avail Home Depot)&nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp
&nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp 2. One roll of Plasterers seam tape. (mesh tape for drywall seam reinforcement)
&nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp 3. Can of Clear Coat - Kyrlon
&nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp 4. Water Spray Bottle
&nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp 5. Latex gloves


2. Prepare the Sculpt.

Ok Take the can of krylon and seal the clay. Most clays have sulphur in them and sulphur as far as i can remember reacts badly with silicone and will cause it NOT to dry. SO seal it up good with a couple coats.


OK! Now that the sculpt is dry and sealed u will begin to cover it with silicone.


3. Molding the sculpture.

With your sculpture mounted on a stand such as this it allows it to stay upright and you can spin it around as you work. I recommend making urself one.

Step 1. Take a tube of silicone and insert it into the caulking gun. Cut off the tip very close to the body of the tube so u have a wide opening. Puncture the seal inside the tubes stem. And start squeezing the silicone out onto the sculpture.


There is no real trick to this. Just squeeze out a large amount onto the sculpt and with your latex gloves on begin the spread it around. making sure u dont capture any air bubbles. this is the detail coat of the sculpture so dont worry about making it thick. just make sure u cover the surface evenly and dont miss any spots.




This is a picture of the sculpt after a couple layers.

Once the detail coat is done you will now want to wait for it to dry. I took a water bottle and sprayed down the silicone to speed up the drying process. Silicone drys because of a reaction with water in the air. So by leeping it sprayed down with a water bottle it made it dry SOO Much quicker.


OK NOW! Repeat the steps you did with applying the silicone except this time GO TO TOWN! Just squirt out all kinds of silicone and build it up but dont do more than a quarter inch thickness otherwise it won't dry!!
Do a quarter inch all around and then spray it down and leave it for a day. When i did this sculpt i would periodically come in throughout the day and spray it down when it dried out.


NOW! Take your plasterers seaming tape and cut some strips of it like 1 foot long. And take ur silicone gun and squirt on a thin layer of silicone. Now press the tape into the silicone and cover the entire surface of the mold with it. THis will reinforce the silicone and keep it from tearing. this silicone that comes in the tubes is not very strong so u need to reinforce it.
Pay close attention to the eyes and the outter areas of the mold.
Once its all covered take the gun and put on a quarter inch thickness all over it.
And once again spray it with the water bottle periodically.

-------------------------------------------------------------
Final thoughts:

However thick u want it is up to you. I only did a few castings out of this mold. So i didnt make it too thick.

Also the type of silicone u wish to use is up to you. I prefered the Silver TUbes of caulking as pictured. U can experiment with whatever u like its up to you.

The molding process took about a week. I know its a long time and very repitituos. BUT when u compare the price differences there is no comparison. THis is the cheap poor mans way to go.

7-10 tubes of caulking costs about....28-40 bucks. While a gallon of rtv is like almost 100.00.

So if u want a cheap way to make a mold that u wont be mass-producing castings from. This is the way to go.

Enjoy!
MEanGene the Dancing Machine

 

[Blackhawk nl]

Hi Gene,

I love your tutorial. Maybe you can give me some advice. I used an oil based clay for my sculpt called Plastillina. I don't know if it contains sulphur and I don't want to try the hard way finding out if it does
I never heard of Krylon here in the Netherlands and I was wondering of you could shine a light on what kind of stuff it is. Or maybe you have another option for getting the mold done.

Thanks in advance.

Greetz,

Barry

 

[MEANGENE83]

Hey blackhawk, glad the tutorial proved useful.

Krylon clear coat is a Spray Can CLEAR COAT. IT is used to seal the clay oils/water/ whatever from getting into and or ruining ur silicone mold.

Plastilina i think has sulphur, even if it doesnt it is always a good idea to seal the sculpt with some sort of a spray on clear coat.

Any brand/kind will do. I have used a water based clear coat sealant on a sulphur clay sculpt before casting. Worked fine.

AND if you read the post made by PMANDER today in the trophy room(alphatech's thread) he mentions if you take ACYRLIC WATER BASED PAINTS and mix them into the silicone from the tubes. It makes them dry in 20 mins flat. No overnight waiting.

Hopethishelps
GENE

 

[hammernuts5150]

The silicone used in caulk is not subject to cure inhibition. Why? It is a condensation cure silicone. This means it cures by absorbing moisture from the air. This is why those thick sections take forever to cure and why the acrylic paint speeds the cure time. You can use glycerine or water, but the paint is good cause you can see how well it has mixed in.

Dan.

 

[weizie]

hey gene thanks for the huntorial im going to work with it this weekend. its highly appreciated.

~Chris

 

[MEANGENE83]

No problema amigo!

just post pics of how it goes and share your results.

AND PASS THE KNOWLEDGE on whenever ya can.
oh and drink milk and say your prayers!

 

[fantazar]

Hey guys.
I have sculpted the front and rear armor of the Groin from AVP (with a few slight mods) and was wondering what is the best way of molding it?
Should I use Latex or Silicone?
I was thinking of filling the cast with foam so it would bounce off your legs easily while walking.

Any suggestions appreciated

Thanks

 

[Maverick118]

For that area the end piece should be made from latex, not the mold the actual groin guard. Depending on what you've sculpted the piece out of you should make a plaster mold. Seeing as it's the long AVP type guard you should be able to lay this flat out on a piece of wood or thick card and make a box mold around it. Then all you need to do is mix a batch of plaster up and pour in. Wait until it sets then carefully remove the walls of the mold and pull your clay out of the mold. Then just wait a few days until the mold has dried out completely before doing a latex pull. Just pour it in the mold and sit back and wait anything from 40 minutes to a few hours depending on what climate you live in. The hotter the climate the quicker the Latex will cure. When you piece has gotten to the desired thickness just pout the excess latex into your container the latex came in and waut for the latex in the mold to dry somewhat. give it a light dusting of talcum powder and gently remove from the mold. The talc stops it from sticking together. Hang the piece up and let it dry thoroughly. Now once all that's done you can wash and then paint it. hope this helps a bit mate.

 

[fantazar]

Whoa....thanks for that Mav.

Although I had some ideas, I'm still new to this molding thing and your suggestions and knowledge are most welcome.

Is there a particular type of Latex I should use?