Moulding a clay model in latex, any tips? any help would be really apreciated.

cowleyduck

New Member
howdy gang.

I've been reading around here and you all seem soooo nice and as a newbie I wondered if you could help me out a bit.

I've been modelling in clay for quite some time and wanted to make one of my creations in resin.

Anyone with any tips on taking a clay model and making a latex mould. I've read a lot of the tutorials... thanks to the nice peeps that made them.

but from your experience was there one tip you could give me that when you did your first few trials you thought.

"Doh! I wish someone had told me that!"

Thanks soooo much

Duckie :)
 
Patience! Working with latex is a very arduous process. You might want to consider building a hotbox (foil lined box with a lightbulb/heating pad/etc) to help speed layer cure times. Also, when you think you've got the wall thickness you want, add another 5 layers. I've never made a latex mold that was exactly the thickness I wanted.
 
Patience! Working with latex is a very arduous process. You might want to consider building a hotbox (foil lined box with a lightbulb/heating pad/etc) to help speed layer cure times. Also, when you think you've got the wall thickness you want, add another 5 layers. I've never made a latex mold that was exactly the thickness I wanted.
Thx Yodajammies I was thinking of using my kiln set on its lowest setting 60c its supposed to be for setting plaster of paris, do you think that might help?
 
You're committed to latex? May I suggest a silicone instead? I use Smooth-on products, simply because that's what's available near me, and I find them very consistent in results.

My first cast was of an Irwin Allen monster from Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea that I did in clay and let dry (the seaweed creature, currently holding up one of my husband's vintage Seaview models) and I found Rebound to be easy to work with (1:1 by volume), short drying time and easy to build up to the thickness I needed. It was a glove mould, with some pretty fierce undercuts and a three part plaster mother, but it pulled over just fine. My first Jumper figure was moulded in Rebound in two parts, and the mould - five years old now, with 26 pulls - is just now beginning to show it's age.

My mum used latex for glove moulds, mind you, and worked in a kitchen heated by an open oven, so you don't need to go TOO high tech. Mind you, I recall some swear words and a couple trashed moulds... ;)
 
I use a hair dryer between layers to set the latex. Be carefull not to melt your clay master though!

Personally, I'd drop latex and use smooth-on, that's what I ended up doing when I found the limitations of latex.
 
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