Disclaimer: I AM NOT A PROFESSIONAL MOLD MAKER! So my methods are probably NOT the right way or even the best way to do things- it just works for me :)

I learned how to make molds from trial and error, even though I followed tutorials found online. Its rather expensive to mess up too. But thankfully you can cut up bad molds (as long as they dont have mold release on them) and use them in your newer molds.

Tips:

• Silicone sticks to nothing but itself. So if you are doing a 2+ part mold you NEED some sort of Mold release! 
• Silicone is a little more forgiving when it comes to ratio then Resin. However its best just to do the right ratio :)
• Hot Glue is your friend when making mold boxes. Don't be stingy!
• Try to learn what Shore Hardness, Tear Strength, and the difference between Tin cure and Platinum cure is if you are deciding to really get into mold making. It will help you a lot in the long run!
• Make sure any clay you are using to build up your molds DOES NOT contain Sulfur. Cheaper examples of this are Sculpey's EZ Shape modeling clay. 
• When you are mold making you kinda have to think in a backwards sort of manner since you are filling in the space around the object you are replicating.

 First you need to build up a base for your clay. Since I add the eyes from the back the heads need to be a 2 part mold. Make sure there are no spaces where the silicone can leak in!



These will be make into a Block Mold. Block molds are where its a 1 part mold and you CUT the piece out, making a seamline down the side. So I just used hotglue to glue these to the bottom of the cups, no clay needed. So these are pretty much ready for pouring silicone!

However the heads need mold boxes. For the kitten I was lucky enough a kleenex box was the perfect size. I just tore the sides apart so I can glue them the opposite way (makes it less likely for a leak!)

Now for the cat head. The materials I used were CardBoard, and hotglue. Looottsss of hotglue. SO first I drew down the base the head will be on. Then I measured how high the head sat (WITH the clay) and added about an inch. You want plenty of mold space ontop (but not too much to where you are wasting it!) I cut out panels that I will glue together. Some areas I should've just cut as one piece but of course its too late now lol. At this point use some hot glue (theres a theme appearing I think) and add some to the bottom of the piece and glue it to the cardboard. Then blend the clay to the board so no silicone leaks underneath.

Then comes the fun part. Heat up your glue gun and get out your bags of hot glue. start by gluing the bottoms, making sure theres no spacing. Then start gluing the sides together. Use lotsa hot glue. Its NOT about making them connect, Its about making sure there are NO holes for the silicone to leak through!!
Ta Dah! We now have our mold box! (you can see what I have left now of my glue sticks >>_>>) I also find using those replacement erasers that go ontop of pencils a lot nicer to use to spread hotglue then using your finger. No burnt fingers!










These are my molds! All 9 Of them! The two colorful ones in the middle are the eyes that I will be making :) I used tinfoil as the mold box which I will add the link to the tutorial at the end :)

Ok so the stirring and pouring part is really tedious and scary (for me lol) so I didnt take in between pictures. This whole set took 5 liters of silicone. Hopefully you're not as messy as me lol.

The only leak I had was on the big one (OF COURSE) but they were small and only leaked a little bit. If you find yourself with a stupidly big leak, use your clay and try to dam that sucker up. It will be messy, but its better then wasting a lot of silicone. Keep an eye on it too!



OH THE HORROR! My poor lil mold box is all dead and crippled. Oh well it was for a good cause!

Now onto the 2nd part! DO NOT REMOVE THE ORIGINAL INSIDE THE MOLD! Why? Because when you pour the silicone the first time it almost makes a SEAL around your piece- and when you remove it it breaks that seal making the 2nd part of the silicone able to seep between the two. Which is bad. So don't.
I use Vaseline since my mold release is empty (why didn't I just throw it away? bah.) When using vaseline don't glob it on. spread it evenly, and make sure you cover any silicone part showing! I even cover the original just because I can. If you dont use mold release you will have to cut it out and it just makes extra work :/

So I did a little experiment with this. I used the cured mold leftover from my first pour, rolled it up, rubber banned it, and stuck it in the middle of my 2nd pour to act like a handle. The sticks were only to keep it in place and make sure it stays put. I also covered it in silicone to adhere it better to the 2nd pour.








So now for a cup of tea while you wait however many hours your manufacturer says to wait for it to cure :) (mine was six)


After its cured you're done!! Now its time to pour a junk cast (which cleans out your mold and lets you know if you need to add pour spouts or air vents)

Notes on this set:
The big head had some issues getting it out. So I had to cut vertical lines around it so I can get it out safely. I cut my vents out from the 2nd part of the mold. The others did not need any of this done.


The silicone I used was: Mold Star 30
For junk casting I used: Smooth Cast 305

Labels: Tutorial, wip

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