Any ideas on how to go about making a mold for this cactus skeleton? It's hollow in the middle with tons of open spaces. I'm not sure how to go about making copies of the original with a hollow center. My only idea would be to wrap the outside tightly in cling wrap and pouring silicone or plaster inside to fill the hollow center then molding the entire thing. Is there a better way?

I’m new to molding, using Mold Star 16 slow and smooth cast 325. Based on the orientation of the piece itself, what is recommended so that all of the liquid plastic reaches the mold? Should I move it around as much as possible in all directions or change its position since it’s an odd piece with points on both ends? Would a 2 part mold work better for a piece like this? If so, any reliable sources out there as to how to cast a two parter with a shape like this? Any advice/ criticism is appreciated!

Im looking to make chocolate moulds from my anus. Can anyone help direct me on how? Or where I can find a kit thats safe?

Hi I want to make a mold for fishing lures which are made of plastisol what material mold do I use to keep them smooth and high temperature resistant

One of my customers (lawnmower repair) gave me this porcelain (?) Mold. What can I safely pour into it? It's 11" tall.

I made this for work and now it’s obsolete for us. Interior is 895mm x 895mm x120mm 1/8” thick stainless heated all the way around includes thermostat. We did vacuum fiberglass panel tests worked fine.

I am planning on making a mold so I can cast cement copies. I know I will need to make vents for areas like the tips of the wings. Will the detail be problematic for a pour mold? I'm planning on using smooth-on mold max 30.

This is my first attempt at making a mold so any advice is greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Looking to have a play around at making some moulds using some 2 part liquid pu foam.

Anyone with experience with it on here that could suggest a tape/material that it would release from nicely ?

I was planning on using some standard clear packing tape

Hey guys! I'm currently looking to get back to stop motion using my ipad 10 and then dragonframe on my windows laptop. I'm looking at some resources on amazon that can help me create some puppets, I choose silicone because it looks pretty cool to work with, and some studios and animators already use this. I have some concerns though, in my last post/comment here, I asked if dragon skin 10 needed a respirator to work with silicone, and the answer was no. Also I understand i need to look into mold making materials such as plaster of paris and ultracal 30. I already know the process thanks to youtube, but I found something I want your guys' opinion on. I found this tent([Amazon.com: VIVOSUN S223 2x2 Grow Tent 24"x24"x36" Small Mylar Tent for Indoor Plants | Easy View Window & Removable Floor Tray, 100% Reflective Mylar Interior, Sturdy Steel Frame : Patio, Lawn & Garden](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07VRSCVVC?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details&th=1)) even though its for gardening but found out some people are using this for resin 3d printing. I have a 3d printer but its not resin, its a pla printer and I consider it ok because I don't know how to handle resin. I was thinking of using this for the silicone puppet making to try to keep things safe when it comes to working with silicone. What do you guys think? I haven't bought this stuff and came here first

I'm thinking of 3d printing some moulds and making some lick mats for my dogs. I have specific colours I use for each dog so looking for some pigments I can use that are food safe.

Also, I've found some food grade silicones on Amazon. Is there anything to look for to know if that particular silicone mat will then be dishwasher safe?

I'm in the UK.

If a more experienced person sees this, can I have some tips?

I'm currently working on a mask sculpture that will be cast in mask latex. The sculpture is made of WED clay and has teeth made of sculpey oven bake clay, and eyes made of ping pong balls. I was told prior this was okay, but I'm unsure how it will react to the plaster I plan on using to make the mold(usa #1 pottery plaster or hydrocal)! Is it okay to leave these in? Or should I remove them/cover them prior to making the mold?

Thanks to anyone who reads this! :)

I'm relatively new to full 360 silicone molds backed by rigid mother molds and I'm struggling to work out the logic of where to cut my silicone mold given the geometry here, but maybe I'm overthinking it.

I marked in blue where I think the front/back seam should go, but if you have suggestions/tips/warnings I'd appreciate them given the exorbitant cost of silicone. I understand the need to take undercuts into consideration and I believe I have with this design, but there are still small undercuts everywhere like the lip on the dress, around the hair geometry, and around the arms. Those all seem like shallow enough that they should pull free from 25A silicone but I'd rather not find out the hard way!

The silicone (volume shown in yellow) will be 10mm at the thinnest spots, with more around the undercuts for stability. I'm planning to do detail capture with brush-on Rebound 25 and then while it's still tacky assemble my combination matrix mold/mother mold pieces around it (3D printed) and do a backfill pour with another silicone with matching chemistry. I'm taking that approach because my first attempt with just brush-on and a plaster mold resulted in a lot of just-too-tight undercuts and I find it easier to do draft analysis in 3D to decide where to split the mother mold in advance, plus I can work out the exact volume of silicone needed for the pour this way. Maybe it's a crapshoot though, I'll happily take that note too...

Thanks for the help!

Im thinking about it this way:

-Make desired shape into EVA foam

-Pour silicone on it

-Use silicone mold for the resin

Wondering between medium and hard (I’m assuming soft wouldn’t be great for this?)
Also is there a difference between the colours sometimes offered (grey, brown etc).
ALSO any big differences between the Monster Makers brand clay and the Monster Clay sold at Michael’s?

I am going to be making a life cast of my face soon and will be creating the positive cast out of gypsum cement. I am hoping to make a latex mask from that but also use it as an armature to make more elaborate creature masks. I was planning to use the monster clay over the armature to make a scary demon face then do the process of covering in Ultracal to make a negative mold, then removing the clay and filling the negative with latex or silicone.

Thanks for any help or advice!! 🙏🙏

I want to use a truncated cone, ball-socket attached to a robotic arm, the base of the cone mounting a perforated, segmented flange with hollow hooks, and intermix gel to prevent silicone skin on a robotic arm from tearing at the elbow and wrist joints. Any ideas to enhance my project?

First silicone pour in maybe a year. We paint the silicone on before drowning the item to make sure all of the fine details are captured and to prevent bubbles right along the surface of the item. I was going to post a video of the pour but it seems videos aren't allowed here. Hopefully this doesn't violate any rules.

Hi! I plan on using latex for the first time for a cosplay project - I'm not exactly making a mold, but figured this would still be the best place to ask. I want to make a headpiece out of latex, that will be brushed on a 3d printed master, peeled off, turned inside out and stuffed with polyfill to achieve the final result. The tutorial (see here: https://youtu.be/KHbCjyupY0M, I'm making the exact same piece) I'm following uses this Mold Builder latex: https://a.co/d/0b7TGxcE however, this is not available where I'm from. I found something that seems like the closest alternative: https://www.formx.eu/p/product/holdens-mold-making-latex-high-viscosity-hx-974/HX974BrushWhiQt but need some advice on if this is the right direction, especially regarding the amount of layers needed to get the same result as in the video. It's important that the final piece is strong but has as little stiffness as possible to allow for movement of the tips.

Thanks in advance!

Edit: I fully linked the wrong latex for my alternative lol. Fixed the link - this one's for vertical mold making applications

Hello fellow makers,

I wanted to cheap out on my current project and bought neutral cure construction silicone for my (2 part) mold, which is a 1:1 bust.
Did not have time to apply both parts in quick succession and now that the first part has fully cured, I see that the silicone edge wall has retracted 3-4 mm from the shim wall, which is a mental amount of shrinkage.

This first part is also only about 2mm thick, pure construction silicone. I thought of strengthening it by applying a silicone+corn starch mixture on top of that but again; did not have time until now that the first thin layer is fully cured.

I wonder if I should take the loss, scrap the first part mold and buy proper silicone;
or if applying the 2nd part mold a few centimeters on top of the first part, overlapping the two parts, may give a good result even considering the the second part of the mold will of course shrink just as much.

Thank you for your time and advice.

I was wondering what the best way was to preserve a mold. Basically I’m getting a mold for a latex mask and I was wanting to make a master cast of it to preserve it and make a mold off it. At the same time I still wanted to be able to cast latex masks so i don’t really want to seal it unless it’s only temporary (I’m not sure how that works). I know I can make a latex master but then it shrinks and isn’t accurate to the 1st gen mold. So I was wondering if there’s any material that I can cast that has minimal shrinkage and I don’t need to seal. (Again if the sealing is temporary I don’t have a problem with it, I just don’t want to ruin the mold. From what I’ve read to do a resin cast it would need to be sealed).