Make Your Own Silicone Mold From Caulking & Dish Soap!
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- čas přidán 27. 03. 2018
- The cheapest & easiest way to make your own silicone molds! I decided to put this method to the test and see just how much detail it can capture - be sure to watch 'til the end to see what works and what doesn't. Also check out Epbot.com if you 'd like to see clearer beauty shots of the finished resin casts.
Many thanks to Audrey Obscura on Instructables for her original tutorial, check that out here: www.instructables.com/id/World...
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DRIVE by Nicolai Heidlas Music / nicolai-heidlas Creative Commons - Attribution 3.0 Unported- CC BY 3.0 creativecommons.org/licenses/b... Music promoted by Audio Library • Video
Omg thing that I found that works is instead of pushing the object into the silicone, lay the object down, then push the silicone onto the object. This gives the final a smooth backing and keeps the thickness very close because it doesn’t “roll” over the back of the object. Plus you can put a little more pressure on the silicone and force more air out resulting in higher detail. Nice job! The owl was my favorite
Thanks that's really helpful tip.
I was going to say, lay it down too. I've made lots of moulds this way. I redo furniture and lots of the scrolls are either cracked or missing so I use the original to make copies. Waaaaay cheaper than buying ready made 👍
That only works if you have a flat back, though. The pins/brooches she moulded wouldn't work that way
Thank's Uke.!
@@poisonedflowers Just an idea: prior to casting non-flat-back'd items, mold an actual back onto the item to be molded(?)
Important! The soap you use must contain glycerine in order for it to catalyze the silicone. Lol I started with dish soap but ended up using my shampoo because it was the only soap in the house with glycerine.
Such a great video, i come back every now and then to refresh on this and it never fails
Excellent video. I've done set design work at a community college for degree credits, and there was nothing like this. It's a great way to borrow items, and create the props with realistic texture for the actors to use. I've known about these techniques, but only helped out with them on jobsites for construction, using the silicon to mold parts for all different kinds of construction or reconstruction. I've even seen it used to restore old detailed work, and been taught how.
When you are trying to get detail, the key point you have to remember is "consistent and constant weighted pressure". This is where dowels or something similar would come in handy with your coin or almost any mold.
Also, it's best if your molds are "Contained" or bounded by something with firm substance. The widest bottle cap or jar lid you can find would work. The reasoning is that you don't want the mold to get too soft around the object in some places, you want it to be firm and equally so, all over the entire mold surface. That way, when the object you're molding is placed within, the silicone gets compacted instead of spreading away, putting back pressure on the object and filling into the detail rather than spreading flat away from it. When you get a flat plastic piece the same size as the inner container, you can utilize that. By placing a weight on top of the center, you allow it to press the object into the mold when first making it. If you use clamps, it may be necessary to use four in direct cross, two exactly opposite one another, to keep the flat even. Again, this compresses the silicone, and pushes air bubbles around the detail out of the way. When you fill in the resin, you should also put the plastic over and put a small weight on top. This will maintain the firmness of the mold, and the resin will set with greater detail.
There are some other tricks that, when used together with the above, allow you to make a two-side recreation, using only a clamp to hold two sides together, allowing for the material to dry as two sided, with only a little excess in a few places. With little work, excess is removed, keeping the details.
If you cut a slice into the mold at the outer edge, with a ruler or something similar, and use the same implement on an opposite side, you can align a two sided mold later, making a two sided object with the sides aligned. To do this with many molds, you could use the same ruler or object for making the silicate molds, and the same lids, with a slice taken out. You can use similar lids, slightly cut away, but aligned the same way, for resin setting with single or double-side molds.
Great explanation
I love your silicone recipe for tinting and they came out pretty good over all. Thanks for sharing. New sub
Wow! Thank you!!! On a budget this is awesome for a project I have been pondering and trying to figure out how to do this without spending time looking and finding what I need... perfect!!!! I already have everything I need at home!! No more shopping online for the answer...I found it in this video!! Again, THANK YOU!
BEST video, and thank you for doing a complete video.
This is awesome thank you for this tutorial!!❤
That owl came out so great!
Thank you, I am definitely going to try this
Great job demonstrating
Cool experiment. Thanks for sharing
Oh Heck Yeah!!! Awesome video and thanks for sharing!! Subscriber from NW FL.
That owl pin is amazing.
One of the best vids on thus thanks
You xplain so very well
Thank you for this tutorial. I tried it and I don't think I kneaded it long enough as I put it onto some wax paper and it stuck to it. When it's ready to be put down for the mold have you found it to stick to your surface too? Thank you.
Great video!! Is it possible to make silicone castings instead of resin with silicone molds(this method)?
beautiful
Thanks for sharing
Ty for this video, but my mold was still sticky for days after I created it, and stick to the figures I used. Have u run into this problem? Th
Thank you so much
Nice video, I wish we could have seen u pour the resin or what ever it was you used into the molds. I tried this but its taking along time to dry.. Is it because I used tooo much soap?
guess this channel is dead? Yah mine never cured and was still sticky and gooey, it did in some places. I think it was too much soap.
This was so cool! What did you use to paint them in the end?
Awesome thanks
Hi, so I tried this and let the mold sit in my bathtub with the fan running to finish curing due to the amount of rain we've been getting. I let it stay in there for 1.5 days. The mold still stinks!? I've had to double bag it in a zip lock to keep it from making my house smell. Any suggestions?
Will this work when casting body parts? Can you put this on your skin and get it off?
can we re-use the silicon after using them as borders for coasters and tray
How long did you cure the silicone before putting the resin in?
Very nice, i like
If I was to use this technique and make a mold. Is able to be used to bake polymer clay?
Can I use laundry detergent soap instead
Hi I’d like to know i have my friend’s mould and I can’t ask her everytime to give that to me can i pour the caulk into the silicone mould and get the same out?
Can you actually use it like clay.. shape it and let it dry.. say for leaves or flower petals. Things where you might need a lot or several?
That's useful to know about caulking. I'll give that a whirl. Thanks for sharing.
For future reference: in order to get fine details in the centre of the star ornament, it would be best to glue the original (face up of course) to a smooth backboard. Mold the silicone into a ball with a slight peak. Press the peak into the deepest recess in the centre and then press the silicone ball over the whole, flattening it onto your pattern. This ensures that the recess is filled and the air is forced out (it was trapped air that prevented the silicone from making firm contact with the pattern). Peel the mold off when hardened. This will give the mold a clean flat edge, allowing for a neater casting.
There. I hope this tip will be as useful to you as your tip is to me. Thanks again.
Awesome! I'm a preschool teacher and my students LOVE painting plaster of Paris! I was having such a hard time finding appropriate molds...now I can just make my own! Thank you!
Have kids bring their favorite objects from home (more than one) then give them as a Valentine gift or Christmas ornament. Put a piece of a plastic straw in to keep a hole open for a cord, rope, chain or ribbon.
Just a note to clear something up for people. Acetic acid curing silicon (the type of silicon used here) does not get accelerated by dish soap. The soap does nothing other than stop it sticking to your hands.
The acetic acid in the silicon reacts with water to cure/set. If you read the tube you will see something along the lines of "cures with moisture from the air".
So your dish soap does not matter. What matters is mixing the silicon correctly to get the water into the silicon and trap it. The soap does not help to do this.
Problems you may run in to with this method.
1. You bought a silicon that does not have acetic acid in it. It is easy to figure out which ones do. Either it will say so on the tube, will read "cured by moisture..." or you will smell a harsh vinegar smell from it.
2. You did not mix in the water correctly which potentially trapped internal sections without any moisture to cure the silicon for larger chunks. Or you did not mix in enough to allow for fast curing.
Personally the better method is the corn starch method. Why?
1. it is more controlled and easier for a novice.
2. the corn starch adds volume to the silicon. If you silicon is far more expensive per gram than your corn starch then it makes sense for doing many molds.
3. it is easier and cleaner to work with since your hands don't get covered in silicon and you don't need gloves at any point. Adding the corn starch makes a more tough mold. You get slightly less spring to it (about 10% less spring). But the strength goes up (by a good 50-100% based on weight squish and pull tests, but varies based on how much corn starch you add). This is good for certain applications where you need a tougher rubber.
4. adding corn starch helps it to release easier from rough surface molds. For example a 3d printed mold can be hard to remove from something with the water only method. The cornstarch method helps with release when set.
5. It is easier to know when a corn starch and silicon mold is ready. It self releases from surfaces and sets uniformly.
6. The corn starch gives you the ability to make 100% opaque moldings. For example, if you had a plastic mold of something and you wanted it made of silicon and be opaque you could do it with corn starch.
7. I find you get greater mold resolution from the corn starch.
8. Corn starch silicon is easier to control the sizing, lip etc.
A great example of putting some of these benefits into place would be creating a silicon foot for a subwoofer. They are heavy so you need that extra strength. Otherwise you would end up with a much larger and slightly more ineffective at sound dampening silicon foot. You could also make it opaque to hide it or make it stand out. For example, a solid black or white foot. Both would be hard to do with the water method. Requiring a lot of ink which can be expensive (especially whitening ink).
I am sure I am forgetting or don't know some more benefit's. However I am sure that sums it up well.
Can you make a 2 part mold this way? For a cylindrical toy object. Perhaps using 2 tubes fo silcone for each mold part? Should I try this?
Ryan Spencer hi. Yes you could do that. How much silicon you would need is very specific to how large the cylindrical toy is however. Just remember a tube of silicon does go a long way. Especially since it increases in volume with the corn starch.
Also remember that the more corn starch you add the stiffer and harder to compress the mold will be. Now specifically the biggest decision/issue you are going to have is what type of filling methods you should use. There are quite a few ways. Some more suited to certain things than others. Parts that must be solid with no seam. Not even a slight seam. Then you will want to look up "block molds" on CZcams. You will find they use liquid silicon. But with a slightly smaller amount of corn flower it will be easy to mash it into whatever container you use. And I do suggest using a container. Something roughly the shape you are going for. Or if you can't do that. Just make sure the walls around what you are making a mold of, are really thick. 2-3cm or about an inch. At the least.
You need it thick enough to be able to hold the weight of the filling you are going to put in and also to be able to be demold without breaking. If you do go with the block mold then you need to make sure you add a spout to fill the mold.
Otherwise if a seam is not an issue then go with a 2 part mold or a half mold if you part if symmetrical. Look up punished props academy on CZcams. He does silicon molds very well. There is a Tested video on CZcams as well with Bill from punished props where they did a lightsaber. They used liquid silicon. But if you kind of use similar methodology by making a block and then squishing your part into it then that will work.
Really it depends on your model. Feel free to message me if you need some more help.
Martin B, well done. Thanks to your overly precise, lengthy & acurate comment I am forced to "like" this video. This, will enable me to find your comments & instructions again.
brr johnsonlol. no problem. If you need to know anything else just pop me a message. There is always something new to add. New techniques and such.
do you have a recipe for the cornstarch and silicon mould that you could share?
Cool tutorial, and I like the molds you and your husband painted! Can think of lots of things to make with the recipe, like molds for furniture, charms for journals, pens for gifts. Thanks so much for doing this!
Well that was fantastic, I never new that we could make your own molds with silicone, TFS, Cheers Anna.
I use the GE brand 100% waterproof all purpose clear silicone 1 caulk to make my molds - both soap and cornstarch methods, depending on the application. Recently i mixed in a few drops of glycerine with a little acrylic paint for glow in the dark and blacklight glow molds! I plan to try talcum powder instead of cornstarch - its chemical composition should react with acetic acid with h2o as a biproduct.. might make for an interesting race against the cure clock!
Here's some notes I've taken:
The retardant is the acetic acid in these 'condensation cure' type silicones - slows the cure, thins the caulk, vinegar smell during cure.
The soap is to wash away the retardant and make the silicone pliable, knead in water for quick cure.
Cornstarch/Glycerine also speed the cure by distributing moisture, however the smell is much worse if the retardant was not washed out, prior.
Glycerine adds elasticity, much faster cure. Cornstarch adds rigidity, next fastest cure. Soap adds pliability, lightens and allows for moisture incorporation.
Refrain from casting metal, oops, as the acetic acid will react with it - discoloring the mold, worsening the odor/fumes.
Refrain from using latex gloves, enamel paint, anything with sulphur - inhibits cure, stays sticky icky.
Now go, and become the mold making guru you were meant to be! 😂
*j.g i80
"Refrain from using latex gloves, enamel paint, anything with sulphur - inhibits cure, stays sticky icky." All of the molds i made left the resin pieces very sticky...Mess! what did i do wrong! the pieces i used was metal!
Super informative, great visual tutorial, and I'm really glad you showed what the end results could look like when detailed. A lot of the time that crucial step is left out and leaves the tutorial feeling unfinished. Great Job!
I love the results of the coloring! The possibilities are endless.
This tutorial is awesome! I do body casting for fun and profit. All my pieces are one of a kind, but making a mold this way is SO much easier than the moldmaking materials that are sold. I've GOT to play with this!
Becky Jamin I'm hoping to make a mold that can withstand up to 520 degrees to make a ring
This was one of the best step by step tutorials I've ever watched. The results were very impressive👍❤️
I'm thinking I can duplicate missing hardware off antique dresser I've had since childhood to help restore it. I'm going to try it. thanks for video. cool!
Yes, this should work! I've done exactly that to repair a broken antique lamp piece, though I used a store-bought silicone putty at the time. You can see those results here on the blog, plus I share some tips on how to attach it to metal and repair the seams, if you have any: www.epbot.com/2017/03/molding-casting-to-repair-worlds.html
I was thinking the same thing. We have a Martha Washington sewing table that is missing a drawer knob. I was going to mix sawdust with glue and put it into a mold.
Holy crap girl. That is unbelievable and sooo simple and do-able. So quick for that great of results.
I can't wait to try this...I do a wide variety and can't find molds of certain things so I have a starting point. Thank you for the great video.
Thank you for sharing and showing your finished projects.
I love that you can make your own silicon moulds. Thanks for sharing this great vid.
Way cool, never saw this method before.... have seen the protoputty (similar idea silicon and corn starch).
Have some do-dads I want moulds of for other props. Have to try this method as well.... always willing to try a new way as it might suit a specific need :)
Instead of pressing the moulding flat, make a dome... So when you press down - Like with the snowflake - the star in the middle hits the mould first and then you press it down to create the mould ;)
great tip thank you
That's what I was going to say. The star in the middle of the snowflake clearly got messed up by trapped air. This was also the case for the coin, and the lettering on the Hufflepuff pin.
Great tip! ❤️
@Figueroa Rury Laquinta uncultured swine
Thanks for showing this. I have been trying to figure out a way to do a mold for a replacement part on an old doll. I'm going to give this a shot. Thanks again
Great video. You are really great at giving the viewer good clear instructions. I hope you don't mind me giving you a little advice from my own experiences with molding. I do believe though that with more time and practice, you can get more details from what you are taking molds of. I found that laying flat backed on a smooth surface and then gently pressing the silicone onto the top of the item to be molded helps to get a better-detailed mold and press it down around the edges so you get a nice smooth and flat top to the edges of the item being molded. Then use something flat to press down from the top of the silicone, to form a flat bottom to the mold. It also helps if you can try and make sure that the surface of the silicone that will be making contact with the item is as smooth as possible too so you're not introducing extra textures that shouldn't be there. You could also place the item into something like a cookie cutter and do the same as I mentioned above, inside the cookie cutter to get a more uniformed shape to the edge of the mold. Any, I really hope this is of use for either yourself or any of your viewers. All the best, Diane xx
Oooh, great advice! Will definitely keep these in mind for next time, thanks.
great advice from both of you! Thank you
balacollie ⬅️ I was wondering if anyone was going to address this "reverse" process of pressing the media onto the mold object & using a barrier ring container for compressing & leveling the mold itself for greater detail & uniformity. The next step is making mold-halves for 3-D objects that can be banded together. Thank you for bringing this up! Greatly appreciated!
I would really like to know if there is heat generation during curing, as I would like to make 4" x 1-1/2" cylinder candles... Suggestions?
The advantage of working upside down is also the top of the mold is flat. Particularly useful when filling the mold with plaster of paris and striking the filling off to produce flat backed roses for repeat use along a cornice, since they need to all be exactly the same depth.
This is very cool. I work with polymer clay and I'm seeing all kinds of possibilities!!!! Thank you.
Well Done! I feel like I could do this now.
The most beneficial & informative video I've seen on making molds!
Oh man, I'm so excited to try this for my mini brick molds! 😄
What a fantastic idea. I've been buying silicon moulds and i use uv resin. Using your idea we can make copies of anything. Thanks for the great video
I’ve watched a ton of videos trying to decide if I wanted to try the dishwashing detergent with silicone or the cornstarch method. Your tutorial is by FAR the best video of them all.. Definitely the most helpful, and you sold me! I have been sitting here for a week with all the ingredients trying to decide. I wish I had watched your video to begin with. Thank you so much! I am subscribing to your channel now. 😘
Miranda, me too. I've watched videos on both methods and have all of the ingredients trying to decide. I'm going with the cornstarch method because someone stated above that it is a little more rigid than the soap version. I will be making texture plates for polymer clay, so the silicone "mold" will have to be flat and relatively thin. BTW, did you see the video with the cute hunting/para-military dude doing this with silicone and corn starch?
Wow! This is a great tutorial! I can't tell you how excited I was to learn how to do this -and, I don't even do this kind of stuff! A++ from me! 👍👍👍
Thanks for demonstrating this! I needed a molding material to recreate a wood detail that is missing from an old piece of furniture. Just what I needed!
I am doing exactly the same!
Ditto! Except it’s to repair a buffet leg that the dog chewed on!
Great video! Thanks for all the info. I will definitely be trying this out myself.
This is awesome, I'm keeping this trick in mind for upcoming projects!
This is super! Another cool thing to do with my art class!
You saved me like a grip of money
Good job. I will try making a mold of my candles.
Thank you for that, very nicely explained, l bought the silicone today & tried it out, l found it very easy, inexpensive & had good results, thanks again for sharing your experience. 👍
Hello...thanks so much for making this video. I was always trying to find a way to add 3D "ephemora" to my art projects...and this has solved the issue. I am making an abstract painting for a mechanic friend and was able to mold some bolt heads and create some 3D bolts to add to my project! Thanks again. Ignore the haters. They exist, but can never keep an artist down. We already have beaten so many odds just to make art, and sell art, and be recognized as artists, that no hater can get us get the best of us! Good luck to you and your lovely assistant.
Great video. Thanks for taking the time to share.
The best video on making molds,can't wait to make them to be use on my cake decorations. Thank you so much.
Very nice video, and I learned something unusual today, many thanks! The fact that people are writing passionate dissertations on the properties of silicon shows how much interest your video has generated. Well done! Very nice work. Some great tips from others below too. What a great thing to pool our knowledge like this. But it all started with your video!
Thank you for this video. I loved it, it was fun to watch. Omg, molds are sooo expensive. Thanks.
I use silicone nearly every day. I would never have thought of doing that with it. Try wax polishing the objects before putting them in the silicone mould. The better the polished shine the better the copy is. It's the wax componds in soap that stops it sticking. It releases from the mould easier with out as much damage to the fine detail. Cool video. Thank you.
What kind of wax?
Thank you. This video showed me what I wanted and more! Very Good job!
I was going to make a silicone mold of a wagon wheel. I'm glad I found this video because it will make the job a whole lot easier.
Those came out great, I can hardly wait to make some molds myself.
THIS IS SO COOL! The owl is my favorite!! Great job with the video.
Water is actually the catalyst for silicon. I think the soap is a lubricant. If you want your mold more firm add corn starch.
can the molds be heated for sculpy?
I am impressed!
Pretty sweet how well that worked!!
Thank you for a very detailed and informative video! Well done 😊
Thank you. Very easy to follow now I have to give it a try.
Excelant video. I am definately going to try this. Have you ever tried making a mold using the caulk mixed with corn starch ? You just incorperate as much corn starch in with the silicon as possible and eventually you end up with a mixture about the cinsistancy of silly putty that you can pick up with your hands to work with.
These are quite impressive.... the ones that didn’t come out ‘so great’, just appear to be aged, more ‘antique-y’ lol.... I have that exact same owl head, it came off of and old keychain... this is so do-able and your video is very good, the tone of effort shows. Can’t wait to check out some additional videos of yours. Thank you for sharing this with us.. take care.
Phenomenal guide! Thank you very much.
Thanks for sharing. I've learned something new.
Thank you for taking the time to make your video . It was very informative and creative . I definitely want to try that in the future. It's a slow wet day on the Mississippi gulf coast that's how I found your video thanks again,😀
Very nice clearly explained video with a pretty cool trick with silicone, many thanks just what I was looking for, cheers Ross
Great video! Thank you. Can’t wait to give it a try!!!
I just wanna say,, great demo,, definitely gonna try this out.
I've cast with smooth on before,, mostly two part molds. I wanted to touch on that because the two part mold process can be used on a one surface piece.
So,, if you revisit this like the seahorse or hufflepuff pin you could have clay be your base,, mush the back of the pin into the clay and make it flush then place your silicone over it yielding cleaner results.
Awesome!! Gonna try this!
Ive done some 2 part mold making using the expensive silicone supplies and this concept caught my eye. I believe your results, which were not bad at all, could be improved by changing your application technique. With one sided items like you are experimenting with you compromise the level of detail by pressing the item into the mold media and making those small adjustments to level or further embed the item.
Try mounting the item on something non stick and pressing the mold media over/down onto the part. That way you never mash the part in too deep nor do you make thicker parts than wanted because you can never go too deep. The owl pin would have retained the open holes in the background doing things this way.
Not a bad quick alternative to the real stuff!
Omg so amazing!! Going to try this!
Excellent tutorial, thanks very much! I’ve been spending ridiculous amounts on silicone molds and it has cost me a fortune. I know what I’ll be doing now! How long do you knead the silicone for, and what temperature does the water have to be? Cheers, Sean
Caulking guns have a metal wire on them that you can fold out and use to perforate the foil seal inside a tube of caulk, that way you don't get your screwdriver end coated in caulk.
thank you for a great video
Nicely done.
perfect. thanks. Ive used commercial mold material but since I don't qualify at professional volume for discounts, it becomes very expensive. This is a great answer to my needs! As a contractor I have very good pricing on silicone caulk. In fact I routinely use a product I can't wait to try. I will email epbot the results of my trials with it.
I’ve not seen the soap and water method before. Thanks for that. I’ve used the Grant Thompson (King of Random) method with cornstarch and food coloring. Works well.
I love that owl it was amazing.