Jump to content

Home Depot Tubes of Silicone for Molding - budget mold making.


MeanGene

Recommended Posts

Way back in 2000-2001 I sculpted my first Bio helmet.

Humble beginnings. 🙂

We are start somewhere and I wanted to show my embarrassingly amateurish sculpture.

Was sculpted over a home depot spray foam base.
Used Roma Plastilina Clay.

The basic idea was a segmented armor helmet that had a "samurai" vibe to it.
I ended up getting silly with the paint. Blue and lots of dots.

The reason I am putting it here is that the helmet was molded using Silicone Caulking tubes.
They are cheap, readily available and can render a quick helmet. A good entry level practive project before you graduate to expensive silicones.

The idea being. Make all your mistakes and learn on cheap materials. 
Lessens the sting of failure.

My room was  god damn mess.

large.Image041.jpg.6b0d8afc898f8a86d2504277752d5237.jpglarge.Image042.jpg.c7984f8446651b7b35d9c3377f439864.jpglarge.Image045.jpg.74cb21dd137e585f509868128f654b22.jpglarge.Image049.jpg.985828c8ebf17f51ef5e53c89821781f.jpglarge.Image050.jpg.dd54268e3b9a2067f5ec904b280e8d98.jpg

 

Probably used 5 tubes by the end of this.
I remember hearing from Pete Mander that you can mix acrylic paint into the silicone.
Reason being: This type of silicone dries by reacting with water vapor in the air. So if you introduce water it dries faster.
I did not use that trick, but the trick is useful. If you build up too many layers to fast the silicone may remain uncured underneath.
Must build up layers slowly letting each dry.

large.mold7.jpg.08432fcf7853d987744723d3070432b1.jpglarge.mold1.jpg.6b986bf143562d0f73116e937e99107a.jpglarge.mold2.jpg.d0f3848201e014241e3e6c40dc9451b5.jpglarge.mold6.jpg.5ffa1531d380db02094f9f4c7f5a5fe0.jpglarge.sambio1.jpg.4db0fa30396c8422e6ea0839d6b59cd7.jpglarge.sambio2.jpg.b25e846332b2333834feb5f20c42e40e.jpglarge.sambio5.jpg.28f50b654c2523513eff47734102ff25.jpglarge.sambio4.jpg.ccca6025c6b9ecb22ff64de6eab99924.jpg

 

 

Blue paint works I guess???
Got some silver metal scratches.
The white dots were meant to be a tribal - stitching effect.
 

large.paintbio1.jpg.7bfc0b30e34d097698ea3cc75dcd5554.jpglarge.paintbio2.jpg.3e571e0284dc068ceef75f736138aab7.jpglarge.paintbio3.jpg.4501b6a1cd2c5e31f89537c44e648120.jpglarge.paintbio4.jpg.8fb739399ef21c40fc85796c3e66da9e.jpglarge.paintbio5.jpg.da9c1ec8e9129dd6e1b6731124e76ee2.jpglarge.paintbio6.jpg.5f86e338c7912bb11a2decf3225ffa71.jpg

 

Thanks for checking it out. Post your experiences and results below.

  • Like 5
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • MeanGene changed the title to Home Depot Tubes of Silicone for Molding - budget mold making.

Here is some helpful tips from Pete Mander on the old hunter's lair.

I use the same deal with the paint as chuck mentioned,,,Ive mixed an entire tube in one shot and it will cure in about 15-20 minutes,,only issue to using this stuff is its tricky to get in any magor undercuts and sometimes get airbubbles,,but the magor of them all is the silicone shrinks over time,,give a year you will notice the difference.

most of the time i use this fro basic molds say if I wanted to sculpt something do a cast and sand and or change things later get it perfect then mold with gI 1000 or moldmax 30

The bios I did for seed are still off the same silicone and its been about 3 years now? and the molds still hold up, just abit smaller then when I first cast them..,again its all in the undercuts and how you look after the material..

the stuff smells real bad too.. Do not do this inside.

The mix for silicone and paint is identical to automotive bondo, the more paint you add the quicker it sets,,its helps too to change the color of paint when layering just to see where your aplying,, the mothermolds i d this the same as chuck also..

i just wish there was a way to thin it out,,tried a few things including astone and nothing seems to do it..

Pete

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 year later...

It's the glycerin in the acrylic paint that attracts water so in turn oxygen to react with the silicone. If you use too much it makes it not stick anymore.  On the subject of adding paint to ge1 100% silicone caulk, you can use a very little spray paint without changing the curing or sticking properties like I did with red to pat down my skull and spine made out of a funnel (beer bong) for fresh blood. Another trick to make molds cheaply is use a small kit of an expensive silicone for your beauty coat and second coat. Let your completely. Then add both layers with ge1 at no thicker than a quarter inch per coat. Let each coat completely cure a day or two before putting a new one.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, Turukeya said:

It's the glycerin in the acrylic paint that attracts water so in turn oxygen to react with the silicone. If you use too much it makes it not stick anymore.  On the subject of adding paint to ge1 100% silicone caulk, you can use a very little spray paint without changing the curing or sticking properties like I did with red to pat down my skull and spine made out of a funnel (beer bong) for fresh blood. Another trick to make molds cheaply is use a small kit of an expensive silicone for your beauty coat and second coat. Let your completely. Then add both layers with ge1 at no thicker than a quarter inch per coat. Let each coat completely cure a day or two before putting a new one.

Thanks for the tips.

Are you saying that a product like smooth on silicone can be coated with tube silicone? How well do they bond?

I would assume they are different chemical mixtures and may not bond well?

Any chance you have pictures of these processes?

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't have pics but have done it.

Here's some useful rules:

Platinum rarely sticks to anything other than partially cured or fresh platinum.

Tin sticks to pretty much any silicone and can do so in deep pieces.

Acetoxy without added glycerine sticks to nearly anything especially other silicones but not to urethane.

Knowing that here are some frugal options.

1. Beauty coats with full coverage in platinum or tin wherever appropriate then add 1/4“ of pure acetoxy like ge1 100% per day or 2 days til desired thickness.  No glycerine so no affect on bonding.

2. Beauty coats in platinum or tin in a box. Let fully cure.  then pour in some tin cure and carefully push in cured chunks of acetoxy as backfill for a block mold.  The key is let each type cure before switching and never go back to platinum once the other types are used.

I don't have any molds planned soon but if anyone has the stuff, I have something for you to try on small scale.  Squeeze strips of ge1 on wax paper and cure.  Coat a small item in platinum and cure fully.  Build a small box, fill part way with mixed tin cure and backfill your acetoxy strips.  The fun part will be dissecting the mold to see everything bonded well.  Always add backfill by hand rather than pouring on top to minimize air entrapment.  Sorry no pics.

Ohhhh.... One more thing.

If you mix half of one of the 50cent acrylic bottles well into 10 oz of pure acetoxy it doesn't stick as well anymore but you have to mix well for that.  I've coated a skull with red.  One done with acrylic peels off.  One done with spray paint in the silicone became permanent.

This was once s beer bong and hard foam insulation.received_3514994081877394.thumb.jpeg.a1bc56f822b470ea8f278f3ee92cce0e.jpeg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...