Mould Making?

[Ssthisto]

I’m starting to think about trying to make a sculpture or two that can be moulded and cast, and I’ve just got some questions about the way that Windstone moulds are made.

I’d been planning on doing sculpey originals, and either cast-resin or cast plaster/hydrostone finished pieces. I know that the plaster, due to its weight, does limit the shapes that one can make – thin and fragile things, for example, being a bit indicated against. This is sort of making me lean towards resin, on the basis that I could do the whippy tail that’s in my mind’s eye… but then, I really do prefer working with porous materials like clay and plaster, and the smell of resin makes me -really- ill. Can plaster be embedded with, say, a sturdy wire frame that would add strength to any whippy parts? My mental image does NOT require that the whippy bits be able to support any real weight other than their own – the piece’s weight will be supported in other ways.

Also, are the Windstone moulds generally one piece, two-piece or more? I’ve never noticed a seam line on any of the pieces I’ve got, but that could just be because someone is doing a darn good job of cleaning ’em up! If they’re one piece, what sort of mould material is used? I tried doing latex once, and that was about as successful as a chocolate teapot; since then I’ve discovered I have a pretty impressive latex allergy. Is there a flexible, reasonable alternative that’s not going to make the mouldmaker swell up like a balloon?

I’m also considering the possibility that the pieces I have in mind might have to be cast in several parts… particularly to avoid major undercuts if I do, say, wide spread wings. If this is the case, how does one go about sticking together cast plaster?

I am SUCH a nosy beast, and if I could afford the trip to California JUST to have a nosey around the factory, I would love to do so… but that’s an awfully long time on a plane!

[Ssthisto]

[Jodi]

I know my husband uses Hydrostone on the Fairy Fossils he makes, but they’re plaques, so I don’t know how it would work as a statue.

I think he uses latex mould compound for his moulds, so I can’t help you there.

Edit: oops. He uses the silicone mould compound too, not latex like I originally said. Better not get advice from me. 🙂

[Akeyla]

Ssthisto wrote:

I’m starting to think about trying to make a sculpture or two that can be moulded and cast, and I’ve just got some questions about the way that Windstone moulds are made.

I’d been planning on doing sculpey originals, and either cast-resin or cast plaster/hydrostone finished pieces. I know that the plaster, due to its weight, does limit the shapes that one can make – thin and fragile things, for example, being a bit indicated against. This is sort of making me lean towards resin, on the basis that I could do the whippy tail that’s in my mind’s eye… but then, I really do prefer working with porous materials like clay and plaster, and the smell of resin makes me -really- ill. Can plaster be embedded with, say, a sturdy wire frame that would add strength to any whippy parts? My mental image does NOT require that the whippy bits be able to support any real weight other than their own – the piece’s weight will be supported in other ways.

Also, are the Windstone moulds generally one piece, two-piece or more? I’ve never noticed a seam line on any of the pieces I’ve got, but that could just be because someone is doing a darn good job of cleaning ’em up! If they’re one piece, what sort of mould material is used? I tried doing latex once, and that was about as successful as a chocolate teapot; since then I’ve discovered I have a pretty impressive latex allergy. Is there a flexible, reasonable alternative that’s not going to make the mouldmaker swell up like a balloon?

I’m also considering the possibility that the pieces I have in mind might have to be cast in several parts… particularly to avoid major undercuts if I do, say, wide spread wings. If this is the case, how does one go about sticking together cast plaster?

I am SUCH a nosy beast, and if I could afford the trip to California JUST to have a nosey around the factory, I would love to do so… but that’s an awfully long time on a plane!
okay, I am not experienced, but here’s some suggestions:

I’ve made casts with inserted wire, its doable if you support the main wire with smaller wires in the mold to prevent it touch the mold side (wich would let the wire protrude).
I dont know about sticking plaster, we did that too but we’re talking clutzenstein works(very simple bulky form) here, I highly doubt it beeing recommendable for something as wings.
If you do have undercuts you could do something called the lost mold. Latex up the single pieces, cast in wax, stick wax dragon togheter, make plaster mold and melt out the wax. Add plaster and then knock out the form. Would work if you use normal plaster for the form and the special super hard plaster for the figure. with a so called “warm zone” (first layer of plaster on the wax is pink) to prevent you really chipping in full force.

I have been thinking of doing something like that too. But after having fiddled with the simple Clutzensteins at school I decided i was much faster in polymer.
Other options could be using liquid polymer, but thats total newland to me :/

hope this helps 🙂
I started casting some small figurines by using latex as a mold and plaster, I suggest you try small and simple forms first, it gave me a good idea of how the material behaves.

[Melody]

Ssthisto wrote:

I’m starting to think about trying to make a sculpture or two that can be moulded and cast, and I’ve just got some questions about the way that Windstone moulds are made.
I’ll answer what I can!

I’d been planning on doing sculpey originals, and either cast-resin or cast plaster/hydrostone finished pieces.
I know that the plaster, due to its weight, does limit the shapes that one can make – thin and fragile things, for example, being a bit indicated against. This is sort of making me lean towards resin, on the basis that I could do the whippy tail that’s in my mind’s eye… but then, I really do prefer working with porous materials like clay and plaster, and the smell of resin makes me -really-
ill.
Resin is bad for your health if you are breathing the uncured vapors off of it.Be careful! You must have proper ventilation , and you should wear the right kind of protective mask to use it.(not just a dust mask) We don’t use it for production, but we use it to make the production masters that we cast moulds off of. I don’t know much about casting resin, but from what I’ve seen in stores(fairies with thin, fragile wings and dragon figures exactly as you describe, with long wings and long tails AND undercuts) it seems as if it is perfect for casting the things you are descibing. I know it can be cast in seperate parts and joined together as you describe also.

Can plaster be embedded with, say, a sturdy wire frame that would add strength to any whippy parts? My mental image does NOT require that the whippy bits be able to support any real weight other than their own – the piece’s weight will be supported in other ways.
Yes, but I’ve never done that, so I don’t know how!

Also, are the Windstone moulds generally one piece, two-piece or more?
They are almost all one-piece moulds.
I’ve never noticed a seam line on any of the pieces I’ve got, but that could just be because someone is doing a darn good job of cleaning ’em up!
That too
If they’re one piece, what sort of mould material is used? I tried doing latex once, and that was about as successful as a chocolate teapot; since then I’ve discovered I have a pretty impressive latex allergy. Is there a flexible, reasonable alternative that’s not going to make the mouldmaker swell up like a balloon?

We use silicone rubber. There are other mould materials, such as urethane and gelatin..You should search on “mold making” and see what you can find online about it. There is lots of info out there to read, and I am not up to date on the newest materials and methods

I’m also considering the possibility that the pieces I have in mind might have to be cast in several parts… particularly to avoid major undercuts if I do, say, wide spread wings. If this is the case, how does one go about sticking together cast plaster?
I have never done that either, but glue should work fine!Plaster glues very well.

I am SUCH a nosy beast, and if I could afford the trip to California JUST to have a nosey around the factory, I would love to do so… but that’s an awfully long time on a plane! You are doing this the right way! Finding out what ways to achieve what you envision and then tayloring your sculpture to best fit a realistic way to get there is the trick. So often folks send me a photo of a sculpture that is already finished and ask: “How do I cast this?”. It is much harder to do it backwards like that! There are so many things to consider with reproducing a sculpture, it is mind boggling, however, there is also a ton of info available online that can answer the questions that I can’t.

[Maria]

Melody’s taken Nirvana’s signet color!

[frozendragon]

LOL….easier to answer in the post that way….

[Ssthisto]

Melody wrote:

They are almost all one-piece moulds.

Have you ever posted a photo of any of the moulds? It would be educational to see what they actually look like from the outside (since we know what the insides come out looking like!) – how thick are they? Are they fairly stiff, or are they pretty stretchy? Do they need any kind of support while they’re in use?

Quote:

[=cyan]You are doing this the right way! Finding out what ways to achieve what you envision and then tayloring your sculpture to best fit a realistic way to get there is the trick. So often folks send me a photo of a sculpture that is already finished and ask: “How do I cast this?”. It is much harder to do it backwards like that!

I’d much rather alter my design BEFORE making the emotional investment in building the sculpture (yeah, I get attached to my pieces!) instead of building it and, say, having the mould destroy the original in the process of committing mould suicide because I picked the wrong materials for the job… which is what happened to my last attempt-at-making-a-mould sculpture. (Latex + green clay + allergic sculptor = bad)

I’m also going to actually DRAW what I want to make from as many angles as possible before I try casting anything, just so I know where the possible sticking points or difficult bits will be.

[Melody]

Ssthisto wrote:

Melody wrote:

They are almost all one-piece moulds.

Have you ever posted a photo of any of the moulds? It would be educational to see what they actually look like from the outside (since we know what the insides come out looking like!) – how thick are they? Are they fairly stiff, or are they pretty stretchy? Do they need any kind of support while they’re in use?

Quote:

[=cyan]You are doing this the right way! Finding out what ways to achieve what you envision and then tayloring your sculpture to best fit a realistic way to get there is the trick. So often folks send me a photo of a sculpture that is already finished and ask: “How do I cast this?”. It is much harder to do it backwards like that!

I’d much rather alter my design BEFORE making the emotional investment in building the sculpture (yeah, I get attached to my pieces!) instead of building it and, say, having the mould destroy the original in the process of committing mould suicide because I picked the wrong materials for the job… which is what happened to my last attempt-at-making-a-mould sculpture. (Latex + green clay + allergic sculptor = bad)

I’m also going to actually DRAW what I want to make from as many angles as possible before I try casting anything, just so I know where the possible sticking points or difficult bits will be.
I can post a photo when I get a chance. We had some pics of our molds online somewhere, but I couldn’t find them.
I sometimes make thumbnail sculptures. These are small simple versions of something, just to visualise it better.

[Algy]

I’d love to see the pics too, Melody!

I only ever found this clipping:

[Maria]

Where’d you find that, Algy? It would be cool to see the whole process.

[Algy]

Greater Basilisk wrote:

Where’d you find that, Algy? It would be cool to see the whole process.

I found it last year through google. I don’t remember what site or anything or how I even came across it.

[Maria]

Well, if we’re lucky, Melody will post pictures and all that.

[Mimi]

Greater Basilisk wrote:

Where’d you find that, Algy? It would be cool to see the whole process.

I remember that picture! It was in an article on Windstone that I had bookmarked. But I just checked that link, and all the pictures that were in the article aren’t visible anymore…including that one that you posted… 🙁

[Maria]

Phooey about the pictures, but the article is interesting! Shall read it now.

[Author]

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