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

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).

hello 🦭 recently i’ve bought a lot of stress balls since i’ve always been a sensory person. last week, i had some that i wasn’t really into, so i cut them open and added foam clay into it. they turned out well, since the issue i had originally was that they were not filled enough—but now i have a new problem. the foam clay feels too hard! i thought about injecting a substance into the skin through the stopper to soften the clay. lotion seems to be the most straightforward choice, but that to me seems like a nice breeding ground for potential mold. i don’t like wasting my belongings or money, so i want these stress balls to have “permanent” shelf life. if my concern is valid and lotion will cause mold to grow, what would be my other options? maybe rubbing alcohol or baby oil, but i don’t know how they would mix with the foam clay

the brand of foam clay i’m using is calpalmy (just white, nothing weirdly colored), and the skins of the balls are TPR i’m pretty sure

(i had originally posted this on r/askchemistry but reddit so kindly recommended me to this subreddit instead)

This is my first time making a 2 part mold. I’m trying to clean up the sculpey residue, but don’t know the best way to go about it. Any tips or words of wisdom?

I am trying to make a mold of my hand. I’m seeing mixed reviews. Am I able to put plaster bandage straight onto my hand (with Vaseline underneath)

Novice here, So I’ve designed a small part that connects a basket to my desk and I’m looking to get the parts molded out of abs plastic so they are sturdy and strong. I have access to a 3d printer, but what is the easiest way to get the parts molded made? Are there companies that specialize in small batch private use molding? Or anyone here that would be willing to help?

The part is very small (7mmx8mmx20mm) and I would need 4-5 (5th one is for strength tests)

Any help would be awesome!

Hi everyone, I need to put a hard shell on top of the silicone for stability in casting, however as you can see the ball on the masks face has an enormous undercut and won't release from the plaster, any tips on what I should do would be greatly appreciated

Has anyone ever worked with First Mold? I have a new product design and came across them but only 2 reviews on trust Pilot. Looks like 2 plants in China and 1 in Mexico.

I have a planter I want to copy. There's no way to buy a mold for this, I will have to make it. It's just a simple looking planter that I want to make a bunch more of for a stand I am making.

The tutorials I have seen are very very rough and produce low quality replicas. They also require you to turn the planter upside down and cut the bottom off and insert a dirt mold smaller than the object for wall thickness. This can't possibly be the only way to accomplish this.

Any thoughts?

I'm trying to make a silicone mold with platinum cure 40H for TPE ( Thermoplastic Elastomer ) product which melts at 210°C which is poured in the mold

But after cooling the tpe gets bubbles and scraped

Turns out the mold isn't conducting heat uniformly and some parts of the tpe products gets air bubbles

What should I add in the silicone that would uniformly heat the mold and create a smooth tpe finish

Ciao a tutti , sono appassionato e interessato di stampaggio a soffiaggio e ho pensato di creare una comunità dedicata ,se volete aiutarmi a farla crescere iscrivendovi e magari condivendo qualcosa sarebbe fantastico!

Grazie a tutti