Failure to Craft

So I had this great idea for Christmas gifts for all our friends, right? I thought so too. I was going to make everyone 20-sided die candles. They'd be small and cute and geeky and would give me a chance to work on my mold-making, which is definitely a good thing. So I went to work.

I sunk the die halfway into some clay, then began to brush silicone onto it. The regular silicone caulk you get from the hardware store makes a great flexible mold and it's really cheap. Smells like hell, but it works. So I made probably a dozen or more layers of silicone on this thing. Had the silicone extend down onto the clay to make sort of a skirt. Then I poured some plaster onto it to make the firm mold backing. This process isn't too tough (just time-consuming) and you get the benefits of the flexible mold and the firmness of a plaster mold in one. Very good stuff. Still can't get too crazy with undercuts or anything, but the silicone is far more forgiving than the plaster. I repeated the same process on the other side to get myself a full die mold.

This is what I learned: When doing these coats of silicone, less is more. I thought I was adding thin layers, but I was wrong. They need to be really thin. Like you add maybe a drop the size of a skittle for an area about 10 square inches or something. This will help it to dry properly, but it will also keep it smoother. That's another thing. If you're doing this, get a ton of those little disposable paintbrushes that are like $1 for a dozen of them. Buy a dozen of those packs. If you can figure out how to clean the silicone off the brush without destroying the brush you may not need so many, but still. Get a bunch. Make tiny layers and keep them smooth. Smooth layers will adhere well and will also release from the plaster mold more easily. Mine were really rough with all sorts of undercuts and such and they just didn't work. Once I took the silicone out of the plaster, it was a battle to get it back in again. Also, you really want to make some mold keys. Mold keys make sure the molds halves fit together perfectly. You can use anything, really. I like the idea of hex nuts, though. I'll be using those next time.

So I learned a lot about what not to do, and now I'm thinking I know what I'd prefer to do with that knowledge. Since it's also no longer a surprise, I can take some pictures of the process so you guys can see how it's done.