Sculpture Bases

[@STICKYHOUSE]

I remember watching steve neill videos years ago when he was making a studio scale model of the star trek enterprise, he was a professional prop/model maker and he made hundreds of molds and he use to get his pieces out the molds with a air gun attached to his compressor, he would open the mold a bit and give a quick puff of air in the mold and it would loosen the piece. apparently its what the pros do....he never struggled getting anything out a mold. Thanks for all the great vids!

[@thedarkpower]

Ah that's a great idea, I wonder if I could build a valve into the bottom of the mould so I could demould it that way? Interesting....thanks! :)

[@wingnutbert9685]

@@thedarkpower No need if there's a hole, like from your plug and the mold silicon is soft. You can get air guns that have metal and rubber tips that will seal well enough, if you press the tip in the hole and give it a puff.

[@negotiableaffections]

As a much smaller creator than your commercial base, I (not being able to afford much in silicon mold-making) tend to rely on good old liquid latex for mold construction. From 'brushing' to 'dipping' there are many ways make much more flexible molds than the solid silicon. Its possible to remove these molds like rolling off a sock. Not as durable as silicon, but cheap enough to knock out tons of 'em, with a solid plaster mother mold to reinforce them they will actually produce a great cast if they're made with care to avoid air bubbles etc. Although, I'm not sure how resin would fair in a latex mold, there must be solutions to this problem on the market. But whether latex or silicon, my thinking is that a thinner one-piece mold would be the practical solution.

[@thedarkpower]

Yeah worth a go, my dad used to cast chess pieces that way. I have found getting thin mould to align in a hard case can be tricky though - you need some thick keys on the outside which can be difficult to do in latex.

[@gregmclellan6455]

Very cool, really enjoy your work...you might consider turning scrap wood pieces and doing the Shou Sugi Ban torched wood technique. Will give a nice organic look and be much cheaper and faster to do. Cheers.

[@thedarkpower]

Thanks Greg! Yeah that's a nice idea. I have some blocks of oak so they might do the trick, will have to have a go :)

[@DuhRake]

Cool video, it was fun seeing the thought process behind your changes. What resin are you pouring in your molds if you don't mind sharing?

[@thedarkpower]

Thanks! Yes of course - its this stuff. I use it all the time. www.dwrplastics.com/black-fast-cast-resin.html

[@mattiasfagerlund]

For the hard case mother mold, use the same pint glass as you used when creating the mold. Should provide plenty of strength?

[@thedarkpower]

Yeah I could do, it was one of those flimsy plastic ones though. A layer of resin on the outside should give it abit more strength though.

[@BrushQuill]

Very interesting. I learn more about molding from you than anywhere. Will these be on your store by themselves or only with a sculpture?

[@thedarkpower]

Thanks, yep they're available on their own.

[@iEatClayArt]

Do you sell these?

[@thedarkpower]

Yep, link here. Thanks! www.etsy.com/uk/shop/TheDarkPower

[@enricoram]

Hello, After vacuuming, I pour the product on the vibrating table and cure it in the pressure chamber, I always get 100% results, a few air holes are enough, pouring the product under room conditions is always risky, it can even be affected by moisture . Are you applying any vacuum or pressure?

[@thedarkpower]

Yeah I need to experiment with vibration a little more. The resin I'm using has a short pot life so that unfortunately rules out pressure or vacuum. I've not been able to find a black resin with a long enough pot life to allow that. I actually have a follow up video on these. I've taken to dusting the moulds with black powder which has eliminated any air bubbles.