Silicone Mold Making

I decided to attempt to make a mold of a quarter because quarters have a lot of fine detail and print and i wanted to see if a silicone mold could successfully capture that detail.

Quarter

To make my mold I needed:

  • Oomo silicone parts A & B
  • Paper Cup
  • Cement/Plaster Mix
  • Water
  • Clay
  • Posicle stick

First I mixed my silicone mold parts together making sure to stir them slowly to minimize air bubbles. Then I used two pieces of clay to attacth my quarter to the popsicle I was going to suspend it from. One piece of clay would make a hole to pour into and the other would make a vent for air bubbles to escape. Then to avoid waisting silicone I cut down the size of my paper cup to be just enough to fit the quarter. Then I suspended the quarter above the cup and began to pour slowly in a small ribbon like shape to pop any air bubble that were left.

pouring

Then it was time to wait a couple hours for it to dry.

suspension

Once it was dry i removed the mold from the cup and pulled the qaurter and the clay out.

finishedMold

Casting

Now it was time to cast a material into the mold. I mixed the cement/plaster powder with about half as much water (again mixing slowly to avoid air bubbles). Then I poured the mixture into my mold.

pourCast

Now I am waiting for it to solidify so I can remove the cast and see if the details came out well!