2014-01-17

Fabulous Mould Making

Or is it mold without the letter "u"?


With tired eyes, minds and souls we slept and woke up with even more teen-angst tired eyes, minds and souls than Explosions in the Sky* could have ever thought of. Hence, this abortion of mold-making session: I just took the three dudes, glued them with superglue against an empty chocolate box, sellotaped** ...

*) If you ever wanted to internet date a teen girl, then start by PM:ing the commentators under this particular video
**) Not to confuse with cello tape AKA a taped cello:


... some cardboard walls and got the old counterfeit box out of my secret cupboard and presto: Mould part 1.

A spoon, the "prepared" box of models to be copied, some disposable cups and the silicone and its catalyst. That's all you need, and a grumpy, newly awoken mood. A lot of sighing took place, as well as some annoyed mutterings. But it needed to be done. Hobby has never been about having fun. Not the slightest.


The three gringos, the superglue not even cured. Without keys or air-vents prepared. This is the kewl way of making a mould. 
      But, in all seriousness, the reason the whole setup is so shitty is because I have sometimes taken hours on making the preparations, just to accidentally move the box when the second layer of silicone is uncured, making the models move sligthly and screwing up the whole mould. I just can't be bothered, either it works, or it don't, it's not the end of the world.
    There are many ways of doing a mould, this is one of them. 
    Lastly: I didn't even bother putting on a release agent on neither the models nor the container, because I don't think it's needed. I have made over 25 moulds over the years and think I'm getting the hang of it: Removing every step that isn't absolutely necessary is the happy way of making a mould, for me.

Shake well... And weigh part A on your scale, see how much you need for part B, AKA "The Activator" or something similar. Mix thoroughly - real thorough, not Thoreau, not Theroux, but thorough... otherwise you'll have a royal mess on your hands. Uncured silicone is unhappy silicone. "And when silicone is unhappy, you is unhappy."


I gently bashed the cup o' silicone against the floor until "most" of the bubbles came up. A hospital shaker (blood separator) or a vacuum-thingie would actually do this, my "gentle bashing" mainly made the plastic cup break and me smile ever so slightly at my own "integligence". The cynical use of quotations is a hint of my state of mind: Hoping someone will mistake my genuine weariness as "kewlness".

Pour the sticky mess over the guys and don't bother with air bubbles. Just like money, crime, multiculti and politicians, there is nothing you can do about it; sometimes it goes your way, but most often it doesn't. The best counter is of course a knife
    "What did you have for breakfast?"
    "I don't know, I panicked... "

A knife is a natural solution to all of the above listed problems that you normally can't do anything about. Just don't get caught like Mihailo when you repeatedly stab Swedish politicians. But I digress... 

(... and joke (at least the part of the knife), which probably is needed to add in times like this - one of the reasons I am so tired is because we had to sit through a "conference" about discrimination and how awesome multiculti is - UNPAYED but mandatory! It had something to do with the ever so elusive term "värdegrund" or "behavioral values"... the term that has killed common sense, which used to be the normal way of dealing with things and people).

The pink colour is camouflage.

The mould is curing in a calm place and will be finished Sunday by cutting away excess silicone and pouring another layer. In the end we will have a classic two-part tin-soldier mould. Again, this is the super-lazy way of doing a mould and you will probably waste a little more silicone than what you probably would want to.

Good night, it's been a long week at work.




2 kommentarer:

  1. Fascinating, I'll watch how these turn out.
    Mold, mould - ? I wonder about that too?

    SvaraRadera
  2. Yes, but don't expect results too soon, casting will happen sometime in the end of February!

    On fungus and frames for casting google said: American-english use "mold" for both terms while British-English use "mould"! Finally settled it then :)

    SvaraRadera