How To Make Molds, Toys, & Resin Figurines, From Start To Finish!!!

Solomon here! I'm going to show you how to make toys and collectibles step by step from sculpting into creating a mold,casting and etching and painting process. 

 Supplies needed: Super Sculpey, 2 part rubber, cardboard, Xacto blade w/ extra blades. Bag of large rubber bands. Mold Ease release, Sealer, &
2 part plastic/resin.
                             
                                       Casting supplies can be found at http://smooth-on.com

1. First you want to take you sweet time and sculpt a cool piece, figurine, or whatnot out of Super Sculpey polymer clay.

 Seriously if you want the best sculpture Super Sculpey is the best really soft but yet smooth and it stay more hydrated than regular Sculpey. Its not the same result as a roto-cast from machine but it will give you the closest look for your time invested. Don't use regular clays they are way too brittle, and don't use the "never" drying clays. You cant cook them to finalize your master sculpt. I use the "never drying clays" to sculpt my mold's impression around the piece, which leads us to the next section.

 2. Construct a box for your mold and make sure there is enough space for your hand and your clay that you use to make the mold. Not too much space around the object because then you will waste rubber later when pour your mold its better to conserve the rubber at least until after you pour the first half.  Before you pour the mold make sure you use the non drying clay to surround the master sculpt with a nice seal all the way around the hand.  IN this example you see a 2 part mold being created. This is essential only if your piece doesn't have a flat back as some wall hanging/ornaments.

 After you finish the first half of the clay go back and smooth it as clean as possible this will insure that you have a nice seal with the mold comes together, usually un-smoothed clay will make for a crappy mold later so take your time...this is like changing diapers, don't rush take it easy!

 Next carefully take an end of a pen and push holes in the clay 1-2 inches away from the edge where the sculpt meets the clay so that you dont break the seal. This will ensure the rubber will not leak into the bottom part of the piece in this case the bottom part of the hand. The holes should only go a fraction of an inch deep.

 These holes are for the impression the rubber make when its poured into the mold. It will produce a positive side and later a negative side from the positive thus creating the full 2 part mold needed for a mass production.

 3. Place this entire piece into your box. The walls of the box will hold in the rubber. And now its time for an important part...AIRFLOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!  AIR FLOW, AIRFLOW, saves LIVES!!! Its all about airflow. You need to create tubes of negative space for air to travel to keep bubbles from getting trapped in you mold and ruining your cast.

The best way to do this is to get coffee straws, save yourself some headache and get these from Starbucks or McDonald's they don't sell them at Walmart, or grocery stores. SMH!

 Cut at an angle to fit your piece these and then use super glue to bond them to the master. These tubes should run from the piece straight to the top of the box where the pouring will take place. Then take a big piece of clay and create a fat funnel shaped cone and place it in the highest point of the master sculpt and wedge it between the top of the box the same as the straws. This will be your main pour hole, while the other holes create ventilation.

4. Next after a everything's in place you need you pour your rubber, usually 2 part mixed rubber found at http://smooth-on.com. Follow the mixing directions EXACTLY!!!!  The next thing you'll do is spray a sealer and mold release from the same company over your piece and let dry dont pour the rubber when its wet...wait at least 15-20 minutes. It should dry to an oily residue when ready. Next pour the rubber as follows in part 5.


5. Time to pour, when doing this aim for the lowest point of the box and let the rubber fill up slowly, this pushes all of the air out from the bottom up ensure no bubbles get trapped in the rubber. Dont pour all over it will makes bubbles and ruin the mold....remember from the lowest point up. Wait until dry as according to instructions and then strip away the entire box and clay around the piece but DO NOT peel the hard rubber from the piece so BE CAREFUL!!!!!! Dont break the seal from the master to the rubber VERY IMPORTANT! When the box is stripped away it should look like this. Then you carefully pull out the clay around the piece.

Once all of the clay is out you should see a flat box of rubber with a huge dip from the clay dome you made with a new positive male ending all around the first half. Once you have this clean from clay apply the release and sealer as before and pour into the huge dip to create the second half. To prevent spillage you may want to create another box around your rubber block with a lip right above the rubber your pouring into. In our case here the dip from the other side of the hand is so far down I only need to pour into the hole. After it drys pull out the master , straws, pour hole clay, box and all, you should be left with a positive and negative sides as shown.

 6. Put the mold together, and then cut wedges into the corners of the mold with an Xacto blade to hold the rubber bands in place when you cast your pieces.

After your mold is done strap on the rubber band to hold into place. Use alot of them to keep a good shape to the mold so it doesn't warp the mold. The more rubber bands and the thicker the molds rubber the better.

 Mix the two part plastic or resin as instructed and pour into main pour hole. When your straw holes fill up from the inside out, and the main pour hole stays filled, you know its full. After a while you'll know its dry with the plastic on the top is dry.As shown above. It should still be kind of hot when you pull it out its the best time to trim it while its luke warm or hot because the Xacto with cut all of the excess plastic off like butter...if the plastic cools, IT WILL BE A PAIN to cut. With the straw holes and everything it should look like model cars do when they come attached to the plastic frame or airflow tubes, as you've learned here.

 If you dont have airflow and you aren't doing a hand /machine tossed mold, you'll be looking at a crappy bubbled casting...and also the realization that your mold is worthless. AIRFLOW is the key!!!!!

                  Repeat until you have the number of units you require. Now its time to paint them up!!!!

7. Wash them in the sink or tub with dawn the warm water this will release oils on the surface that will prevent the paint from sticking to the surface. Let them soak for an hour or more...scrub them with a rag or toothbrush.

After this dry them with a towel and grab these supplies for the next steps.  Airbrush supplies paint gun,etc.
Or acrylic paints,.but before any of this happens get an etching primer. Automotive etching primer made to bond metals is the best for paint adhesion.

 

 This stuff can be found at most auto stores, save the headache and just go to Auto Zone.

After these have a nice couple of coats let it set for an hour or so it can bond to the resin. Then paint your pieces as desired.

8. Next sell them, give them away, get bragging rights from your new toy line, or whatever. I like to go all out and make boxes and sticker labels for my product. Use one sample and ship it overseas for huge productions at the lowest cost possible.

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial for my Multi-Purpose Zombie Hand TM.  Its an ashtray, change/ storage unit, gag gift, paper weight, and a collectible figurine!  If you'd liked the lesson and it helped you, you can help me by buying one these hand made pieces with FREE shipping straight to your door....

Invention: Inflatable Breasts

A client requested to have some inflatable breasts created for a horror film. It took about a month to create from scratch. Through this process you'll see where I sculpted them, to casting the mold, all the way up to adding a felt back, tubes, straps, and buckles.  Its the first of its kind to expand to an extremely large size from an original size that appeared normally busty.