Saturday 24 August 2013

Silicone Molds

This crafting stuff can be very expensive, so many toys to try out so little money. But, there is always a way, and if you are prepared to do research, and hunt the internet, and experiment, then really there isn't much that you cannot do 'on the cheap'

Recently I came across a video on youtube, where the lady made her own silicone molds using bathroom sealant.

THIS ONE... is the video that I watched, but I noticed that there are lots.

I bought just a small tube of white bathroom sealant to try out this method, I got mine in the £1 shop. In the video the lady says to mix this with a powder of your choice, baby powder(talc), baking powder or cornflour. This is to take away the sticky of the silicone, and make it form into a dough like ball.


I used cornflour, as that is already in my craftroom.

Coat your hands with a little vaseline to prevent the silicone sticking to you.

I emptied  the tube onto a non stick mat, and poured on a generous amount of cornflour, then started to mix it. Just keep adding cornflour till it forms a non sticky dough.

I then rolled it into a ball, pressed it down, and immediately pushed in my embellishments. I rubbed on a little vaseline to each embellishment before pushing into the 'dough'

Then leave aside to set. The video says 12 to 24hrs. I would say that mine was dry within about 4hrs, but it was very,very warm weather. So best to leave it longer just in case.


Once set, the embellies popped right out, the only one that stuck a little was the one that I forgot to coat in vaseline.



I fine the quickest and easiest filler to use is hot glue, and this super hot glue gun from PaperArtsy is perfect for this job. Fill them up and leave them to set. 


Hot glue can get a bit stringy, don't worry those bits can be trimmed off.



Just like a regular silicone mold, you just flex in your hand and the embellies pop out. 


Here they are as them came out, some have extra bits of glue that need trimming off. 


After trimming and a little sanding. 



I painted each with a little  Fresco French Roast You can see the details starting to show now. 


But look at how they really pop once you add Treasure Gold..



Close up of a couple.. 




Totally impressed with this technique and I will definitely do this again. 


Edited to add.. of course you don't have to use a hot glue gun, you could use UTEE, beeswax, friendly plastic or paperclay. Whatever modelling medium that you have. 



56 comments:

  1. wow, what a great result, I love them! Must try this....

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  2. Wow, they are amazing Darcy - off to buy some silicone.

    Jo
    x

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  3. Hello Darcy, they look great. Thanks for the clear instructions & photos. Something else to go on my "must try asap" list.

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  4. Darcy you are a STAR! I was eyeballing that make of mold stuff (I forget the name but it was the one that was at Ally Pally) but just couldn't justify the cost for such a teeny tub. I am definitely trying this!

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  5. Brilliant, I have been looking for a cheap way to make moulds for ages

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  6. Wow - that is amazing - what a great result

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  7. Brilliant Darcy! Thanks for sharing the results of your research, time and experimentation. These look fabulous!

    Hugs
    Lesley Xx

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  8. Amazing! Got to give this a go :) x

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  9. Darcy the amazing Alchemist!! need to find a non rabbit recipe for clayboard! Love it, you are such an enabler!!

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  10. This is amazing, I have to say. What a clever girls you are. I love this, and I WILL be trying it out too. Awesome. Michelle x

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  11. Thank you thank you thank you - been trying to justify cost of moulding medium for ages x

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  12. You are just fabulous..now all we need is a paper clay recipe :D XXX

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  13. So pleased this worked, gives great results and so reasonable. Will give this a go very soon.

    Thanks for sharing the technique and your results:-)

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  14. I was dying to find out how this turned out, the results are fab. Am I brave enough to give it a go!!!

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  15. Brilliant Darcy. The moulding stuff is bonkers money. Did u see Lin used Grunge Paste in her silicone mould successfully too! TFS x

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  16. This is SO impressive. I might try it with polymer clay, since I don't have paper clay. I love what you did and I appreciate your pointing me in the direction of the video, too. However, I thought your write-up was equally informative. I love it.

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  17. Wow! Cool technique Darcy. Thanks for sharing.

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  18. Wow! Thanks for sharing Darcy!!

    It was one the stuff I always wanted but because of the price never got it. I have to try it!!

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  19. Wow what a fab idea, I'd never have thought of that but the results look fab so i'll be giving it a try.
    TFS
    Claire xx

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  20. Oh, wow—a huge "THANK YOU" for the tip and video link! I work with several types of clay (polymer, paper and metal) and this will be SO much less expensive than the two-part specialty products. Add to that the bonus of extra working time, and it's a home run for the do-it-yourself craft supply team!

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  21. Wow, thanks Darci, another recipe to try. Though, not wanting to spent loads on the bought mould making stuff and possibly making a pigs ear of it, I've just spent a small fortune on silicone moulds after you created Colin and shared the link to Jonni's air dry paper clay tutorial which I then had to make & BTW worked out great, though I used a lightweight tub of shop brand "sand less filler" not the joint compound or the UK equivalent.
    I love how your cool embellies turned out especially after the treasure gold was applied. You'd never guess they were hand created this way and with hot glue no less, another thing I would never thought of putting in the mould, just shows the mould is heat proof as you'd expect silicone moulds to be.
    This is the first time visiting your blog, loving it. I usually I see what you post on PA but I'm glad I popped by. I'm following you too now.
    I love that you continue to explore and find ways for us to create stuff without spending too much money, so we can buy stamps and other goodies with the money we save, lol.
    Alexandra x

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  22. They turned out great! I will keep trying til I have the silicone/cornstarch recipe just right. I am so glad to see that your worked great the first time out. I have a heck of a time getting the silicone out of the petals of the flower cabochons I used. I forgot to coat them before pushing them into the mold. lol! Thank you for sharing this with us. :-)

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  23. Let see... I did this in a sculpting class 20 years ago. OMG I am old. Anyway...I don't know why is didn't occur to me to do this. So, I am super happy I found you and this great how-to.

    Cheers,

    Mario

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  24. Your project is very interesting! I'll try to do it in the next days! Thank you!!

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  26. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  27. Well, that is just brilliant. Thanks for sharing this.

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  28. I'm gonna just need a house just for crafting! This is fantastic!

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  29. your posting couldn't have come at a better time! I was trying to find a way to make some molding for furniture appliques and I really like this recipe best of all I've found. One question, how big will this make? I want to do something about 3" x 12" and 1/2" deep. Thanks so much oh and I love your blog. First time visitor, this showed up on my pinterest feed! regards.

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    1. Hi, the 2 moulds that I made from this recipe measure approx 3.5 inches across and are about 1/4 inch deep. This may not stretch to the size you need. So I would double the recipe. hope that helps. D.x

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  30. What kind of paint did you use?

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    1. I used PaperArtsy Fresco paint topped with Treasure Gold.

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  31. I've just seen this post - what a great technique. I've been looking at some Sculpey face molds on evilbay and even on there, they're not particularly cheap so I will have to try this to see if I can make the molds I want and at what it will cost, it's no biggie if it goes wrong. Thanks for sharing this, I would never of thought of this as an alternative x

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  32. Great video, needed to make 1/24"scale dollhouse miniatures, now I can.
    Thank you for sharing.

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  33. Hi!
    Do you know if I can use others kind of flour? I'm allergic to corn so I can't touch corn flour or breathe it...
    Thanks a lot :)

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    1. Hi! In her article she mentions baby powder, talcum powder etc as other alternatives :)

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  34. Darcy; You're a genius! I just caulked my tub, and now I can use up the remainder in the tube. Thanks!

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  35. I have to try this! I tried making a hot glue gun mould but then I didn't have anything to fill it with! This looks a much better way:).

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  36. Wow, this is amazing. Can't wait to try it. Thanks so much...just pinned it from Pinterest, and now following your blog.

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  37. Is this mold food safe? I would guess not but just want to check. Trying to find an alternative for making a chocolate mold than the expensive 2-part silicone putty molds that set up too quickly. Thanks!

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  38. Is this mold food safe? I would guess not but just want to check. Trying to find an alternative for making a chocolate mold than the expensive 2-part silicone putty molds that set up too quickly. Thanks!

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  39. no this is not food safe. Silicone has lots of toxic stuff in it. Try some silicone for fish tanks instead as this kind is not toxic.

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  40. if i got kitchen silicone would i be able to use this idea in molds for cakes

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  41. Nice Silicone Moulding Tips . Thanks for sharing this. Keep Posting.

    If you want to Check More Details on Silicone Moulding Click Here Silicone Moulding

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  42. I just came across this on Pinterest. Bloody genius!! Also really nice to see a great tip from another UK craft blogger! @SuzyHomemakerUK

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  44. You can make these up for soap molds too! I did my own baby set!

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  45. I have found that this site is very informative, interesting and very well written. keep up the nice high quality writing. Silicone Molds

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  46. Pure genius just what I need to make my tiny mouldings for my Georgian Dolls House, thank you so much so glad I found your blog

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