DIY (Derp It Yerself): Breaking…er…Making the mold Part One

by | Oct 13, 2013

Good evening and welcome to another DIY, that's Derp It Yerself hobby article. Unlike the last article whereupon I discovered that plaster =/= good casting material, my first attempt at making a mold has gone rather well with only a few areas that could be fine tuned. Overall, I'm happy with the outcome and will now take you on a whirlwind adventure full of excitement and action! a small-ish tutorial on how to make a mold for accessories such as bases. Please note that this guide can be applied to other things besides bases that can be cast within a one-piece mold.

Firstly, if you are going to make custom bases, you'll need:
  • Green stuff or equivalent
  • A knife or equivalent
  • A base upon which to unleash your creativity
  • Mold making materials. For this I used Pinkysil silicone...in a gel form O.o (Upon using this form of molding medium, I think liquid silicone would work better however YMMV)
  • Something to do for ten minutes
  • Legos
  • blue tac
Firstly- Mix up some green stuff and spread it roughly evenly over your chosen base. I used both a 25mm and 20mm square base as I had an excess of green stuff mixed up. 

A metaphorical ugly duckling
Once that's done, use the knife to scrape away any green stuff that 'overflows' over the top of the base.

Step two is where you unleash your creativity and sculpt away (sculpt here meaning attempt to make art whilst looking like your arm is spasming). For this guide, I attempted to go for a wood-plank look. A handy trick to do is to get a couple of reference pics in order to copy nature and get some realism happening!
A typical WIP (Wreck In Production) picture



Sort-of real-ish wood. Avast ye scurvy dogs!
Once you are satisfied with your creation, send your Igor out for a brain or two (I know you have an Igor, there's no shame in having one. They are quite useful servants) while the green stuff sets. This may take a few hours. You may wish to fulfill this time cackling madly or playing an organ within your castle/dungeon/lair.

When the green stuff has fully set, we now arrive at the mold-making stage! Huzzah! Unfortunately you can't open that celebratory booze juuuuuuuust yet as the next few step will require you to work fast.

Thus concludes the first part of this guide, the sequel (In which several plot twists occur and a surprising romance blossoms) will be up tomorrow as work is early tomorrow.

Beleaguered SWM seeks R+R...
 
The Warlock