How to Clone a Dinosaur Toy with ComposiMold

Katherine of Resin Obsession (http://resinobsession.com/) asked us to clone her dinosaur toy. She wanted to see how we do it, and she thought it would be a great way to show the power of ComposiMold to her customers.



So after she delivered the dinosaur to us, I got busy.



You never know the best way to make a mold. Even the best mold makers need to experiment to find out how they should set it up.



Where should you pour in your resin? Do you need to make a two part mold? Where should the parting lines be?



And that’s where ComposiMold comes in to play… it is reusable. I can experiment without worry, and without wasting materials.



So I did what I always do when starting a new mold making project…I experimented.



I placed the dinosaur into a cup and poured ComposiMold over it to see what happened…



I would like to say it worked perfectly and the mold is done and that’s the end of the story, but it’s not…well sort of…It did work just not the way it was supposed to.



The dinosaur didn’t float, but it didn’t stay on its feet. It flipped over onto its side…oops. Good thing I wasn’t using silicone rubber for my mold! First, I wouldn’t have known that it was flipped over because the silicone is opaque, second I would have wasted $30 on a messed up mold.



With ComposiMold,  I placed the mold in the refrigerator to cool off, started to pull out the dinosaur to do it again, when I realized that the mold turned out pretty good.



When it was solidified, I thought that the mold looked pretty good, so before remelting it, I poured a little more ComposiMold over the side to make it a little thicker, cut out the dinosaur and filled it with the epoxy just to see what it would be like…it was difficult to fill the small parts…I used a small wire to push the bubbles out of the hands and tail. So the mold worked. This blue dinosaur is actually a color changing dinosaur. When I add heat, it will turn clearer. (She’ll turn invisible!)



But since that wouldn’t make a good video I decided to do it again. Yes, I know. ComposiMold is cool…no wait, warm, warm when it’s melted. So I remelted the mold and did it again the “right” way so I can have it on video….

That great part is that I have not wasted any money or mold making material. I’ve experimented, learned the best way  to duplicate the action figure, and can do it again! Experiment #1 is a success.



First I coat the dinosaur with a thin layer of mold release, and then spray it with Bubble Buster to reduce the chances of bubbles sticking to the part.



To hold the dinosaur in place now that I know it will flip over, I have several options. I can glue it in place, do it as a two part mold, or the way that I chose….I poured a little ComposiMold into a cup and let that solidify first. Then I placed the dinosaur into the cup and poured a little more ComposiMold around its feet and torso and let that solidify. This ComposiMold held the dinosaur in place while we made the rest of the mold. Because we did not cool the first part of the mold or put a mold release in between the layers, the ComposiMold will melt together.



Another advantage of ComposiMold is that it is transparent. We can see where the dinosaur is within the mold. This lets us cut the parting line where we want it to be.



We could also have done this as a two part mold, but this seemed easier. Maybe we can do a two part mold next time… just to show the difference.



I assumed that the people who made this dinosaur originally put their parting lines in good spots, I decided to copy where they put them. But since I used a rubber mold making material, I need less of a parting line. I cut from the top so I could remove the part without damaging the feet and tiny hands.



I used Resin Obsessions Clear Casting Resin…This was my first time using that resin. It was thin for easy pouring and easily colored with different color dyes…also from Resin Obsessions.

I made several dinosaurs with this mold. Then, because I can, and ComposiMold is awesome like this, I remelted it to make a new mold. I made a rabbit to keep the town safe from the Dinosaurs!

Thank you for watching, and please let us know what we can do to help!



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One-of-a-Kind Chocolate Shapes

Make one-of-a-kind chocolate shapes with EASY MAKE IT Chocolate helps make any occasion just a little bit sweeter

https://youtu.be/9RzTFOUeHfI

This easy-to-use, flexible mold making material allows you and to turn almost any object into chocolate or fondant! This new and improved mold making product is reusable, certified food contact safe, and picks up fine detail! Its flexibility makes it perfect for de-molding delicate chocolate shapes.

EASY MAKE IT Chocolate comes in two sizes:

6oz., $17.99

20oz $34.99

Buy Now-Click This Link http://composimoldstore.com/mold-making-material/

To learn more about how to turn your thoughts into creations through mold making sign-up for this FREE eBook---a molding making success guide: Follow the link below- http://composimold.com/Ebook.html

ComposiMold mold making materials are reusable. They allow for continuous mold making without the worry.

What are you going to make today?

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In today's video we feature a mold made of a toy dump truck that we then turned into a Chocolate cake topper. The truck looked like a character from the movie Cars, but when searching online I couldn’t find it in any of the Cars characters lists. Do you know who/what we molded?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0L8H4QItwjY   ComposiMold makes cake decorating so easy!

Please share this video and tell everyone you know about ComposiMold! Plus subscribe to see the next amazing blog post from ComposiMold!

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What Did We Mold Today Video Series, Day 1

In today's video we feature a mold made of an actual food item that we then turned into a candle and a soap (in the same mold)!

Please share this video and tell your creative friends to subscribe to learn more!

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What is Plaster

Plaster is dry powders that are mixed with water to form a soft but brittle solid.There are many different uses for plaster.

It is used to create art and for coating walls and ceilings.  Investigators use plaster to make duplicates of footprint impressions or tire marks, dentists use plaster to make castings for dental work, and doctors use plaster for putting a cast over a broken bone. The most common use of plaster is for general repair and maintenance around the home including repairing dents and holes in walls and filling in holes before painting.

Gypsum plaster, or plaster of Paris, is produced by heating gypsum to about 300 °F. Artist use gypsum to simulate the appearance of wood, stone and metal, on movie a sets. This is the typical material used for art sculpture and mold making.

Lime plaster is a mixture of calcium hydroxide and sand or other filers.  Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere causes lime plaster to set by transforming the calcium hydroxide into limestone AKA calcium carbonate. To make lime plaster, limestone is heated to produce quicklime, which is calcium oxide. Water is then added to produce slaked lime, or calcium hydroxide. This is sold as a wet putty or a white powder. When exposed to the atmosphere, the slaked lime very slowly turns back into limestone through reaction with atmospheric carbon dioxide, causing the plaster to increase in strength.

Cement plaster is amixture of plaster, sand, cement, and water.  This is normally applied to masonry interiors and exteriors to achieve a smooth surface. Cement plaster was first introduced in America around 1909 and was often called by the generic name adamant plaster after a prominent manufacturer of the time. The advantages of cement plaster  are good strength, hardness, fast quick setting time, and durability (for outdoor use).

Plaster, plaster of Paris, or other versions such as hydrocal or ultracal, may be used as a casting material just like other materials such as soap, wax, concrete, or plastic resin. The benefits of using plaster is its relatively low cost, simple ingredients, and good castability. Depending of the version of plaster used, casting times range from 20 minutes to 24 hours. Like cement, the plaster castings become stronger over time and typically reach its strongest after about a month.

There are many types of mold making material that will work while using plaster as a casting material including latex, silicone, and ComposiMold. When casting with plaster, the finished product can be painted with most types of paint.

For More Information Visit:www.ComposiMold.com, www.Facebook.com/ComposiMold, www.YouTube.com/ComposiMold To Order ComposiMold Products Visit: www.store.composimold.com

What is Mold Making

Mold making is the process used to duplicate three dimensional models or objects. A model is any object that has depth, and an original model can be made from almost anything. If you were making your own object to mold, you might use clay, rock, or plastic. Through the use of a mold making material a negative, or a reverse, of a model part is made, the negative can then be used to cast a second part that is the same size and shape as the original part.

Simple parts such as relief sculptures can be duplicated by using a one part mold. The casting material is poured or pressed into the mold indentation. The casting material can range from clay, soap, chocolate, concrete, liquid plastic, play-dough, and metal castings.

You can make two part molds or even three or more part molds. Mold sizes can range from a few millimeters to many feet in size. Mold making is used in industry to make duplicates of a wide variety of creations ranging from car parts to Christmas ornaments. More complicated molds may include a variety of molded parts, rigid parts of the molds, inserts, a variety of resins and fillers, and a lot of setup and thought.

At home mold making is typically performed using a rubber mold making material that can be poured on or around the object to be duplicated. The mold can then be filled with casting materials of your choice. For example, many cake decorators or chocolate makers use molds to create unique shapes from their chocolates or use molds to shape fondant into special shapes. Home soap and candle makers duplicate unique shapes and designs. Hobbyist use molds to make components for their trains and to make improvements to the backdrops and sceneries.  Even fishermen enjoy molding their own unique fishing lures.

Mold making can be fun and useful. With patience and persistence, you can mold and cast just about anything. You can make unique gifts and fix broken parts. To learn more about molding, casting and the products associated with Mold Making visit http://composimold.com. 

For More Information Visit: www.ComposiMold.com, www.Facebook.com/ComposiMold, www.YouTube.com/ComposiMold To Order ComposiMold Products Visit: www.store.composimold.com

Four Mold Making Techniques That You Can't Do With Silicone Molding Materials

Silicone molds have been around for many, many decades. They work if you know what you’re doing. The silicone makes big piles of rubber if you don’t.

When I was learning how to make molds it was silicone molds, latex molds (ugh), and maybe some urethane rubber molds. I made quite a few piles up rubber and lots of mistakes.

So there is a better way for much of your mold making that reduces your waste and gives you more flexibility in what you make. Below I will talk to you a little bit about some mold making techniques that you CAN’T do with silicone molds.

1. Re-Use Your Mold

By re-use, I mean re-use your rubber mold to make a New Mold: Another mold that you’ve never made before. You definitely can’t do that with silicone molds. The silicone molds last forever (or at least for 25 to 50 castings depending on your complexity). If you were a mold making shop, you could invest in a method to re-grind the silicone to add it back into your new batches and hope it doesn’t affect the quality of your molds, but I broke the motor in my coffee grinder trying to do that at home.

So how do you re-use your mold to make new molds? Since this is a ComposiMold reusable mold making blog, I’m sure you figured it out: USE ComposiMold

It melts in the microwave or a double boiler. You make your molds just like you would for silicone molds, except the mold making material solidifies by cooling, not a chemical reaction. You can make 1 part molds, 2 part molds, soap castings, chocolate castings, plastic castings, etc…and when you are finished with your castings, re-melt, filter the ComposiMold rubber if you need to, and then make a new mold. Or just keep the molding material handy so you can make a new mold and cast later on (keep it covered and it doesn’t have a shelf life).

Learn more about the basic instructions for mold making with ComposiMold on our How it Works Page

2. Fix a mold making mistake

Imagine: you’ve made an almost beautiful mold. It took you days to make because the silicone took a day to cure and you had to make two halves, and you’re ready to make your casting-except you notice a hole. The silicone didn’t fill in an area, or you cut off an area that you shouldn’t have. You might be able to patch that area with care by cutting away the spot and brushing or dipping that spot with new silicone.

Or another scenario, you’ve made a few castings and the molds started to go bad in a couple spots. With silicone, it’s time to make a new mold. Open up your bank account.

Of course, ComposiMold only needs to be remelted to fix. A spot with a hole or bubble in it can be fixed by melting just that area. A heat gun works well, or the tip of a glue gun also works well on the low heat setting. Or re-making the mold is not that difficult if necessary. The semi-transparency also helps to see inside the mold material.

This is also a great way of attaching two different molds together to make a new mold and new shape. For example, a new head for a new action figure. Make the body and then take the head off another action figure and put the molds together.

You can do this to customize the molds. For example, if you were making soaps with people’s names on it, such as for wedding gifts. You could change just the area where people’s names were.

3. 2 part molds with ease

The conventional way for making a 2 part mold is to build up clay around your master until you are at the parting line. You then make ½ of your mold, flip your master and do the second half. This technique is excellent when you want a very specific parting line that is not straight. Even with ComposiMold, we recommend this technique for many mold making applications.

However, in many mold making scenarios, a flat, or level parting line is needed. Taking the time to build up a clay half is just time consuming. And if you are like me, you usually don’t make it flat so you have a funny parting line path.

So just pour ComposiMold around your part to the location that you want your parting line. Let it harden. And place it in the freezer to make it nice and cold. Spray with a mold release such as vegetable oil. Then pour your top half of the mold. Then cool this side, remelt your first mold, and do that half with the same ComposiMold you used for the first parting line.

The ComposiMold won’t stick together if you keep one half cold prior to pouring on the liquid ComposiMold. The liquid ComposiMold will cool faster than the cold ComposiMold can get up to temperature. This is how you are able to make wax and soap castings with ComposiMold. It freezes before ComposiMold melts (sweet!). The only instance where this may not work is for very thin sections. For these areas, pour only a little ComposiMold on at a time, so that it will cool before melting the thin sections of the mold.

For a video description of this technique see our 2 part mold making video

4. Creating a casting from an indentation

This technique is a continuation of technique 3. Use the ComposiMold to fill in an indentation or make a part out of the ComposiMold rubber. Then you make a mold of the ComposiMold after it has been cooled in the freezer, using ComposiMold to make the new mold (get that!?). Use a mold release between the layers and it will separate.

Here’s an example: We were making Halloween chocolates by using a cookie shape, but the cookie tin was too hard and the chocolate could not be removed without breaking. So we poured ComposiMold into the shapes, cooled them, and then used those to make molds in ComposiMold. When making the chocolates, the ComposiMold can be peeled away from the chocolates shapes so they do not break. (ta da!)

Still like your silicone molds? Ok. we’ll compromise for some castings…Brush on silicone molds backed with ComposiMold.

ComposiMold does have some great features, but sometimes you may need a longer lasting silicone mold. The silicone is strong and tough and lasts a really long time. So here’s the compromise:

Use a brush on silicone to coat your master and then use ComposiMold around the silicone brush on material to reduce the amount of silicone you use (save you money!). This way 90% of your mold can be re-used while giving you a mold that you can keep if you want (or at least reduces the amount of silicone rubber that goes into the trash).

The ComposiMold part can easily be pulled away from the silicone to be re-used, while the silicone can be stored away for safe keeping. When you want to re-make the mold, just place the silicone back over one of your parts and pour ComposiMold around it. And you are ready to go again…

So there are the 4 mold making techniques that can save you time, money, and frustration. Please visit the rest of our website for more information on how to use ComposiMold. We have a lot more examples of molds and castings made with ComposiMold.
Please let us know what you think and if you have any questions. We’d love to hear from you and see what you create!

Thank you and keep experimenting!

Making a ComposiMold Mold:
Follow the basic instructions on our How it Works Page to make a mold with ComposiMold. The tips below will set you up for success when using soap as your casting material.


For More Information visit:
www.ComposiMold.com
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order at www.ComposiTherm.com

To Mold and Cast a Rubber Ducky into a Plastic Duck using ProtoCast and ComposiCast Urethane Resin

This is a simple one part mold of a rubber duck. To stop the rubber duck from floating when the ComposiMold is poured over it, clay and sand was put inside the rubber duck. It also could have been glued down with hot glue to the bottom of the container.

The part was then coated with Bubble Buster to reduce bubbles from adhering to the part. We dip it into the Bubble Buster, but we could also have sprayed it on. Be sure to get it into any crevices.

The duck is placed inside a mold box. We used a PVC pipe, but any container that can handle a little heat will do. You can also use legos to build a box or aluminum foil that has been sprayed with a mold release also works well.

Melt the ComposiMold and pour over your part. To melt the ComposiMold, follow the direction on the label. Melt in short intervals until you are comfortable with how it melts in your microwave. You can also use a double boiler or a chocolate melter.

A toothpick or paperclip can be used to pull bubbles away from any areas where bubbles may stay such as in undercuts or sharp corners. In this case, we expect bubbles to adhere to the neck area and below the beak.

We don’t show it in this video, but the ComposiMold is cooled rapidly by placing it in the freezer. It took approximately 30 minutes to cool, but to ensure it was very cold before pouring in the urethane resin, we left the mold in the freezer for 2 hours.

You then remove the duck from the mold and spray the inside of the mold with a mold release that is designed for urethane resin.

The ProtoCast urethane resin is a bright white plastic with a demold time of 15 to 20 minutes.

While the mold is still cold, pour in a PrototCast Urethane resin. The urethane is mixed 1:1 by volume.

If necessary, place ComposiMold back into the freezer to keep the mold cold while the urethane is curing. This helps reduce any melting of the ComposiMold from the exothermic reaction from the Urethane. Longer cure time resins have less of this heat.

At this time, the plastic duck is made. You can remelt the mold to make a new mold, or you can make another casting with the ComposiMold mold.

Here we also show the plastic duck made with ComposiCast urethane resin. It works the same way. Be sure to keep the mold cool if necessary throughout the process.

• The keys to success for a urethane casting is to use Bubble Buster when making your mold
• Keep the ComposiMold cold throughout the process
• Use a mold release designed for urethane resin and make sure it is completely dry.
• And if possible, use longer cure time resin systems.

Thank you!

For More Information visit: 

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“Pushing” the Limits of PowerMold with Shapelock

In our quest for new and interesting casting materials we have found another to use with PowerMold:

 Shapelock is a plastic that becomes putty-like when melted in hot water and becomes rigid at Room Temperature. It is similar to InstaMorph and several others made from polycaprolactone plastic. It turns clear when it is in rubbery form and cools to a white slippery, hard, plastic.

So the question to answer: PowerMold works great as a push mold for clays, but can PowerMold be used to make push molds with Shapelock while at 160 F? And since we are reporting it, (spoiler alert) the answer is, yes.

Shapelock molded with PowerMold

 Thank you to Steve at Eepy Bird for making us aware of Shapelock. He saw it at the Maker Show in New York last year.

 The process:

Make your mold from PowerMold by melting in the microwave and pouring over your part you are duplicating. Start with a simple 1-part mold, but you could make more complicated molds by pressing two halves together.

 The mold must be hard to be able to push the Shapelock into the mold. To make the mold stiffer and to allow the PowerMold to handle the temperatures of the hot Shapelock, place the PowerMold in the freezer for a while.

 Push the melted Shapelock into your mold cavity and fill the voids.

Push the casting material into the PowerMold mold

Press the Shapelock into all the crevices while still hot

That’s it. You don’t need a mold release to make the castings.  Since both PowerMold and Shapelock are reusable, you can melt and remelt the PowerMold and the Shapelock to make a variety of shapes.

Shapelock molded with PowerMold

That’s a cool (or hot) ice cream.

Thank you! Please let us know your thoughts, and let us know what Please let us know what you are making!

For More Information visit:

www.ComposiMold.com

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order at www.ComposiTherm.com