Over the past two weeks I have tried several brands of silicone mold material, and different types of plastic. After trying many of each I have found what is best for my latest work which is transforming my ceramic hand built sculptures and figurines into clear candy colored plastic toys.

I was using several brands but the products I’ve decided to go with are both from one source: Smooth-On.com is my favorite resource for all things plastic. They have tons of how to videos on each product they sell. It is easy to see what items may be best for your project.

Here is what happened to me: from the start I was going to make silicone molds (no toxic release spray needed with silicone), but I started out with making poured molds with a product called OOMOO, and I ended up throwing away almost all the molds I made with OOMOO because it would trap bubbles in the details of my original art I was making molds of. I would wait, remove the original only to find that the mold was not perfect. I would just throw it away.

Surfing the instruction videos at Smooth-On.com gave me the knowledge of silicone molds that can be painted on, and rolled off after it’s dry. It’s called Rebound 25. Wow. It is the paint on stuff that works for me. I don’t get any bubbles on the surface of my art because I paint the first few layers of the mold, and get the goo into every crevice, nook, and cranny. The mold just rolls up and off the art. They call it a glove mold, but I call it a condom mold because I’ve never rolled a glove like that ever…

The condom mold is thin. If you make it too thick it doesn’t stretch as easy. Each mold requires the ability to guess how much stretch it will need to get the finished piece out, and only make it thick where it needs little stretch. Too thin will rip, so learning the material may take a few molds depending on how deep the undercuts are on your art. The Rebound 25 can be thickened with a chemical thickener: Thi-Vex so be sure to get that with the Rebound 25 to make it stay where you put it. I make holders for the mold out of empty containers. I just cut the bottom and allow the mold to sit in it level ready for pouring. Put something under to catch drips. Wear gloves and all that safety stuff. Read the labels and warnings.

I wanted clear candy colored plastic, so I am using Smooth Cast 325, and So Strong colors, all from Smooth-On.com as well. The Smooth Cast plastic pours fast and easy, it is so thin, and hardens in 10 minutes. When you remove Smooth Cast from the Rebound 25 silicone mold, the plastic is soft like a gummy worm. In an hour or two it will become very hard. The soft stage makes removing from the mold easy, because it will bend without breaking. I find the plastic is easiest to hand tool with a craft knife before it gets too hard, so I try to pour, remove from mold, and tool before the hour is up.

If you have any questions about making home made plastic toys, just ask.

Pivnik Brothers go for a ride. Plastic toys by J.E.Moores.

Pivniks.com - visit Pivnik Farm.

You can get these nifty art toys at:

http://JEMTOY.com

Sweet Dick Pivnik Plastic Figurines! I need to make another mold since I blew out this one after only 5 Pivniks. This past week I did a bunch of experiments on ways I can make Plastic Toys at home. I got all my ideas from the videos at Smooth-on.com - which really gave me confidence I could do this. So far my best technique is to make a Terra Cotta clay original, Bisque and Glaze fire it in my kiln, then when I make a silicone mold of the original, I have a perfect glassy surface so my toys come out of the mold shiny as glass. The other toys were molds of Sculpey Bake and Bend, but it casts to a dull surface reproducing even the fingerprints in the Sculpey. Making a glazed ceramic original adds a couple days to my process, but Sweet Dick proves that shiny is the way to go so you get all the vibrant color of the smooth plastic. Soon I’ll make another mold and cast some more Pivniks because I know you all want one.