Small Mold Cores

Tucker Marder

Hello!,

I am making a silicone puppet similar to the one in David Monzingo's course and I am wondering when he is casting the skull core how did he smooth out the seams in his clay layup in a mold that you cant reach your hand into when it is shut? 

Any incite would be greatly appreciated,
TM

Chris Ellerby

Hi Tucker,

We'll reach out and get that answer for you!

/Chris

Chris Ellerby

Hi Tucker,

Here is David's answer for you:

Hey Tucker,

The short answer is: you don't.

If you can't get down into your mold to eliminate the seam in your clay lay-up, you go ahead and cast your core up and then worry about cleaning up the seam after the fact. You'll want to be sure that you use a lot of mold release though so that whatever excess material gets past your clay lay-up won't bond to your mold. You can never use too much mold release!  This is a painful lesson everyone learns the first time they have something stick to a mold.

Once you get your core out of the mold, you can grind down the "flashing" that makes up the seam and contour the core into a smooth, seamless shape. You can then mold your core to generate duplicates of it, if necessary.  (It usually is.)

Hope this helps!  Best of luck with your puppet.

Cheers,

~DM

/Chris

Tucker Marder

Thanks Chris!