Foam latex in silicon

Laurent Huet
Laurent Huet ✭
in Lab work
Hello
For a show, I have to mold à pig with silicone and cast it in foam latex.... for budget reason, I would like to run the foam latex, straight into the silicone mold whiteout going through the plasticine casting step in the silicone to make a plaster or resin mold....
my questions are :
- Is it possible to run foam latex (monster maker) in silicone mold and in which conditions ?
- Is it better in curing or platinum silicone ?
- is it better to wait few days for the silicone to stabilise or o put it in an oven before ....?
- Will there be more steam lake possibilities with silicone than with plaster or resin ?
- is it better to inject or stamping latex foam in a silicone mold ?

thanks for your answer 
regards
Laurent 

Answers

  • Chris Ellerby
    Chris Ellerby Admin
    Hi Laurent,

    You can run foam in silicone.  While I've seen it done, I've never tried it myself.  Typically it's best to cast flexible materials in a rigid mold, but I can understand the desire to save time/expense by going right from your silicone mold.  As long as you have a nice rigid mother mold you should be able to keep things from deforming too much.

    Monster Maker's PDF instructions do mention running their formula in silicone molds in the "Requirements" section.  https://www.monstermakers.com/content/pdfs/MMFoaminstructions.pdf

    Tin cure or platinum cure silicones should both work.  As far as waiting, I don't think that would have much of an impact, but that's just my best guess having not run foam in silicone.

    I would not imagine there being more steam trapping than resin molds, since both resin and silicone are not permeable.  Dry stone molds can help absorb some of the moisture build up to prevent or lessen laking, but even then it can happen. 

    As far as injection vs stamping it in, that is likely more a matter of personal preference and how your mold is laid out.

    Anyone on here ever run foam in silicone?

    Best of luck, and I hope you can share your results with us!

    /Chris

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