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mold making books/videos?

updated sat 6 apr 02

 

Snail Scott on thu 4 apr 02


At 12:40 PM 4/4/02 -0600, Jeff wrote:
For plaster molds the Donald Firth book is
>pretty good. It is expensive last time I checked however...

Good news for those who passed on the $75 edition: Donald
Frith's excellent book, Mold Making for Ceramics, is now
available in a much more affordable paperback edition.

-Snail

Nancy Silver on thu 4 apr 02


A question for the mold experts (that's molds as in forms, not fungal =
growth) among us, ie: Jeff Longtin, Snail Scott et al. Do you have any =
suggestions on books or videos to help newbies thru the steps of mold =
making. I am especially interested in reusable, ie rubber mold making. =
I've had some introduction, but I'd like develop my skills with more =
specific guidance than my current trial and error, (lots errors) . I =
have a lot of figure models done in a setting where I had to use plastic =
clay (building owner's rule) and I'd like to make molds of the completed =
figures (some of them anyway).

Thanks
Nancy S in cinci

Snail Scott on thu 4 apr 02


At 11:20 AM 4/4/02 -0500, Nancy wrote:
>A question for the mold experts (that's molds as in forms, not fungal
growth) among us, ie: Jeff Longtin, Snail Scott et al. Do you have any
suggestions on books or videos to help newbies thru the steps of mold
making. I am especially interested in reusable, ie rubber mold making.


Well, for plaster molds I know some books, but for
rubber molds, which it sounds like are what you may
need, I don't know of any particular books or videos.
(There may be some; I just don't know of them.)

I can try to answer whatever questions you have,
though.

-Snail

Longtin, Jeff on thu 4 apr 02


Hey Nancy,
For the money I'd have to say the catalog put out by Polytek would be a good
start. It's cheap, it was free for me, and it does a nice job of descibing
various rubber products and their "best use" molding procedures. I don't
have a number but do a search on google and you'll find it. Cementex is
another company producing rubber products that has a really great catalog,
full of instructions and advice. For plaster molds the Donald Firth book is
pretty good. It is expensive last time I checked however. Most clay stores
carry it.
An earlier posting mentioned PinkHouse Studios. I know a few theater/prop
people who like their products. Years ago they sent me sheets of
instructions on how to use their products as well. You could check with them
as well.
By the way, no book can really prepare you for your first rubber mold. If
you have a dispoable piece available I'd suggest you use it to do your
first. Rubber should be simple but its not. You forget to do that one thing
that you really should have done and suddenly its a whole new ballgame, so
be prepared.
FYI, you have two ways you can make a rubber mold: you can either use a
brushable rubber and apply several coats (and then build a mother mold, of
course), or you can creat a mother mold first and then pour liguid rubber
into the resulting cavity. The fragility of the pieces would determine
which technique would work best. The brush technique is nice because you can
gradually build up the mold thickness, however, brushing several rubber
coats is very time consuming. The pour technique is nice because its simple,
pour your solid rubber mold and walk away but its a pain because you have to
cut out your original model. Also realize the pieces will most likely be
lost in the process.
Just go slow and be thorough and you should be fine. Thats all I do. Rubber
never ceases to surprise me though.
Jeff Longtin
Complex Molds Made Easy
a probable ADD candidate, don't have the patience to be tested, who failed
9th grade English (I stared out the window way to much) only to score
"exceedingly" high in English/Grammer on his SAT's and excused from college
English as a result. go figure.


-----Original Message-----
From: Nancy Silver [mailto:nsilver@CINCI.RR.COM]
Sent: Thursday, April 04, 2002 10:21 AM
To: CLAYART@LSV.CERAMICS.ORG
Subject: mold making books/videos?


A question for the mold experts (that's molds as in forms, not fungal
growth) among us, ie: Jeff Longtin, Snail Scott et al. Do you have any
suggestions on books or videos to help newbies thru the steps of mold
making. I am especially interested in reusable, ie rubber mold making.
I've had some introduction, but I'd like develop my skills with more
specific guidance than my current trial and error, (lots errors) . I have a
lot of figure models done in a setting where I had to use plastic clay
(building owner's rule) and I'd like to make molds of the completed figures
(some of them anyway).

Thanks
Nancy S in cinci

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