I tried out two types of new moulding techniques last night.

The first was using a plaster like mix to create cheap blank moulds for carving, as an alternative to soapstone. The plaster needs some more experimentation, it seems to not heat up like the soapstone, and whilst being more insulative for larger pools of molten metal, it takes the heat out fast enough to stop the flow. This I shall continue to experiment with, as I want to develop a small paired blank mould that I can mass produce easily and use for teaching.

The second was the RTV Silicon moulds I was playing with in my last post. The RTV mould stuff is fantastic, and I’m annoyed that I didn’t actually try it sooner, like about a year ago when I discovered the stuff. I need to get myself some small to medium sized kitchen scales so that I can more accurately measure the ratio of compound to catalyst, and I need to remember to mix it more thoroughly, but the detail that can be achieved with this stuff is fantastic. Unfortunately my cutting out skills aren’t as good as my carving skills, and I ended up making an error that later cased the failure of the mould. Just a small failure, but one that noticeably modifies the end product. The first casting from the mould was reasonably detailed, but the third started to get more detailed as the mould started to warm up. This is great stuff, and when I can work out a better method of making the moulds I shall start making saleable items this way.