Decoding Casting by Way of Mold Making

The making of a casting has its roots in mold making. We trace the journey of learning how to make a negative mold before progressing to making casts there from. Delightful wonders will enfold enroute!

Castings are a lovely form of reproducing an original model that has captured the imagination or is calling for duplicates. The beauty of castings is that they don’t have to follow the same material of the original. Casting artists have the liberty to play around with the material and can make the cast with different products like plaster, gypsum, polyurethane resin, latex rubber, silicone rubber, etc. What’s more, they can even simulate the look of wood, marble, granite, iron, steel, copper, brass, aluminum, etc. using cold casting powders.

However, it cannot be denied that the base for casts rests in mold making. A mold is nothing but a negative impression of the original model. It is designed to capture the contours, indentations and undercuts of the model in the form of a hollow cavity. The casting material is filled in the mold and cures to form a spitting reproduction of the original model.

The same concept is used to make life casts of the live human body. Any part of a person – from the face, hands and feet to the abdomen, hips, breasts or torso can be reproduced in the form of a three-dimensional life cast. The difference here is that the life casting artist will use skin-friendly materials for making the body mold before proceeding to the casting.




Learning to make molds and casts


It is the quality of the mold that will dictate how the final cast will turn out to be. Therefore, artists have to first imbibe the art of how to make a mold. There are varied methods and materials at the artist’s disposal. A judicious choice will incorporate the right technique with the best material to get an excellent mold.

Here, the artist has to keep different factors in mind before working on shaping the mold making material to capture the form of the model in its entirety. The molds can be made in one part or more. The technique can be block mold or blanket mold which again begets different methods like glove molds, brushed molds, slush molds, injection molds, etc.

There is a need to seal the model, use a release agent and allow for proper setting/curing of the mold. After demolding, both the model and mold will have to be cleaned. The mold may even need to be finished by scraping or adding some material to get the shape exactly right. At times, a shell mold is essential for encasing molds of a flexible nature.

Finally, the mold is ready and can be used for casting. This process again opens a choice of different materials. The casting material is usually poured directly into the mold, but it may have to be deaired first to eliminate the possibility of unsightly bubbles.

The casting is easy to demold and can be finished before using as desired!
 

 

From Casting to Life Casting and More!

 

Casts are a part of our everyday life even without us realizing it. They have many practical purposes and are largely used in manufacturing. Artistic casting draws on the same principles of mold making and casting. However, the intention here is to create works of art that have an aesthetic vibe and look pleasing to the eye. Many of them are mounted on a base and finished with a brass name plate to give a more professional appearance.

In fact, many of the art works on display in galleries are castings. The process starts with making a mold. This is nothing but a negative impression of the final cast. It can be made from an existing master that has to be reproduced. However, all castings are not always reproductions.

Artists often create a clay model of the sculpture or casting they have imagined. This is easy to shape and work on as it can be modified as required. A mold is made of this initial model before casting the same. Therefore, it becomes a kind of secondary casting that will be made in the artist’s material of choice. Casts can be made of diverse materials like plaster, gypsum, wax, polyurethane resin, silicone rubber, latex rubber and more.

It is even possible to make them in metal, wood or stone. This doesn’t have to be the original material; recreating a faux copper, bronze, silver, marble, porcelain, wood or other appearance is possible by using cold casting powders.

Therefore, casting is an artist’s haven that becomes an extremely creative medium even as the results are satisfactory and even extraordinary at times!

Making life casts possible

Casting is not limited to inanimate objects alone. Innovative artists have extended this medium to making three-dimensional reproductions of humans as well. Life casts of the hands, feet, face, torso are very popular and are used in many ways to commemorate or capture life events. Group castings are also created with couples, parent-child, friends and the like.

As mentioned earlier, the technique is similar – first make a mold of the part of the body that is to be life cast. The difference here is in the level of care and attention as a living and breathing person will be involved. The model has to be prepped for the session and the materials should not harm him/her in any manner. Alginate and skin-safe silicone are the best materials to use here.

Once the body mold is ready, casting is quite a straightforward process. It is usually made of plaster that can be finished and displayed as required. Life casting artists proudly finish their creations with name plates engraved with the details of their work!

EnvironMolds (https://www.artmolds.com/) is a one-stop shop for everything to do with mold making, casting and life casting.

All You Need to Know about the Flexible Silicone Paint

 

Silicone paint is an amalgamation of silicone and oil-based paint. One of the most important characteristics of this paint is flexibility. Yes! You read it right. It is the presence of silicone powder, a flexible component, which makes the paint supple. Apart from that, other ingredients include silicone oil, silicone resin (a polymeric inorganic compound), etc.

You can find this paint in wide-ranging color varieties and is mostly applied to coat or decorate a surface. It, being masonry paint is possible to apply onto preexisting silicone-based or mineral base render and obtain great results. It is impervious to pollutants, very permeable, and hydrophobic. These silicone paint characteristics examine how well-suited it is for usage in a humid atmosphere at home. It is resistant to extreme heat and hence, can be effectively used on heaters, electrical insulations, smokestacks, and stoves. Also, in order to set the paint, it requires high-temperature heat and is highly defiant to chemical attack.

Uses of silicone paint

These paints are highly suitable for silicon substrates like phones, copying machines, laptop keypads, telephones, remote control, and numerous other home appliances. Moreover, silicone products can be decorated too, such as tubes, mobile covers, tableware, sound cases, silicone parts, seal kits, and many more. This is because silicone-based paint always requires a silicon surface for the property of adhesion to act.

Another significant application of silicone-based paints can be seen in manufacturing and consumer markets. Coatings made of silicone are employed in a diverse range of industrial processing processes. For instance, tire producers utilize silicone-based coatings to ensure quality through consistent molding yield performance. For the shipping sector, paints with silicone additives improve vessel efficiency by increasing speed and reducing fuel consumption and do away with the need for conventional antifouling paints made of harmful ingredients. Silicones are used by manufacturers of industrial paint to increase adhesion, waterproofing, and durability in harsh environments.

From technological fabrics to airbags and leather goods, silicone coatings are used in a wide range of consumer products and purposes to give them the necessary properties for every product, also, the desired look and feel.

Characteristics of silicone-based paints and coatings

Paintings and coatings made of silicone maintain surfaces, add functionality, and enhance their aesthetic appeal. They are preferred over other substances due to their technical, mechanical, and flexible qualities:

  • Supplied in a variety of forms, including liquids and elastomers, they are simple to apply and are suitable for a wide range of purposes.
  • Complies to satisfy customer demand and industry norms, that is, products must be secure and non-toxic
  • Resistance to weather elements
  • Non-sticky
  • Able to withstand harsh chemicals and environment
  • Water-resistant

Which silicone-based pain to use?

Cirius silicone paintsoffered by EnvironMolds, is top-notch quality silicone paint. The product can be used on both platinum and tin-based silicone surfaces. Available in ten different colors, including Quinn Blush and many quantities, this silicon dye is availed by artists and professionals from all over the world to enhance their work of creativity. Therefore, it is the most favored silicone dye for globally recognized A-graded projects and assignments.

For more information, contact EnvironMolds, LLC.

Phone: (866) 278-6653

Why Alginates are the Best Mold Making Material?

Alginate, a recognized component for various professions and industries, has a special use in life casting. The element is highly employed in the impression-making of body parts. Even though its origin from seaweed might lead to allergies, using good quality products can reduce the odds.

Have you ever heard of alginate? If not, let me start from scratch.

Basically, a naturally existing, palatable polysaccharide found in brown algae is Alginic acid, often known as Algin. It is hydrophilic and when hydrated turns into a gum with high viscosity. Its salts are defined as alginates when they comprise metals like sodium and calcium. It might be yellowish or white color. It can be purchased in various forms like powdered, filamentous, or granular states.



What’s so special about this component?


As alginate absorbs water fast, it can be used as an addition in dehydrated items, like slimming aids, and in the production of paper and textiles. In the culinary business, it is used as a thickening ingredient for beverages, ice cream, and cosmetics, and as a gelling agent for jellies. It is also used to waterproof and fireproof materials. To create a substitute for meat for vegans, soybean flour is combined with sodium alginate.

Alginates are also employed in pharmaceutical processes. Furthermore, they do not interact with reactive dyes and wash off quickly; hence, sodium alginate is used in reactive dye printing and as a thickening for reactive dyes in textile screen printing.

To speed up the healing process, calcium alginate is used in wide-ranging medical goods, including skin wound dressings. It may also be removed more comfortably than traditional dressings.

But, we are still yet to know about the interesting part of its application.

Impression-making in life casting


Well, you reached here; this was the interesting part I was talking about!

For several years, dentists have used alginate as the ideal substance to create dental molds of their patient's teeth. Alginate's ability to be used on skin and its suitability for young people as a hypoallergenic substance is the major factor in the decision to use it as an imprint material. This amazing substance is utilized to create body parts for prostheses, including limb impressions. As a result, sculptors and other artists began exploring the potential of using this mold-building material for their creations.

Although it is one of the safest methods for creating molds and castings of people's body parts, there remains a very slim chance of developing an allergy because it is comprised of seaweed. However, using A-graded alginate like the MoldGel Alginate SILFREE, can reduce the chances of allergic reactions.

Best alginate products for lifecasting


With all the above beneficial factors, it makes a fabulous option for your beautiful artwork creations. Let me present some of the best alginate products offered by the specialists of life casting, EnvironMolds.

  • MoldGel Alginate Traditional Formula
  • Hollywood Impressions SILFREE
  • MoldGel Alginate Traditional Formula
  • BEST BUY - LifeMold Silica Free Alginate
  • Silica free MoldGel SILFREE Alginate
  • MoldGel Alginate SILFREE

If you have been waiting for all this information, I guess you got your answer now. So, don’t lose time and jump right into your first lifecasting project.