Mold making and Casting products through EnvironMolds, LLC

Mold making does not necessarily require specialized materials like alginate, clay, ceramic, polyurethane resin, silicone rubber or latex rubber for capturing the details of an object in molds. Even sand can be used to make molds of your choice.

Sand molds are paticulary useful in foundry casting as they can withstand the high temperatures of molten metals. However, regular sand will not do. You need fine grained sand for making sand molds – a 100 mesh is used to strain the sand particles.

This brings us to the question – while the fine sand can be poured into or around an object before being compacted to capture its shape and details, how will the sand particles harden and solidify to form a usable mold?

Well, the compound sodium silicate or water glass is used as a binder to glue the sand particles together.It is added to dry, clean sand and mixed.You can either mix by hand in a small container or use a sand mill for larger quantities. The mixture has to be cured with carbon dioxide gas which will activate the water glass to bind and set the sand.

You can always use ArtMolds Sodium Silicate solution that is available by both pints and gallons. All you need is 3% - 4% by weight. This is a high strength binder and will make the sand molds extremely strong and resilient.

Sand molds are normally used in manufacturing industries for casting metal objects. Molten metal is poured in the sand molds and solidifies to form the final object!

Of all the mold making materials, I really like silicone mold rubber for my mold making and casting works. Silicone rubber is definitely a very versatile material as it can be used to reproduce almost anything.

The molds come out very detailed as silicone is primed to capture the minutest of details in full clarity. They are flexible and can be used as you wish. Apart from being easy and safe to use, silicone rubber molds turn out to be quite long lasting. You can continue to use the same mold for reproducing casts again and again which kind of puts paid to the higher cost of silicone rubber.

What’s more, the same silicone rubber compound can double up for both mold making and casting works. Indeed, the same silicone can be used for making casts as easily as for molds! However, the only point is that as silicone does not stick to anything apart from itself, I do not prefer to make silicone molds and casts of the same object!

Of all the varied silicone mold rubbers available in the market, my particular favorite is the Five Minute Molding Putty offered by the house of EnvironMolds. The product stands up to its name as I can make a traditional silicone mold or cast very quickly and easily, that too without using a box. I use it often for making quick impressions and also for food molds as it complies with FDA standards.

Enjoy mold making and casting!

You couldn’t be more mistaken if you thought EnvironMolds was just about supplying art materials for making quality latex molds, plaster casting or life casting along with the tools and equipment needed for them.

EnvironMolds truly supports art and artists in every sense of the word. The company, under the aegis of noted life caster, Ed McCormick, does everything from providing instruction materials and organizing workshops to spreading awareness about the beautiful art of life casting.

In a bid to support fine life casting artists and build confidence in their abilities, EnvironMolds makes selective purchases from the artists’ life casting works and displays them in ‘The ArtMolds Collection’. Some of the artists whose works are currently on display are Jamie Brick, Roy Butler, Brent Cairns, Richard Tilloston, Seth Wolfson, MurSyeir and so on.

Their beautiful works like the Brennangel, Bisque Torso, Within Reach, Half Time, Metro Man and Communion occupy pride of place along with McCormick’s own works like the Las Crusix. You will be pleased to know that most of these works have been created (at least in part) by using the studio quality products manufactured and sold by ArtMolds.

Anybody can log on to the ArtMolds website and view these amazing works in ‘The ArtMolds Collection’. For those who want to know more about a particular artist, helpful links are provided to every artist’s website and his other works, wherever available. Viewers can also click on the pictures of the life casts to view the creation in all its beauty!

Latex rubber is being used just about everywhere. This natural ingredient derived mainly from rubber trees is used for making balloons, chewing gums, gloves, band-aids, catheters, condoms, swimming caps, sporting goods, mattresses and skin tight clothing, to name a few. Now even synthetic versions of latex are being developed and used mostly in the tires and components industry.

Latex rubber plays a special role inthe art world. Liquid latex is made by combining latex with water and a bit of ammonia and enjoys great usage in mask making and special effects makeup (like natural looking wrinkles, scars and gashes).

Latex has a natural ability to shrink around any object and can therefore capture the finest details with great ease. This proves especially useful in reproducing anything by way of casts and molds. It works as a wonderful adhesive too.
Other things that work in favor of liquid latex is that it is durable, long lasting and one of the least expensive mold making materials. Therefore it is very commonly used for making latex molds for casting plaster, polyester resin or urethane parts. Thin skin latex products like masks and other props can be very effectively and easily made with liquid latex. The masks capture a realistic look and latex paints can be used to make them all the more believable.

In sum, latex rubber is a very versatile and useful product for artists and well as other industries!

And viola! Now no one can even say that a leg has been replaced from the lovely table!

The ArtMolds website is renowned for providing access to an exhaustive range of mold making, casting and life casting products, supplies and equipment along with useful books, videos and workshops on everything to do with clay modeling, mold making and life casting.

To further expand its utility, the website has recently revamped its look and added a useful Teachers Section as well. This is especially useful for Visual Arts teachers and consists of the following sections:

• The Lesson Plans section comprises of national standards based lesson plans that facilitate cross-curriculum learning by enabling teachers to combine art with other subjects like history, science, technology and social studies. It includes fun projects on encapsulation and preservation, paleontology, wizardry, Punk’d art and much more.
•  There is a Students Kits section that provides school kits containing all the materials for a lesson plan and can easily suffice for up to 25 students.

• A specially dedicated Teacher Discounts section offers an attractive 15% discount on the website prices. Teachers can even call EnvironMolds to seek assistance with their project ideas or lesson plans.

• An interesting section on Project Ideas is in the works and will be active very soon. It will provide interesting ideas for clay modeling, casting and life casting that can be done by students in the classroom itself.

Quite useful, isn’t it!