In this project we wanted to come up with a creative way to customize my daughter's dresser. So we cast 6 white pony knobs. They work great, and were a really fun project. Hope you enjoy.

Step 1: Make a Mold of Your Toy

This was my first time making a mold. I learned a lot in the process.

First step was to choose a toy that would be a reasonable by fun size for a drawer pull.
My daughter chose a pony she got from a kid's meal. Then we had to cut off her tail. and hot glue her feet to a small piece of foam board.

Step 2: Add the Rubber Mold Mixture

I'm not going into super detail here, as I am just learning and since there are really good tutorials on casting. We used a dollar store piece of foam board and cut a small box to fit around our toy. Then hot glued these pieces together. Filled up the container with the rubber mold compound and waited for it to set up.

Then we cut the mold in half leaving it still connected around the head, and removed the original toy.

Step 3: Cast a New Toy

Getting this mixture just right was part of my struggle. The first few I cast were pure white, then the next 2 I cast were more transparent. So be patient and measure your part A and part B to be as equal as possible.

Step 4: Make More Ponies

Pouring the plastic resin into the mold was really fun. I picked up some tricks on getting the liquid to get into all the wings, and legs and details of the toy. We used a long wooden skewer like you can roast marshmallows with. This works well for getting into the crevices, and making sure the plastic fills the mold properly.

I also wrapped the mold back into the box from the previous step with some painters tape to give it some rigidity while drying.

Step 5: Paint Them All White

Since not all of the casts came out exactly the same color we spray painted them all the same shade of white so they would match nicely. Then made new tails for them out of white ribbon.

Step 6: Mount Them to the Dresser

Last step find some screws that will self tap the plastic and are long enough to protrude from the drawer face about 3/8" that will give you some clearance to bite into the toy and still give the pony some depth on the dresser.

Step 7: Fail and Learn

Before we began this project my first thought was to 3D print each knob, this might have worked and been a fun project. However while at MakerFaire in Austin we met someone who took the time to walk through the mysteries of mold making. It was so intriguing that I ordered a kit on our way back to Houston and we practiced our way into this fun project.

Tips I learned along the way:

1. make sure your box seams are straight and glued tight.

2. make sure you leave enough room to bury your original object at least a 1/4 inch under the top of the rubber mold.

3. make sure to measure the parts to be as close to equal as possible, I lost a batch because it completely hardened in just 30 seconds before I could pour it.

4. be patient, and have fun!

Mold making and casting is way more fun than I thought it would be I already have a ton of new ideas for what to cast next. Thank you for your time.