World's Easiest Silicone Mold.

This simple way of silicone mold-making will have you wanting to make casts of all your trinkets and toys.

2021 Edit:

If you are looking to use this mold-making technique to do life-casting or food casting, these molds are not skin-safe or food-safe.

If you want to make a food-safe mold or life-casting, I recommend these kits:

• This food safe silicone putty kit is affordable and good for making small molds for things like lollipops or chocolates.
• To make a reusable mold from somebody's body I highly recommend the SmoothOn Body Double Silk product, if you care less about repurposing the mold, or are just making a one-off, consider using alginate.

THIS ONLY WORKS WITH 100% SILICONE

Supplies

You will need:

• water
• blue dish-soap (any brand seems to work) - do not use clear soap
• 100% Silicone (do not buy quick set silicone, you need 100% silicone I not silicone II)
• bowl or pail
• caulking gun
• something you want to make a mold of
• scissors/knife
• masking tape - to patch holes in your positive, if necessary.

Step 1: Make Your Catalyzing Solution.

By mixing a high-concentration of dish soap with water in a bowl, one is actually making a catalytic bath for your silicone. The glycerine in the dish soap accelerates the cure process for of your 100% pure silicone.

This is by no means an exact science, I use blue dish soap because it allows me to see how much I have added to a water bath, I approximate that I used 4 oz. of soap in 64 oz. of water.

Step 2: Catalyzing the Silicone.

Cut off the tip of the silicone caulk tube, and set it in the caulking gun. Unload enough silicone to surround the desired object, into the bath.

I use the whole tube usually.

Step 3: Preparing the Silicone.

While keeping your hand submerged in the dish-soap catalyzing bath, gently clump the string of silicone together. Form it into a ball, and slowly massage it. Fold it, stretch it out, and work it very much like one would knead dough.

When it begins to become a bit less malleable, and stiffen, it is time to sink your positive into your material. In this case, Mike helped me, and we used his dinosaur, Jesus. (hay-zoos)

Step 4: Make Sure the Mold Is Water Tight.

The best way to make sure your mold is watertight is to add a kind of thick-ish layer of silicone to the surface area of your object. Note how the dinosaur is padded by about a 1/2" layer of silicone all around its body. Also, I have left a considerable amount of the dinosaur uncovered, as I am only casting half of this figure.

You want to make sure you can still wiggle your figure out of your mold, without any of it getting caught, otherwise it can be very tricky to extract once your mold has set.

Step 5: Let It Cure.

It will take about an hour for a full cure of your mold, before you can use it. Allow your object to remain in the mold while it cures. When the mold is no longer tacky to the touch, and feels rigid, gently remove your positive.

We kept this mold on top of the fridge, and put a bit of soapy water down on the plate so that the silicone didn't meld with the paper plate.

Also, this part smells awful. Make sure you do all this in a well-ventilated space.

Step 6: Use Your Mold!

We made a sparkly rendition of Jesus with clear casting resin and glitter. When the resin began to gel we set three LEDs inside of him. Behold the sparkliest light up dinosaur in West!

____

This project uses affiliate links that help me make more awesome DIY projects and tutorials - thanks for your support!

Comments

[HeidiI4]

will making a mold this way make the resin piece shiny and clear? I would like to add flowers to my resin and be able to see it all when it's cured.

[samir zarzour]

Hello
I really want your help
I'm searching for a long time for the right way to make the soft silicone gel at home that's used in mousepads wrist rest
Usual guides like water and soap make it thick not soft like i wanted it
I will be very thankful for your help

[Poppyburner]

Couldn't you just buy clear "thinking putty"?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBEpFIOV270

Then perhaps cast a clear silicone skin around it.

[samir zarzour]

I actually can't buy things online I have to ask some sellers around me get the materials I want
I'm wondering what should I get a silicone rubber 2 part a & b or a 100% silicon tube like this guide
I discovered that i was testing on a regular silicone tube
So what should I get?

[Salinaobrien1660]

I made a mold using this method, however after sitting over night the mold looked great, but after I poured my resin in and applied heat to remove bubbles it made this milky water on top of my resin! I used 100% silicone, what did I do wrong?

[pot.alex8293]

The Ressin has to be of a water base, nornal resin is of a highly Polyethylene solvent therfore reacts negatively on the Silicone base

[cullum.melanie]

I used this method but I had a LOT of bubbles in the mold once it set. Any way I can avoid this? There were no soapy bubbles before I started kneading. And would pure glycerin get the same effect?

[justjoyce]

I tried this pin and followed carefully all directions. My silicone mold did not harden all the way, it is still sticky. I'm not sure what I could have done wrong? Is there anything I can do to fix it?

[jvh24521]

Probably needed to work the silicon in the water longer.

[Schorrstudios]

So to avoid only doing half at a time or not getting a full design mold we use a square container larger than the object we intend to mold. For instance the dino in the picture we would use a solid square box something that will hold the entire project and come up above the object on top. Then when hardened as a square you cut the silicone mold in half all the way around. We make candles and even liquid plastic replicas etc. We fill both sides with wax and let them start to harden but not solidify. Then once hard enough we place the two halves together and they will harden as a solid piece. Now if your using say liquid plastic and such you should try to put them together as soon as possible without it falling out or you'll find you have to add glue or adhesive to adhere them together. We've made some amazing candles using two part silicone molds.

[asdfgNv2]

it looks like your finished clone is a full dinosuar, how did you make the back?

[TzAngels]

Just an FYI...I learned that using latex gloves will stop the silicone from curing and "doing its thing". Make sure you use Nitrile or Vinyl gloves.

[exclusively-amber]

Great tip, thanks to you I was able to fix my problem and I always thought to myself that maybe the gloves are messing you up but still never looked into it. It would have save me a lot of time but bright side is you are saving me even more time.

[glynisambrown]

This is my first project. Can you tell me how to insert a photo into an acrylic globe? Many thanks.

[tlittle3335]

Hi, I am a rookie so please bare with me!!! I bought the amazing mold rubber kit and I have ran out of the catalyst but I have ALOT of the base left... is there anything I can use for the catalyst so I don’t have to waste all of this ? And if so what are the measurements? This was 2oz base with 1/4 fl oz base...( lol that’s why I ran out) oops... (just now realizing that) 😂😂😤 also what is a good (cheap) brand or way to make a lot of pourable molding products? Thank you for the help!!

[SamuelA3]

hey :) the two part catalyst will need to be the same as whatever it came with but it should be on the bottle or info on the manufacturers site. Theyre generally one of a few chemicals so should be too hard to find :)

[aeons90]

Hi, I was wondering if it matters what temperature the water is. I figure it comes down to personal comfort level since the silicone is supposed to be waterproof, but I'm just about to start this adventure and have no idea lol. I apologize if I missed the info in the article or any previous answers. Thank you :)

[usman.akmal]

Can this kind of silicon be used for making 3D objects? Or do I need 2-part silicon which is less thick and can be poured? Thank you.

[audreyobscura]

I would definitely recommend using 2 part silicone for that, and you'll have to use a plastic mold so the silicone doesn't bond to the mold.

I've been using that linked mold material lots of mold release on my cast objects with great results.

[beccadefoor32]

Can you reuse the water for another mold?