Human Heart - a Multi Use Mold - Chocolate, Wax, Jello, Resin, Brownies?

Me: “Ok guys after dinner I’m coating my heart in silicone”

*silence and stares*

Wife: “perhaps you should clarify”

Lets step back a day.

Nothing says I love you quite like chocolate.

Nothing says I love you quite like presenting someone with a heart.

Combining the two can get you a gratifying response, just ask all the Valentine’s day companies.

And so with this in mind I began the journey of crafting a human heart from chocolate (and wax, and jello… but more on that later)

Supplies

Clay

Mold making materials - Silicone kit or epoxy depending on your use.

Casting medium - wax, chocolate, jello, resin

Step 1: The Artsy Partsy

Mold a heart from clay. If you don’t have a fresh one in front of you, the internet has a bunch of pictures.

During the artsy stage you need to be sure of 2 things:

1.) it looks like what you want.

2.) it doesn’t have any undercuts that will prevent it from de-molding – silicone is less picky since it’s stretchy. Epoxy is an uppity wench about this though

IMPORTANT NOTE: The first heart I made was from Crayola air dry clay I had around the house. Technically, my kids had it, but they were asleep so using my own version of Eminent Domain it became mine.

Upon further research the next day it turns out that this type of clay may have sulfur in it, which isn’t a big deal EXCEPT that silicone will not cure touching sulfur.

Since I just used my last contest winnings by buying a food grade silicone mold kit (Model 940 Sil from Smooth On) I decided I should restart. Luckily enough I found an unopened packet of sulfur free plasticine clay while cleaning up the garage and thus the second heart was formed.

Alas I refuse to let things go to waste, especially when I’ve spent too much time on them, I made 2 molds. You will get instructions on both in the next couple steps

Step 2: The Mold - or Mould If You're Anywhere Other Than the US

Version 1: Silicone. This is the best way to create a reusable food grade mold. Its simple. But its pricey.

Version 2: Epoxy. Way cheaper. Probably not food grade, reusable but can be hard to de-mold, especially if your model has undercut sections where the epoxy can flow around your heart and lock it in place… don’t do this.

Step 3: HEY! WAIT! I Got a New Complaint /[end Kurt Cobain Voice]

Create a heart shaped box.

Why? Well, because mold making materials are pricey and you want to use as little of them as possible. So you need to contain them.

I used cardboard because we amass a ton of it. So…free. Hot glue works great to connect it all up. You want to COMPLETELY seal the edges because both Silicone and Epoxy will ooze out all over everything.

Think of the glue gun as a caulk gun that’s a royal pain in the ass to use. Use it that way to seal all the edges and smooth the glue joint with your heat resistant equipped finger. Do this by yourself unless your family is used to your swearing.

Put the heart in the box and coat everything in some sort of mold release. Wax, oil, cooking spray, actual mold release…

Step 4: Mixey Mixey Pourey Pourey

Mix the mold material up per manufactures recommendations. The Silicone was by weight. Epoxy was by volume. Pour it into the heart shaped box slowly starting from the lowest point and allowing the goo to ooze its way up your model. This is supposed to help eliminate bubbles.

Alternatively, with the epoxy you can just mix it up super thick and goop it right on top. I used baking flour to thicken it, a lot. It oozed down around the clay heart over the next hour or two before setting

luckily we had some extra silicone and cast some lego chocolate molds for my kiddos.

Step 5: Wait

This part is boring because you know you want to see how it turned out. Resist the temptation.

Step 6: IT’S TIME, IT’S FINALLY TIME!

After waiting the approx. 24hrs it is time to see if you have “GREAT SUCCESS” or wasted a bunch of time and money.

The Silicone should pop right off your model.

The epoxy…maybe not so much. I had to essentially melt the air dry clay out of the mold throughout the day.

Clean everything up. Trim around the opening of the mold getting rid of anything that’s not needed.

Step 7: Pick Your Medium

It’s time to cast. So far I have done Jello (meh), wax (pretty neat) and CHOCOLATE (by far the best)

Mix up/heat up/prepare your medium. Lube up your new mold with a release. Cast it into your mold and…

wait. AGAIN. This is the worst part.

If you use wax, its pretty quick – 1hr maybe. Chocolate took about 2-3hrs because the mold is so deep. Jello took overnight and was so not worth it, especially for us folks who don’t like jello.