silicone application

After Sculpting my clay, I was ready to mould. The mould application was quite an intense procedure and took up the whole 4 hr studio session, and for me even that wasn't long enough as my mould hadn't dried before the end of class.


What you Need:

• Silicone A
• Silicone B
• Deadner
• Petrolise
• Fixer Spray
• Alcohol
• Spatulas
• Gloves
• Glue Gun
• Pigment
• Scales
• Measuring cups

Firstly I sprayed fixer spray and petrolise to my clay sculpt and waited for it to dry. Once dry I cut the end off one of the measuring cups and placed over my sculpt. Using the glue gun I glued the cup in place ensuring it was firmly down. Once dry I was able to apply my silicone. 

When mixing silicone A & B you need to ensure the silicones do not become contaminated.

According to my mould my teacher helped my work out that I'll need 20g of each silicone, I placed a measuring cup on the scale, and set to zero. 

Wearing a fresh set of gloves and using a spatula marked 'A' decanted 20g of silicone a to the cup, I then did the same measurement of silicone B using a fresh set of gloves and a fresh spatula as the two silicones will not set if contaminated.

I then mixed the two together, tapping the cup to get rid of any bubbles and poured over the clay sculpt and waited for it to dry, this procedure can take a while. 

Once completely dry I took the silicone away from the clay. Bits of clay was trapped in the silicone so I cleaned it throughly with isopropyl alcohol and cotton wool. 

Once the the silicone was cleaned I added 2parts alcohol to 1part super baldiez to a new measuring cup mixed and tapped to get rid of air bubbles. Using a disposable brush I applied 2-3 layers over my silicone and wired for it to dry.

The last part I felt was the hard part, mixing the silicone with the deadner. The deadner needed to be 60-70% of the silicone and pigment. As I don't my mould at home I needed to purchase pigment from Charles Fox. The lovely customer service team advised that I could use eyeshadow instead. I think the eyeshadow matched a flesh tone really well.

Once completely dry I added a fair amount of talk to the mould. Using a disposable brush I gently pushed the talc into the mould where the edges began to lift. Once it had lifter enough I gently pulled it out. 

The mould is then ready to apply to the model.