Moldmaking Show me your hand molds!!

Please forgive me, but I do not have a hand mold made, yet.
I do have this photo of a foot mold.
A. It isn't a flexible mold. Well, it was half plaster and half moulage.
B. I was not casting resin, but carving wax.
C. The feet are about 9cm long, for a 60cm BJD
D. The toes are not separated.
E. The mold in the photo is upside-down. The funnel-shaped pouring cup should be up.

However, I was concerned about air being trapped in the toes.
So my solution to the perceived problem was to do an indirect gravity pour,
and have small air vents coming out of the tips of the toes.
So, while the specifics are not in any way like yours, perhaps the principles might help?

 

I'll get pictures of mine tonight...

Basically, since my hands are less than a cm long on my little guys I realized I wasn't "not" going to get airbubbles....so I instead made placed in my molds to get airbubbles that weren't on my final hand....worked great!

 

Whitewings, if you are getting bubbles in the fingertips, you need to pour the resin, then cover the vents and tap the mold firmly on the table to get the resin into the fingertips. I had the same problem with Briar's fingers when I molded her for Sleetwealth. I was also then using a transparent silicone so I could see the tips and whether or not they had been filled. After you tap the mold check to see if you need to top it up, too.

I mold with the fingers pointing down and pour into the wrist ball.

 

It is amazing to me that the working solution is also one of the simplest !!!
I will try that technique with my upcoming hand molds.
Thanks twigling !!! )

 

No problem! It was devastating to pull out those tiny hands and find the fingertips missing. But covering the holes with something and banging the mold quite firmly into the table, forced the resin into the tips.

Forgot to say, I glove mold the hands and have a slit down either side of the mold, so there are no seams between the fingers (until the mold starts to wear and tear a bit).

 

Seconding tapping the molds. My first casts that I did (with no vacuum or anything) pretty much all came out great as long as I gave each a couple hard taps on the floor (unfortunately I tossed them when I moved or else I'd take pics). I've also heard of people vibrating their molds by setting them on top of their washer or dryer while curing, but I've never done it, and it sounds like a recipe for disaster; although I'm sure there's other ways. Just make sure you have a strong mother-mold, though, or tapping the molds will just cause them to separate and leak.

 

I would second the request for any pictures of this. I havnt successfully cast hands yet and am looking to try again soon. I do have a suggestion I am going to try - fill from the bottom. That is, the fill hole is higher level than tips of fingers and goes down to the palm/ball part, with the hand upright. I got the idea from that forum on model resin casting (whose name I cant now remember) - they case small parts in resin this way with no bubbles etc. Let me come back and edit with a link

#edit - on reflection - its like kw's picture of feet, but for hands you see how she has the fill up the top, higher than the toes, and the resin would fill from the bottom. I am going to try this. The other tip they gave at that forum was to put some talc in the mould..

 

I just molded a brown microcrystalline wax hand in hot-pour moulage (reusable), then cast it in carving wax. After both pieces of the mold were finished, I used an X-Acto knife to carve some air vents from the fingertips, then connected those air vents to an air vent that went to the top of the mold. This carving wax casting will be used on Carving Wax Test Doll. In this case, I made a direct pour into the wrist ball joint. You can see that the carving wax solidified in the air vents before it got too far, but the fingers filled with carving wax. Please excuse the poor quality photo, and the sloppy mold making. Hopefully, it will give you some ideas for designing your own molds?


http://atelierpoupee.blogspot.com/2011/04/moulage-hand-mold-n-5.html

 

air vents

I used an X-Acto razor knife to cut a small "V" into one side of a two-piece mold after both halves of the mold were made. First I cut an air vent from the fingers, then I connected those air vents with the long one that goes to the top. I do agree that cutting moulage is much easier than cutting silicone rubber. But an air vent does not have to be very big. I think an indirect pour works better, with the air vents at the top. But this way has a lot less gating (sprues, runners, gates, vents) than an indirect pour.

 

Woohoo !!!
I'm so happy to hear you achieved some success !!! ) Congrats !!!
Mold making is a craft skill, and it requires lots of practice to get good at it.
Those who succeed, are the ones who work hard, persevere, and have a wee bit 'o luck. :p
The wires inserted into the tips of the fingers sounds like a very clean method. Well done.
Please share some pictures, if at all possible?
I know it is difficult to share pix of a glove mold....
Maybe some pix of the cast hands, with the pouring cup, sprues, runners, gates, etc?
I can glean much information from looking at an untrimmed cast doll part.
Plus, some pix of the molds might be nice, if you have them?
I am always interested in the various mold boxes that people use for their silicone molds.
:arrr