1: Mold Test

First mold test today! Small trial to see how well I can capture the texture off a piece of brick veneer. If it goes well, I'll be doing a whole brick this way, to be used in a small run of sculptures.

Here's a link to the actual silicone rubber product I'm using, which includes a short demo video of the mold-making process.

And my specific set-up, all on a drop cloth over a section of floor that can take it:

In the back row, some plastic vessels for mixing along with a couple paint/mixing sticks, and the two-part mold mix in a small disposable tray.

If you watched the video, you'll note they had a vacuum machine to suck the air bubbles out of the mold mix. I do not have such a machine, but was able to rig up a substitute using a vacuum (temporarily) duct-taped to a small hole in the bottom of a cheap plastic party bowl. (Worked pretty good, but we'll see how well the thing actually turns out tomorrow after its 24-hour set time.)

In the front, a kitchen scale used to measure the two parts of the mold mix; it needs to be as close to a 100:3 ratio as you can get it, and I had pre-measured how much in grams would be needed to cover my object, so the kitchen scale can also give how close you are to the total needed. In the blue plastic Solo bowl, my piece of brick veneer, hot-glued to the bottom — in today's run, no need to tidy up that messy glue-edge, as I just need to see what the mold does with the top texture. 

And some rubber gloves, worn at all times along with the safety goggles I already had on. It's a short process and I had an open space, so I didn't worry about fumes today, but this is strong-smelling stuff and if you were working with it in larger quantities, for more time, or in a closer space, I'd probably recommend a filter mask as well.

And after a frenzy of activity, the bottom of my mold, setting up for tomorrow: