You can place a latex mold into a pot of boiling water for a few minutes, or in the case of molding a rock, leave it on the rock and place it in an oven at 200-degrees for about an hour or two. This heating will Vulcanize the rubber, assisting in fully curing it. The Vulcanization process, removes any of the excess ammonia from the rubber compound, toughening it, and alleviates any chance of the mold sticking to itself. I have molds that are well over 20 years, still producing castings in plaster, thinned Bondo, and even polyurethane resin!
I am planing to make some molds out of tree bark . I have found if you turn it side ways it looks great as a shale type rock face. Do I need to prep the tree bark in any way? Great video. Not for the know it all's but for beginners . And there are lots of us. Thanks.
John. I did a tree b4 with this and it worked great. I used very little liquid soap in a bottle to spray the tree or bark. Not much though. Definitely use the gauze to keep it strong. I used 4 coats total. 2 in the beginning and then gauze then 2more coats. You can also leave in the sun for quick drying and even a warm oven Toaster to warm it up. I sculpted figure heads with this stuff and hydrocal. Good luck
I have made over 20 different rock molds out of tree bark and all I did to the bark was to clean the bark off before gluing the pieces together. I have small molds and very large ones. Each time I de-mold the latex some of the bark comes off and this changes the master so as to be able to make a second one from the first master. I also have put more small pieces of bark on the original master and come up with different molds. I do put the latex into "kitty litter" to hold them flat and this seems to work. It also puts a powder film on the latex keeping it from sticking together.
By the way, I glue the bark onto a piece of plastic and that holds the master fine. I have a plastic shop here in town and they have scraps that are great for this and they cost very little.
how long did you wait for each layer to dry out more or less? Thank you! (im aware it depends on the humidity and temperature of the environment, but i need some guidance please).
Just a question. You said that the rock was from around your place - then how is it that it is so flat on the back and sounds like a molded plastic when you tap it on the table. Lets make it real folks.
Interesting how that rock you found near your house has a flat bottom. Humm? Looks like a fake rock they use to place on exterior walls. I'm not the only one who questioned his story. I also think ,but cant prove it, that his wet water is plain water with alcohol and food coloring. Geez. What sales pitch. I mad rock molds from actual rock formations on my mining claim and I never used wet water or any other release agent. However, it helps strengthen the latex by placing cheese cloth in between each layer. Big difference when it comes to removing the mold. His gauze does the same thing as cheese cloth. Another helpful hint is to make a small sand box filled with playground sand o support your mold while pouring in the plaster. Excellent idea and good demonstration. Well worth watching. Thank you.
Hey man, would this work for making lets say 120 cm x 50 cm mold directly on a part of stone in nature? (Lets play with that its hot 4 days in a row). Would it be possible to make a mold of that size?
So where the heck does this guy actually live then, on the Moon! Who the heck has a rock like that just sitting around outside in the garden? He’s not fooling me, he’s lying through his arse on that one. 😜🤔
