Sunday 11 March 2012

Experi-mold: Conclusion

From the first half of the mold, I knew the second half would come apart without any difficulties. 


Upon closer review, the details are horrendously inconsistent! It picked up some super fine lines here and there. BUT, leaving huge gaps and bubbles everywhere. I guess I could have spent some more time and care applying the first coat of silicone. 

I've already gone this far, might as well go through with it and see how it fares at the resin stage. I attempted to fill in some of the bigger gaps. Then coated both halves with vaseline. Again, this is the releasing agent that will (hopefully) separate the resin from the silicone mold.

I should break here and explain what those channels are for. The ones I made a few posts back.
This diagram should explain it a bit better. Once the halves are together, it's difficult for me to make sure the resin gets into every corner. So, the channels are made to 'guide' the resin through. Essentially, making a one-way path for it to travel. The second channel (at the bottom) connects the two lens together. I'll cut it out when it's de-molded. The third channel, the one that's marked "Air out" is for.. well.. the air to escape. If i didn't have this outlet, the air would get trapped, the resin wouldn't be able to displace the air to fill the mold. It's also a good 'window' to use to see when the resin is filling the mold properly. When you see resin come through this hole, you know you're done.


Used the box again for support. I can already feel how unstable the entire hold is at this point. So, I attempted to brace it a bit with some clay here and there.


The resin pour.

and....FAIL!!! As expected, the resin leaked out of the sides. I doubt this silicone mold would have worked if I built a hard mother mold around it. It's just too flimsy. O well, I anticipate this wasn't going to work from the beginning. It was an experiment after all. Only thing I lost is a bit of time, and $3 for the tube of silicone. That's my price for education.

Now, I have to start again!

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