Learned something new today about youtube by accident. If you press the numbers on the number pad it jumps to different parts in the video. Its pretty funny when you press 6 and 8. Massage and spanking the mold. Made my day!
i work with silicone molds allot at my daytime job and we usually put 1 / 2 layers of thin coats on the master and after we use a product called tixo, it makes the silicone thicker so you can apply it thicker and make way stronger molds, also instead of cheesecloth as you mention we mix fiberglass in the last thickened layer, and also there is a product to make your layers cure faster , the layers we put cure in about an hour in descent temperatures . At my work we make silicone molds in 2 to 3 layers and i can say you the are very durable :p, hope it helps you, if you have questions you can alwais PM me =) im no master but i know abit of molds as i almost make em daily :p
You can use burlap for making the mothermold instead of plaster bandages. You soak the burlap in water, mix up some plaster, run the wet burlap through the plaster a couple of times to make sure it absorbs the wet plaster and the use it like a bandage. Plenty strong, but it obviously ends up thicker than plaster bandages and isn't as pretty or as simple to use.
Mike I do these molds all the time You have to spread Vaseline over the mold first and then spray over the Vaseline a coat of white paint. This will make the mold come out so easy but you have to do the same thing with each mold. It will not ruin any of the details in the mold
This video just made something occur to me. I make tiling rock textures in Zbrush pretty frequently at work. There's no reason in principle that I couldn't print out a perfectly tiling rock surface that would tile in any direction and have a perfect square edge providing the opportunity to apply the tiles in any direction. It would be trivial to make a variety of features within the tile as well. Hmm.... I shall think on this. 3D printing is expensive, but the flatter it is, the cheaper it is.
you have done the same as me right there, after your very first review of the molds i got my self the wall facing mold, it was smaller than i thought when i got it, so i messed about with it and made up 6 casts of that and am making a master from that, i am going to be using them for the walls of my fortress. i am even going to try and put some thing under each end of the mold to raise it up so i can make curved walls as well, not sure if that's possible yet as i am still working on me latex mold its self. i have chosen the wrong time to make a latex mold as its like -1 degrees celsius here in scotland at the moment and its taking about 9 - 12 hours per coat to cure and thats with trylon latex thickener. both of my projects are held up because of that.
Nice. Glad to see you pursuing that method. I chuckled at the temperature problem. You might try a fan. Even if it is cold, it should help. Interesting on the Trylon. I haven't heard of it before. Checking, it looks like a UK only product. :( Here people tend to use ceco which is a powder. I'll be looking for videos on those molds and casts. One last thing, if you cast the walls in resin/plastic, you can heat it with a blow dryer/heat gun and reshape it. I actually just made some casts where I doubled the thickness of the plastic and omitted the foam backing. It should be easier to mount and shape. I'm not sure about a cost difference for materials, but for me it's all about ease. I've been sanding the foam areas that expanded too much, and I am right sick of that. ;)
Hi Mike! Can you please tell me how the bigger mold is called on Bragdon's site? I spent like an hour rewatching both parts of your review, and looked couple times on Bragdon's page, but i just can't find this particular mold...I hope you can help me
Let me go check the mold... **scurries off to the dark corner of the studio** Took me a second to figure it out. :) It is mold #85 You can see the pic here: bragdonent.com/smpic/cattable.htm And there is another page on the site to actually order it. Hope that helps a little.
Oh, I must have missed that when editing. Because the two cameras are on two tracks, I cut out the opposite camera angle not shown. Perhaps I cut out both by accident. :) It's always something. But thank you for pointing it out. It helps me keep an eye on those things next time.
Learned something new today about youtube by accident. If you press the numbers on the number pad it jumps to different parts in the video. Its pretty funny when you press 6 and 8. Massage and spanking the mold. Made my day!
Interesting. I didn't know about that feature. I can't think of why that would be included? Maybe for the cursor impaired?
Interesting review, Mike. Although I am not doing rock molds, I will keep your assessment of the product for reference. Thanks for sharing.
Glad to help put something in the tool box for later. :)
i work with silicone molds allot at my daytime job and we usually put 1 / 2 layers of thin coats on the master and after we use a product called tixo, it makes the silicone thicker so you can apply it thicker and make way stronger molds, also instead of cheesecloth as you mention we mix fiberglass in the last thickened layer, and also there is a product to make your layers cure faster , the layers we put cure in about an hour in descent temperatures . At my work we make silicone molds in 2 to 3 layers and i can say you the are very durable :p, hope it helps you, if you have questions you can alwais PM me =) im no master but i know abit of molds as i almost make em daily :p
You can use burlap for making the mothermold instead of plaster bandages. You soak the burlap in water, mix up some plaster, run the wet burlap through the plaster a couple of times to make sure it absorbs the wet plaster and the use it like a bandage. Plenty strong, but it obviously ends up thicker than plaster bandages and isn't as pretty or as simple to use.
Neat idea. I wouldn't have thought of that. I like the comment about 'pretty'. :)
Mike I do these molds all the time
You have to spread Vaseline over the mold first and then spray over the Vaseline a coat of white paint. This will make the mold come out so easy but you have to do the same thing with each mold.
It will not ruin any of the details in the mold
In Part 2 of these videos I discuss that very thing. :) I've been doing it since and it works great.
***** Oh, Sorry Bud. I didn't see that one. Your work is absolutely Incredible. HAPPY NEW YEAR !!
*****
Thanks. :)
This video just made something occur to me. I make tiling rock textures in Zbrush pretty frequently at work. There's no reason in principle that I couldn't print out a perfectly tiling rock surface that would tile in any direction and have a perfect square edge providing the opportunity to apply the tiles in any direction. It would be trivial to make a variety of features within the tile as well. Hmm.... I shall think on this. 3D printing is expensive, but the flatter it is, the cheaper it is.
Oooohhh... 3D printing. Nice. If you do that, I want to see a video! :)
you have done the same as me right there, after your very first review of the molds i got my self the wall facing mold, it was smaller than i thought when i got it, so i messed about with it and made up 6 casts of that and am making a master from that, i am going to be using them for the walls of my fortress.
i am even going to try and put some thing under each end of the mold to raise it up so i can make curved walls as well, not sure if that's possible yet as i am still working on me latex mold its self.
i have chosen the wrong time to make a latex mold as its like -1 degrees celsius here in scotland at the moment and its taking about 9 - 12 hours per coat to cure and thats with trylon latex thickener. both of my projects are held up because of that.
Nice. Glad to see you pursuing that method. I chuckled at the temperature problem. You might try a fan. Even if it is cold, it should help. Interesting on the Trylon. I haven't heard of it before. Checking, it looks like a UK only product. :( Here people tend to use ceco which is a powder. I'll be looking for videos on those molds and casts.
One last thing, if you cast the walls in resin/plastic, you can heat it with a blow dryer/heat gun and reshape it. I actually just made some casts where I doubled the thickness of the plastic and omitted the foam backing. It should be easier to mount and shape. I'm not sure about a cost difference for materials, but for me it's all about ease. I've been sanding the foam areas that expanded too much, and I am right sick of that. ;)
Hi Mike! Can you please tell me how the bigger mold is called on Bragdon's site? I spent like an hour rewatching both parts of your review, and looked couple times on Bragdon's page, but i just can't find this particular mold...I hope you can help me
Let me go check the mold... **scurries off to the dark corner of the studio** Took me a second to figure it out. :) It is mold #85 You can see the pic here:
bragdonent.com/smpic/cattable.htm
And there is another page on the site to actually order it. Hope that helps a little.
*****
Thank you Mike! I really appreciate your help! Big Fan from Austria!!
Mike, Don't know if you realize this but there's a blank spot in the middle of the video at about 16:00 to 16:10
Oh, I must have missed that when editing. Because the two cameras are on two tracks, I cut out the opposite camera angle not shown. Perhaps I cut out both by accident. :) It's always something. But thank you for pointing it out. It helps me keep an eye on those things next time.
Mike-Have you ever cast any of these rock faces in place to conform to hills, valleys, etc?
Huzzah Mike.
:)