Tuesday 26 May 2015

First Impressions

Instant mould - the power of creation is finally in my hands!

I've been hankering after getting some instant mould for a while now. And one too many sessions fishing Play-Doh out of Junior Stylus' mouth finally convinced me to get the grown-up stuff.

It took me ages to shape the right-angles, but I should have a working Jenga set by Christmas 2017

The process of press-moulding is simple, even for a simpleton like me:
  • Throw the mould stick into a bowl of just-boiled water
  • Fetch out the softened stick and mush it up into a blob
  • Press the object into the blob, and leave it there for a few minutes
  • Pry out the object (the material will now have hardened, but be springy enough to peel back
  • (if you're not happy with the press mould at this stage, chuck it back into the boiled water and recast)
  • Press a blob of greenstuff into the new mould and leave to harden


"I'm melting! I'm melting! Oh, what a world..."

This was my first attempt - shoving a Troll's face into the mould. It captured the detail very well, albeit I couldn't get any of the peripheral stuff (like ears) into the mould. That may be a limitation of press-moulding, or maybe I just need more practice.


This one (the side of a boar chariot) was a little trickier than just shoving a face into the mould. The details have been captured perfectly, but the shape itself is a bit warped. I suspect this is because I held the mould in my hands when pressing it, rather than shoving it down against a flat surface.

So just the first two test cases here (both of them discards). The real proof of how this holds detail will be when I paint them, but whenever I do some of my own sculpting in the future, I now have a way of preserving the design. It also opens up the possibility of using 'real-life' materials (wood, stone, brick) to get some more interesting textures.

Time to buy more green stuff!


Disclaimer: another limitation of press-moulding is a legal one. Using this stuff to recast a miniature, even for non-commercial use, skirts dangerously close to GW's Intellectual Property claims. So trying to build a unit of Greatswords on the cheap is a definite no-no.

3 comments:

  1. DIYWFB. Who could ask for anything more?

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  2. So, wait, are the moulds reusable? Can you cast with it a couple of times, sling it back in boiling water and do something new? Or does it set permanently once cold?

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    Replies
    1. Once softened, you can only get one cast out of it (or the same design - as many copies as you like), because it cools and hardens within minutes.

      But when you're done with it - throw it back into boiled (not boiling, unless you want a primordial soup) water and it squashes down into a malleable putty again.

      So yes, theoretically an infinite number of casts.

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