Push-molds

So, I've been experimenting with push molds made out of sculpey after that horrible failure using InstaMold. Having limited success, I've gotten to the point I can now cast some decent shapes I can actually use:


This is another try at making a pinky style head, this time using a push mold. As the mold isn't flexible, there can't be any undercuts to the object being cast and it turns out, it's really hard to remove an object from the mold. I've tried dusting with baking powder and using cooking spray as some forms of release, both which sort of work, but have their issues.

What seems to work best so far is simply boiling it. After pushing the sculpey into the mold, boil the whole thing for 10 minutes and the cast will partially cure. Once cooled, it actually had dislodged itself from the mold and was easily removed without deforming. The surface texture isn't so great though, but that might be because I used Sculpey III and not the super smooth kind. In any case, it should be easy to fix, like a resin part. The hardest thing is kneading the sculpey into a consistent mixture with no air bubbles or folds. If these are left in the cast, it has a tendency to crack when curing.

Anyway, I had an idea when browsing the pinky mods, so I'm planning to use this as the start for that project.