Making a mold from Air Dried Clay

Mcloke

I am looking for any advice on offer and will try to be as clear of my needs as I can
I am looking to make an original which I will then be able to make a mold from in order to make exact duplicates of it.
The original will be flat on one side so the mold would end up being similar to taking a mold of a single side of a coin on a piece of wood...ending up like a pop out mold I guess but larger...A6 sized maybe.
So my question is can I use air dried clay to make my original or would something like polymer clay be better, I have no access to a kiln so clay which needs to be fired is no good to me at the moment. I presume the original would need to be sealed...any suggestions of what to use would be great. Would latex or silcone or something else entirely be best for making the mold, detail and durability would be important factors.
I would really appreciate any advice...I have searched the internet but never seem to find my scenario but if I can be directed to a website I am happy to read up on the area. I am also happy to look into books if anyone has any good suggestions of one to read.

Ambersky

From your description of your needs I gather you do not have much experience of modelling or mould making, so pardon me if my suggestions are too basic or off target.
The origional can be made of something as simple as plasticine.
Blocks of plasticine can be bought in most art hobby shops.
Plasticine is more 'plastic' than self hardening clay and once softened with heat and squeezed with your hands is a lovely modelling material.
If you tear if up into strips and leave them laying across a heater it is easier to then soften by hand. You can tear bits off and add them at will.
Ordinary clay can also be used. It is cheap, highly plastic and there is no need to fire your finished piece as you are going to make a mould of it. You do have to keep it moist while working on it so have a little spray water bottle handy and some cling film for covering if leaving it for any time, otherwise it will dry out.

Mould making like modelling can be a bit of an art.
However there are lots of good videos on mould making on YouTube.
Just key in mould making and you will find posted some free lessons.
Try here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHHhyiiCnNQ

Best of luck

Mcloke

Hi Ambersky
You are right in thinking that I have limited experience of modelling and mould making but I do have some experience of using both ary drying clay and polymer clay. I am happy using both materials and to be honest I want an end product which is hard...plasticine unless I am very much mistaken will never harden.
My problem is making the mould...I am not sure which material would be better air drying clay or polymer clay and what to seal it with before using something like latex or silicone. I have searched youtube in the past and although there are some great vids on there...I was looking for some first hand experience of using air drying clay or polymer clay and then making a mould from them.
If air drying clay can be sealed and moulded from (which I see no reason why not but I don't know that for sure), I think at the moment that would be best for me as it is pretty cheap...easy enough to work with and I don't need the colours that come with polymer clay...although I own some sculpey (polymer clay) which is a pale pink colour.
Thanks for your help though....maybe I should just do some trial runs and see which works best

Ambersky wrote: »

From your description of your needs I gather you do not have much experience of modelling or mould making, so pardon me if my suggestions are too basic or off target.
The origional can be made of something as simple as plasticine.
Blocks of plasticine can be bought in most art hobby shops.
Plasticine is more 'plastic' than self hardening clay and once softened with heat and squeezed with your hands is a lovely modelling material.
If you tear if up into strips and leave them laying across a heater it is easier to then soften by hand. You can tear bits off and add them at will.
Ordinary clay can also be used. It is cheap, highly plastic and there is no need to fire your finished piece as you are going to make a mould of it. You do have to keep it moist while working on it so have a little spray water bottle handy and some cling film for covering if leaving it for any time, otherwise it will dry out.

Mould making like modelling can be a bit of an art.
However there are lots of good videos on mould making on YouTube.
Just key in mould making and you will find posted some free lessons.
Try here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHHhyiiCnNQ

Best of luck