Trouble with blue modeling clay mold

Hi Linda,

Im also including a copy of the picture you sent me via email: 

Linda,

Here’s a couple of things that I think you can try differently:

First, the modeling clay is not meant to be used as a mold making material.  The modeling clay is intended to be used to make a model that you would then make a silicone mold from.  Resin sticks to clay very well, so I’m not surprised to see you’re having problems with the clay adhering to your castings.  You can try sanding off the excess clay to make your resin charms wearable.  If you want to use a clay-like material to make molds, I suggest the silicone mold putty.  It’s easy to use and can be found here:  https://shop.resinobsession.com/collections/mold-making-materials/products/alumilite-amazing-silicone-putty-kit

As for the cloudiness, resin will pick up the texture of whatever the surface of the mold is.  Since clay isn’t bright and shiny, a bright and shiny finish will not show up on your resin castings.  As for ideas on what you can try to get your castings shiny, heres a video on our youtube channel that explains a few options: 

https://youtu.be/Wm89lAqDCqo

 Thank you, Katherine.  I will try again!

I, too, was confused about the reusable modeling clay. Despite having used epoxy resin for several years, I almost purchased the blue clay last night but just read this about the clay being for making a model from which to make a mold. I got the impression from the item description, too, that the clay was supposed to be a "reusable" mold itself… as in being able to create a one-time mold using the clay and then pouring the resin into it, popping out the resin item, and then reusing the clay to make yet another different shape of mold. You might want to clarify the wording on the description page for this item.

I am wanting to make my own temporary molds (that would be a slightly different shape EVERY time) for encapsulating dried objects that varied in size/shape. I dont want to have to (a) buy a whole bunch of different silicone or plastic mold sizes (and these dont fit in regular size molds anyhow), (b) create a hundred different hand-made molds for each individual object (which I really cannot do as the items themselves are fragile and would be destroying by trying to make a mold of them), OR (c) end up having to buy generic extra-large molds and then spend forever sanding down the pieces to get rid of the excess resin (which would be both a waste of expensive resin and a waste of time). I want the resin to coat the embedded object and somewhat retain the objects shape without a lot of excess resin surrounding it (e.g., unlike embedding it in a large rectangular mold where it would be surrounded by lots of resin on all sides in a generic 3-D rectangle shape).

Any suggestions? The only thing I can come up with is to use the modeling clay to create as close to a "generic" shaped model (with extra space added so that the embedded item would be sufficiently coated in resin) as possible and then creating a mold from the model. So once I make this model using the clay, how would you recommend I make it into a mold? All of the clay-style molding material Ive used in the past to make molds seem like they would distort/destroy the shape of my clay model as soon as I try to create the mold from the model. Is this an instance where I would need to buy the silicone molding product that you essentially "paint" over the mold? Thanks!

Since it sounds like you have a delicate model, I suggest using the Alumilite High Strength #2 to make a mold of your item. 

https://shop.resinobsession.com/collections/mold-making-materials/products/alumilite-silicone-mold-making-rubber-2 

There is a video on that page that shows how to use the silicone to make a mold.

Thanks! I will check out that option.