HOW TO: light experimentation

The key of this HOW TO is to modify a solar light to increase its brightness. Essentially it is a simple solution by replacing the rechargeable AA battery with a 9V battery and replacing the single led light with a series of led lights.

side by side comparison




















ABOVE LEFT: the addition of 10 leds and a 12v batter
ABOVE RIGHT: the original brightness of the solar light running off one AA battery

how it was done

HOW TO: silicone mold making

How to create a silicone mold using silicone caulk

This post covers the creation of a 4 part mold for a human form. 2 part silicone 2 part plaster. The idea behind this combination is that the silicone portion of the mold is what comes in contact with the cast object and the plaster holds the silicone in position.




Preperation
Source silicone
You can buy silicone at most hardware stores, make sure that you are using 100% silicone for this project.
Object to be molded
Get the object you want to make a mold of, for this project I will be using the mold and form from the HOW TO : make a two piece plaster mold post





Step 1: Lube it up
Coat the entire mold with Vaseline, This will prevent the plaster from sticking to the mold. Use you finger to apply the bulk of the vaseline and then use a paint brush (one you will never use again for painting) to get into the edges and cracks of the form and mold.

Step 2: Catalyzing solution
Mix concentrated dish soap at a 1:10 ratio with warm water (Below). You are making a  catalytic bath for your silicone. The glycerine in the dish soap accelerates the cure process for of your silicone AND makes it possible to handle the silicone with your bare hands.Make sure that this mixture is right next to the objects that you want to be making molds of as you will be placing the silicone into the solution then directly onto the objects.

Step 3: Preparing the silicone

Cut the tubes of silicone open (pictured below). Submerge your hands completly into the catalyzing solution rubbing some up to your elbows, this will prevent the silicone from sticking to your skin. 

Then carefully using your fingers scoop our all of the silicone from the tube and place it in the catalyzing solution. After a few seconds it will begin to change color. Form it into a ball, and slowly massage it. Fold it, stretch it out, and work it like knead dough until it becomes less maluable ( appox 30 seconds). 

Step 4: Application
Take the silicone out of the catalyzing solution and place it onto the center of the object being molded. Then gently kneed the silicone out until it is covering the entire form.





Step 5: Registration points
Now create small nodules with some silicone and place them at the center and extremeties of the form. These will be for the hard shell that will encase this mold.




Step 6: Allow to dry
The silicone will be touch try in approx 5mins. And usable within the two hours (normally 24 hours). During the curing process the silicone will give off a VERY strong an odour.

Step 7: Hard casing
The final step is to create a plaster hard mold that goes over the silicone. Due to the flexibility of the silicone it will lose shape easily . Creating this hardcase allows you to compress the soft mold when using non-liquid materials.

Step 8: Releasing the molds

HOW TO : make a two piece plaster mold

Creating a two piece plaster mold

Step 1: Base of the mold
Create the base of the mold, in this case plasticine but you can use clay or any other maluable material. Ive chosen plasticine because when heated up in a bowl of hot water it is easily manipulated and when cooled becomes hard.
When making  the base make sure that the mold will be releasable.

Step 2: Walls

With the plasticine the walls will need to be the width of your little finger (15mm+ approx ). Keep in mind that this will be holding the liquid plaster in. The walls will also need to be level and the mold will need to be deep enough so that the object inside the mold will be completely submerged by 10mm.

Step 3: Lube it up
Coat the entire mold with Vaseline, This will prevent the plaster from sticking to the mold. Use you finger to apply the bulk of the vaseline and then use a paint brush (one you will never use again for painting) to get into the edges and cracks of the form and mold

Step 4: Mold registration points
See those dots either side of the figures head (below). They are created so that when the two halves of the mold are placed together, it aligns properly. They were created by pushing a pen into the plasticine leaving a depression that is 15mm approx.

Step 5: Mixing and pouring the plaster
Various brands of plaster have different ratios for mixing. Mont Marte plaster recommended 2:1 plaster to water ratio. But for pouring plaster, which has the consistancy of cream use a 1:1 ratio.
To mix the plaster gently add the plaster to a bowl of water by sprinkling it onto the water. Then stir with you hand until the consistancy of cream is achieved.
Pour the plaster into the mold, preferably on the form first, getting it as deep as possible, for this mold 2 litres of plaster was used. Gently tap the mold to raise any bubbles to the surface and away from the form inside.

Step 6: Allow to dry
Plaster should dry hard enough to touch in 15mins, but leave it for 4 hours to harden enough

Step 7: Remove the plasticine 
Remove all of the plasticine from the figure and mold (below) but DO NOT REMOVE THE FIGURE.

Step 8: Mold walls
Recreate the mold walls ( refer to step 2) this time using the plaster as the base.

Step 9: Lube it up again
(refer to step 3)

Step 10: Mixing and pouring the plaster
(refer to step 5) again allow to dry for 4 hours approx

Step 11: Remove the plasticine
The plasticine can now be removed completly and cleaned. Try to remove all of the vaseline from the plasticine so that it can be reused in the future

Step 12: Open the mold

The mold can now safely be seperated. If the mold was done correctly you should be able to seperate the two halves of the mold by gently leavering the two halves apart with a knife. This is done by levering a small amount right the way around the mold lip. And prayerfully should come appart ( Below)

NOTE: the form cast in the project was originally going to draw inspiration heavily from Alberto Giacometti. The rationale for this was relating back to transcendentalism in particular looking at the soul of a person. Instead ive chosen to remove the distinguishing features from a human figure ie face, chest and genitalia to focus on this idea.

Critique notes