Gypsum casting is the production of artistic and decorative products from natural environmentally friendly material. Despite the seriousness of such a business, the organizational cycle of this business is quite simple, and all stages of production can be reproduced at home.
Making a gypsum product is quite simple: gypsum (alabaster), sold in any hardware store, and water flowing from a tap are mixed. The finished mixture is poured into finished product molds or matrices. After the plaster hardens, it is removed from the mold. The product is ready.
Popular directions for the production of gypsum products are all kinds of imitation of stucco molding for the interior, gypsum figurines for the home and sculptures for the garden, and other decorative elements. Indeed, high-quality and original gypsum products are very expensive, at an extremely low cost - the price of the product is the cost of the matrix, gypsum and water. It is easy for anyone to get gypsum and water, therefore, the only and key point of such a business is original mold for casting plaster.
If you read the information on the Internet, it can be noted that the demand for ready-made matrices is high, and the offers on the market are quite expensive. At the same time, the production of matrices, as well as plaster casting, is quite simple home business.
How to make a mold for plaster casting with your own hands
On the market there are molds made of various materials. Solid plastic and fiberglass molds, for all their advantages (durability and shape retention), are difficult to manufacture and require a rather high skill of the molder. The main disadvantage of such forms is the limited range of products made from gypsum. This disadvantage is associated with the overall rigidity of the material. The use of plastic molds for plaster is a thing of the past. Modern popular materials for the production of gypsum matrices are molding sands.
Molding mixtures - gypsum, polyurethane - are plastic, easy to use, suitable for the production of complex gypsum products.
The main thing in the production of molds for gypsum is the fantasy and originality of the finished product. If you plan to produce molds for decorative stone, your tile matrix must be unique and interesting to the end user, that is, plaster products made from your matrix must be sold and liked by people.
Stages of production of silicone and polyurethane molds for gypsum:
- From sculptural plasticine or other similar material that can hold its shape, the final finished product is made - a stamp. For example, a stucco rosette on the ceiling.
- A sealed box is made of solid material (wood, glass), taking into account the shape of the final product.
- Our stamp is placed in the finished box, cleaned of dust and dirt. The entire inner surface of the box and the product is lubricated with a release agent (special grease, vegetable fats or soapy water). If the figurine has small and complex elements, it is preliminarily carefully processed with a liquid molding sand with a brush.
- The next step is to pour the mixture into the mold so that it completely fills all the voids in the mold.
- After waiting for the hardening time (from 5 to 20 hours), the finished matrix is removed from the box, the stamp and its remains are removed from the mold.
- The finished form is inspected for external defects. If no defects are found, the form is usable and can be used.
How to make money with gypsum casting matrices
You can sell ready-made matrices. If you are a creative person and you get matrices of unique products, the demand is stable and guaranteed. You also can make custom molds– individual baguette, stucco, sculptures and other decorative elements for all kinds of studios and firms for the decoration and repair of premises and facades. The reverse side of such a business, if you get unique products, then you can own gypsum production and sell ready-made gypsum products or make them to order. The most optimal solution for such a business is to simultaneously sell the final products and forms for them. So you cover all the demand in the market.
Estimated cost and profitability of the business
A kilogram of silicone or polyurethane molding sand costs from 500 rubles. Sculptural plasticine - from 50 rubles. The box, your imagination and work are priceless, so it is difficult to take into account their value. The cost of manufacturing a small matrix is 650 ... 1000 rubles.
Gypsum from 200 rubles per bag. Water from 20 rubles per cubic meter. The cost of a small product from a small matrix is 200 rubles.
The cost of selling finished plaster products is from 700 rubles to 700 thousand (for a huge sculpture). Ready-made matrices - from 2500 rubles apiece.
A wide range of silicones of varying degrees of hardness allows you to make a huge variety of products from it, both for domestic and industrial purposes.
The properties of this material have a very wide range, ranging from hardness, excellent elongation, to tensile strength far exceeding any rubber.
It does not differ in high manufacturability, but it requires quite serious equipment, so few people are exchanged for piece production of silicone products. Meanwhile, the price of some things, such as a silicone phone case, far exceeds its cost, even taking into account the profit, it is difficult to say what this is due to, but such a trend exists.
But the demand for production of silicone products does not weaken even in the presence of a clearly inflated price. We manufacture silicone products individually and in small batches, and keep the price of small-scale products almost at the level of serial ones. The same applies to plaster figures, where our offer will surely be the most beneficial for you.
We making silicone products various degrees of hardness ranging from 10A to 50A Shore.
Primary colors are always available in which silicone can be painted, including transparent silicones.
There are certified food and household silicones, based on a platinum catalyst, odorless and harmful impurities.
There are also cheaper, industrial silicones that are great for a variety of technical products, gaskets and seals.
A fairly broad profile lesson, and here is what we can offer you first of all:
Silicone molds for casting waxes - great for casting soap or candles, due to their properties, the mold for waxes is so durable that, with careful use, up to 1000 or more casts can be removed from it.
Silicone gaskets and seals are the best solution for frequently dismantled mechanisms that require complete tightness and durability.
Due to the properties of silicone, the seal will keep its shape for a very long time. In this case, the shape of the seal can be very diverse.
Silicone food molds, solution for confectionery production. Certified, food-grade silicone suitable for molding chocolate, with a high degree of detail and precision. For making lollipops of various shapes and sizes, silicone molds are also good. They are also great for ice.
Technical silicone molds are a solution for small businesses and just enterprising people. Such forms are suitable for the manufacture of decorative concrete, gypsum and any other building mixtures. Or for making 3D walls and ceilings.
Souvenir soap, jewelry and bijouterie, cooking and cosmetology, food industry and construction - and this is an incomplete list of possible applications.
Molding polymers
A universal material is obtained by dissolving crushed quartz with nitric acid. When mixed with one of the catalysts, it is somewhat reminiscent of rubber. The substance is non-toxic, resistant to alkalis and acids. In finished form, it has elasticity, impact resistance, water resistance and unlimited service life. It is very easy to look after products from it, it is simple to store them.
By appointment, two-component compounds, consisting of a paste and a hardener, are divided into casting, coating, and also silicone for making molds. With your own hands, you can make from these mixtures not only blanks for souvenir soap, but also strong templates for pouring paving slabs, obtaining decorative stones and gypsum stucco.
To give the substance a solid state, it is mixed with a tin or platinum catalyst before use, which is included in the kit. Some qualities of elastic rubber depend on the type of hardener:
- transparency or haze;
- tear or tear strength;
- dimensional stability and heat resistance;
- hardness;
- final hardening time;
- durability and resilience.
For example, mixtures with tin catalysts are used in industry and construction. For the production of artificial stone or strong plastic products, the most durable materials are needed. for the manufacture of molds into which chocolate and caramel are poured, they are produced on the basis of platinum hardeners. The softness and elasticity of these compounds is more suitable for "sweet" industries and baking.
Where is homemade polymer used
Despite the variety of compounds on sale, some craftsmen prefer to do everything on their own. This is usually justified by economy and creativity.
Making silicone for molds with your own hands is possible in several ways. It should be clarified that the resulting substance differs in characteristics from industrial mixtures. And these differences are not always positive. If branded liquid silicone for making molds is used to create large and small products, then homemade rubber is made only for home creativity.
Starting to make silicone for molds with your own hands, put a container, box or box for the main work. It is made of cardboard (if the sample is small), wood or plastic. It can be collapsible or solid. From the first it is easier to release the frozen workpiece. There should be no gaps between the parts of the container, since all types of elastics have fluidity.
Before putting the "model" into the container, it is covered with a separator. This lubricant must be wax, grease or soap. To get a matrix for a vertical souvenir, it is attached to the bottom of the container by a support on a piece of plasticine so that it does not float up. Then, a pre-mixed compound is poured around the model in a thin stream. Filling the container starts from the corners, completely covering the figure installed inside.
Recipe number 1: preliminary preparation
If you need a small amount of elastic rubber for a small product, you can use one of the options below. Making silicone for molds at home begins with the preparation of a dish, a spatula for stirring, components, a main container for pouring and a small souvenir, the so-called master figurine, a cast of which is planned to be obtained for “cloning”.
For the first method, glycerin and gelatin are taken in equal amounts and placed in a small container. The composition is melted in a water bath with constant stirring, avoiding boiling. Heating lasts 10-12 minutes.
Recipe details #1
The bottom of the prepared tray made of cardboard or wood is evenly covered with the resulting mixture. Then the souvenir is dipped in homemade silicone and quickly placed in this box. The sticky figurine is immediately poured with hot composition, filling the tray to the brim.
Liquid silicone for making molds, obtained in such a simple way, hardens in a few minutes, almost before our eyes. After the mass has completely cooled down, the resulting bar is removed from the box, a cut is made from the bottom side and the souvenir is carefully removed.
The resulting figured cavity can only be filled in. Manufacturing according to this recipe has several disadvantages:
- the finished master product absorbs water, so you can not use it to make plaster castings;
- the mass melts when trying to fill with a hot substance, therefore it is not suitable for creating designer soap.
- after several uses, the inner surface of the mold deteriorates, loses its gloss and quality.
A plus is the ability to repeatedly remelt old stamps.
Recipe number 2: preparation
Making silicone for molds with your own hands requires some effort. Plastic clay craftsmen make patterns and molds in this way to bring their ideas to life. So, you will need one of the types of high-temperature-resistant building sealant and ordinary food starch or talc. It is advisable to work in the same way. Since the setting of the sealant occurs within 10 minutes, it is necessary to put an object next to it from which the cast will be prepared: a shell, a figure that is flat on one side, something else. The mold will turn out to be hard, with a concave recess, therefore it is suitable for the production of only one-sided souvenirs.
Recipe number 2: details
- A little talc or starch is poured onto the surface of the table (so as not to stick).
- A bunch of sealant is squeezed out of the tube into the center of the sprinkle.
- Starch is added on top and everything is mixed.
- The resulting "dough" should take so much starch that it does not stick to the hands and to the table.
- A thick cake is made from the mass, corresponding to the size of the future souvenir.
- Quickly and accurately, with force, the selected sample is pressed into this workpiece.
- Silicone for making molds is left to dry for a day.
- After removing the figurine, the cavity of the template is smeared with talcum powder with a brush and tightly stuffed with plastic clay.
- Such a base can be placed in the oven to dry along with the filler; it is not afraid of high temperatures.
What's good about this way
The first of the advantages can be called the reusability of the resulting template. The material retains all its qualities. In molds made of starch, you can pour a hot soap base, after sprinkling it with alcohol from a spray bottle. Do-it-yourself silicone for making molds withstands temperature loads on a par with industrial formulations.
Among the minuses are the sharp acetic smell of sealants and the rapid solidification of the “dough”. But the master can prepare such an amount of a substance that is needed at a particular time for a particular job.
A promising business idea that can be easily started at home is the manufacture of silicone baits.
Such products are in great demand among fishermen due to their low cost.
For production of artificial baits from silicone with your own hands, an initial capital of 20 thousand rubles is quite enough. These funds will be used to purchase consumables.
silicone bait business
The technology for making baits at home is not difficult.
How to start a silicone bait business
At the initial stage, the businessman will need to warm up the silicone. This can be done on a gas stove.
However, this method has many disadvantages, in particular, burning and changing the original color of the material.
That is why it is desirable to melt silicone in the microwave. The dishes in which the silicone will be placed should warm up well.
The businessman needs to ensure that the molten material remains in a fluid state for as long as possible. To do this, after melting, you need to additionally hold the silicone in the microwave for 1-2 minutes.
At the next stage, the entrepreneur will need to pour molten silicone into special molds that are made of gypsum.
You can also make them yourself. To do this, gypsum must be diluted to the consistency of liquid sour cream, and then poured into a cardboard mold.
The final step in the manufacture of baits is pouring silicone into plaster. It usually freezes after an hour and a half.
After that, silicone baits can be removed.
The entrepreneur will need to lower the finished products in cold water for about 2 hours so that they do not lose their plasticity. 
Methods of rigging silicone lures can be different. The type of installation will depend on the conditions in which fishing will take place.
A businessman can equip lures with double hooks or offset hooks (oblong or straight).
The success of the silicone bait business depends on the availability of stable sales channels for the products.
Finished products can be handed over in large quantities to fishing stores or sold on the Internet.
You can sell baits to your friends and acquaintances who love fishing.
A home business for the manufacture of silicone baits allows you to earn up to 40 thousand rubles of net profit per month.
Thus, the payback period for investments in such an undertaking is less than a month.
More and more craftsmen are showing a desire to try their hand at working with this relatively new material, but from the very first steps they face difficulties, not knowing where to start, what kind of silicone to use and how to handle it. Here I will try to summarize the main points, based on my own experience and information obtained from the Internet. I must say right away that I will not report anything fundamentally new - everything that will be discussed is well known to professionals working with silicone, but I hope that the information collected in one place will help beginners overcome their first difficulties.
What silicones are needed for casting?
So, first of all, the silicone itself. When creating dolls, I use platinum-based compounds (two-component silicones) from Smooth-On, made in the USA, so we will talk about them. To work, you will need two types of silicones: for casting the dolls themselves and for making a mold. There are not so many first ones, first of all, these are Dragon Skin Series and Ecoflex Series. They have a high degree of elasticity and allow the most realistic reproduction of the effect of human flesh.
Silicones of each of these series have different technical characteristics: softness, pot life (the length of time when the silicone remains fluid), setting time, viscosity, etc. What kind of silicone is better to use when creating dolls? I can’t say anything specific here - it all depends on the ultimate goal of the master. In my opinion, it is best to follow the path of experiment, trying different series in order to find in practice the very, only material that allows you to achieve the desired effect.
Dragon Skin Series and Ecoflex Series silicones are colorless and translucent, so to obtain a realistic doll color, they must be dyed with special Silc Pig pigments.
The second type of silicone is used to make the mold. Be careful - Platinum-based silicones can only be cast into molds made from platinum-containing silicone. Tin-catalyzed silicones must not be used. Otherwise, the casting will not harden. Silicones intended for mold removal are less elastic, more hard, and tend to be brightly colored or transparent. The bright color of one of the components allows you to evenly mix components A and B before pouring, and the transparent ones allow you to see the model in the mold (this is useful if the mold is cast as a whole and then cut into pieces). Mold release silicones include E-Series, Mold Star Series, Equinox Series, Rebound Series, etc.
The form can be made by pouring, or by gradually applying layers of silicone with a brush. The first method is simpler and faster, but requires more silicone. The second is more time-consuming, besides, it is necessary to have various additional materials for it. You can clearly see the process of creating a mold "in a spread" on the official video of the company:
A little about forms
The finished silicone mold remains elastic, this is its absolute advantage, but we must not forget that it can be easily deformed, so it must be placed in a special protective casing cast from ordinary plaster.
Before pouring silicone into a silicone mold, be sure to use a special release agent Ease Release, otherwise the mold and casting will stick together tightly. The separator layer must be thoroughly dried, as in some cases it prevents the silicone mold from completely curing.
Molds for casting dolls can be made not only from silicone, but also from plaster. It is advisable to use special dental gypsums for this purpose, such as Fuji Rock, which have increased strength, perfectly convey fine relief details and dry fairly quickly. Compared to silicone molds, gypsum molds do not require the use of a release agent and absorb excess silicone oil even during the casting process. However, gypsum molds also have significant drawbacks - it is almost impossible to remove the master model from the gypsum without damage, the molds open with great difficulty and loosen rather quickly, losing the accuracy of combining the halves. Also, compared to silicone, a plaster mold has to be made from a larger number of parts, which increases the number of seams on the finished casting.
Basic rules for working with silicone
So, we figured out the casting materials, now let's talk about the process itself. To avoid marriage and failures when working with silicone, you must follow two golden rules that greatly facilitate the life of the master:
- 1. Always strictly and meticulously follow the instructions, not allowing any initiative.
- 2. Always test new materials in contact with silicone for compatibility.
For work, it is advisable to purchase a vacuum chamber with a pump that pumps air out of the mixture before pouring. Some types of silicones can be used without prior degassing, but there is a high risk that air bubbles will remain in the cured mass.
It is also a good idea to get an oven or a drying cabinet for post-hardening finished products. The heat-treated silicone quickly acquires the physico-chemical properties declared by the manufacturer. I would not risk heating products in a food oven, despite the fact that platinum-based silicones are considered non-toxic materials.
I note that the manufacture of silicone dolls requires significant financial costs, however, it is impossible to save on materials and equipment, looking for cheap analogues and doing amateur activities - the result of such experiments, as a rule, is deplorable and leads to inevitable damage to castings and molds.
It is necessary to work with silicone only in vinyl gloves, latex cannot be used.
The room for casting must be heated, the temperature in it should not fall below 22-23 degrees. The required temperature regime is one of the most important factors - at temperatures below 18 degrees, silicone may simply not harden, and a higher air temperature slightly reduces the life of the finished silicone mixture.
But you can not store silicone in the heat. The material has a limited shelf life, shortened by increasing temperature. An open can must be used quickly, as contact with the environment can also affect its properties. The algorithm of actions when working with silicone should be as follows: we take out the cans of silicone from a cool place, wait for it to warm up to the prescribed 23 degrees, carefully mix the contents of each of the cans, combine components A and B in the exact proportion, degas the finished mixture, pour into shape and return the remaining silicone to a cold room.
In general, it should be remembered that silicone is a very capricious material that does not allow liberties in handling.
The whims of silicone
In principle, the process of manufacturing silicone castings is elementary, but this simplicity is deceptive. Silicone constantly presents unpleasant surprises, not allowing the master to relax and make mistakes. The main danger for uncured silicone is inhibition (poisoning) by various substances incompatible with it. The most formidable and at the same time the most common "enemy" of silicone is plasticine containing sulfur. To work, you need to buy only plasticines marked Sulfur Free, such as Monster Clay or Chavant. It is better not to keep questionable clays in the workshop at all - even an accidental touch of the hand with sulfur-containing material can "infect" the silicone mold.
The second "enemy" of silicone is latex. Do not use latex gloves, syringes with rubber tips on the pistons and any other tools that have latex parts in their design.
With great care, wooden sticks should be used to stir the mixture. Some types of silicone do not tolerate contact with wood and may be inhibited. To insure against unpleasant surprises, it is advisable to mix the silicone with metal stirrers.
Freshly cured polyesters, epoxy and polyurethane rubbers are also dangerous. As I wrote above, before using any new material in your work, you need to test it by filling it with a small portion of silicone. If the mixture completely hardens in the usual time allotted for complete polymerization, and the silicone surface is not sticky, we can assume that the new material has successfully passed the exam and can be used in further work.
That, in fact, is all that I wanted to tell about the methods of working with silicone. I myself often made mistakes, experienced many unpleasant moments, and I hope that this hard-won experience will help novice masters not to step on painfully familiar old rakes, save nerves, time and money. Good luck in creativity!