How to make a mould of a statue?

[Madhavalwadhi]

 I have this beautiful statue of a duck + banana hybrid! I would love to replicate one for my grandchildren, What would be the best way to go about doing this to replicating the statue? The undercuts are decently deep and I'm worried if I cast it the undercuts will get caught!

Looking for your advice!

[Jason]

Hi @Madhavalwadhi,

Welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community. It's great to have you join us and I trust you'll get loads of help and inspiration for all your projects around the house and garden from our wonderful members.

That's certainly a unique statue! Let me tag one of our resident Bunnings D.I.Y. experts in @EricL as well as some other helpful members like @Nailbag and @Jewelleryrescue to see if they might have any ideas for you.

Jason

[Madhavalwadhi]

Thank You So So much! Really Really appreciate it Jason!

[EricL]

Hello @Madhavalwadhi 

Thanks for sharing your question about creating a mould of a statue. Some parts of your statue are complex and might be difficult to recreate in a silicone mould. The general steps to create a mould is to build a clay background for half of your statue and apply silicone on the other. Once one side is complete the clay background is removed and silicone is again applied to the other side to create the other half. Once both sides cure, you now have a silicone mould where you can pour plaster into.

This mould system can be assembled by using standard hardware items.

Here is a handy link on how to build the mould: How to make a mould

Please remember to wear personal protection such as gloves, goggles, and a mask when working on your project.

If you need further assistance, please let us know.

Eric

[Madhavalwadhi]

Thank You so much Eric! I'm worried however with that method the mother mould and the casted statues would get stuck in the mould due to the undercuts! Would you have any suggestions on how I could avoid this from happening? 

Thank You!

[EricL]

Hello @Madhavalwadhi 

I'm afraid undercuts are part of the process, and you'll need to be careful when removing the silicone mould. One possible way to reduce the undercuts is to put in some clay into those sharp corners before laying the silicone on the surface.

If you need further assistance, please let us know.

Eric