If you have a good silicone mold to begin with, it should be pretty straightforward to pour up a great number of wax models. This is what I am hoping to do so that I can continue sculpting revisions, and then bring the piece to final refinement and smoothness. The one part plaster molds sound feasible, but I am wondering what advantage they would pose for your project. We do this kind of stuff with dental work all the time, but then you either have to use an air-chisel, or bead-blaster to de-vest the work (and obviously both entail hazards of damage to your piece---altered textures or accidental fractures). You would probably need a really good separating agent, and even then you would probably get adhesion in little interstitial spaces. If you were going to use something rigid like resin, what about simply pouring up some models in a silicone mold? Here are some pictures of pulling a toy out of a Japanese slush mold: Because the material has "memory" after it has been formed, it simply springs back to shape after it has been pulled out and cools further.
I was thinking that creating paster molds would be cheaper (and easier to use) than silicone molds. I didn't realize it would be so difficult to break the plaster away from the cast. I'd only think about implementing this method if I were to get a sculpt I REALLY liked and wanted to invest in having a foundry do multiple bronze casts. (Though thinking about it, I'm sure they'd rather have the sculpt to create their own mold from.) Anyway, thanks for all of your thoughts and the info!
That was really interesting ! I finally got to know a bit better how my toys are made, thanks you all !
We are all now 3 credits closer to a Bachelors in Vinyl Toy Manufacturing! I'm an info junkie and love learning this kind of stuff.
