About Plaster Cast Mold Making
There are two main kinds of mold making involving plaster. In the first, a mold is made from another substance (e.g., latex) to be used in the creation of plaster objects. In the second, the plaster itself becomes the mold, and cast objects are made of a different material.
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Materials
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Common materials used both in the making of plaster molds and molds for casting plaster figures include clay, which is used to make sculptures to be copied, and latex, which is used to make flexible molds for plaster casts. Other flexible mold-making materials include plastics and silicone.
Plaster Molds
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Plaster molds are commonly used in mask making for costumes. A clay sculpture is made of the desired mask. This is then covered with liquid plaster. When the plaster is dry, it can be used as a mold for latex or other mask-making materials.
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Molds for Plaster
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Using latex or other materials, it is possible to make molds for plaster objects. The original item may be sculpted from clay or another material. This is carefully covered with the flexible mold-making material, which is then allowed to cure. Once cured, this new mold can be used to create plaster replicas of the original item.
Warning
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Do not use plaster to take molds of body parts. As it cures, some plaster, especially plaster of Paris, gives off a great deal of heat. People attempting to make casts of body parts have suffered terrible injuries in this way.
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References
Resources
- Photo Credit Plaster head image by Supertrooper from Fotolia.com
