Mould Making and Casting Course

Mould making and casting are inevitable parts of sculpting, but they are also used in industrial production too. This live streaming mini-course is strongly recommended for those who have attended my sculpting classes or have their own practice and would like to take it further.

Mould is literally the imprint we take from any object in order to multiply it and transfer it onto another material. It is used in industrial manufacturing as well as in art.

In sculpture, we use casting to transfer our "master" that we sculpted in clay to a permanent material such as resin, plaster, ceramic slip, wax, soap or metal.

Mould making and casting is an incredibly useful skill for both sculptors and those who prefer not to bother with building shapes but "borrow" it from found objects and find their expression in different colours and materials.

The Craft Box is filled with small amounts of many different goodies (such as silicone, resin, plaster, pigments, metal spatula) that allow you to try pricey materials prior to purchasing them for yourself.

Please note: This course is very technical, designed for learning, rather than "sip and craft" style. Prepare to get messy and do not drink alcohol, please.

Over three sessions, you will learn the basics of this practice. Your teacher, Irina, will first start with the most basic and cheapest (but not the easiest) plaster mould. We will learn how to make up to four-piece moulds according to shapes. Every shape requires a different approach, and Irina will teach you how to be able to tell, and how to do the partitioning for moulding.

The second session covers silicone moulding, which is more in use in today's production, but also more expensive and can't be used for slip casting (ceramic). This session also covers rules of materials that go together and how not to make mistakes.

Finally, in the third session, we are casting one material of our choice in a mould that we made and prepared for casting. We also learn what to do with casting seams and how to re-touch our pieces and treat them when they come out of a mould.

This online course can be customised according to a specific mould or production you would like to make.
Body casting ( from live models) is an option too, I will customise your craft box to suitable materials. This is widely used for eg. babies’ feet and hands, pregnant belly or even a person’s face .

Just get in touch!

We can do more classes too depending how complex shapes you want to cast and what materials you are interested in.

No skills required, all are welcome.
 

• A bag of plaster (1.5 kg)
• Little item to take mould of ( you can get in touch regarding what would you like to learn), size 10 cubic cm max
• One little metal spatula
• One wide plastic spatula
• A brush
• A container of silicone rubber, enough for max 10 cubic cm object (about 500 g)
• 150- 200 ml of resin to try out your resin casting ( this can be replaced with 500 ml of ceramic slip, please let me know if you want it)
• Wooden sticks for stirring
• Modelling dough for mould partition (or polymer clay)
• Little container with mould separator (type of grease)
• silicone measuring cups for resin mixture
• builders edge tape ( about 2 m)
• pigments for resin and/ or plaster (2x 5-7 g)
• paper or plastic cups for mixing (2)
• little plastic bucket or rubber bowl for plaster making

• Master to be casted (not bigger than 10 cubic cm, smaller is recommended if the student has no prior experience) this can be:

1) Your little sculpture, relief, a mask or anything made of clay
2) A figurine in any material (including wax candles and soaps)
3) Any small item from your household (if unsure, prepare a few and your teacher will help you choose)

• Plastic or paper cups for mixing.
• Have some water handy.

Your teacher will get in touch prior to every session if you need to have some other details handy.