"Remelt a mold" - Product Review
Today I tested out a new and exciting mold making product. Unlike mold making materials such as Silicon, Latex or Alginate you can now reuse the material completely to create new molds.
"Remelt a Mold" is a Gelatine based mold making product by "Little Cake Company" and can be melted and re-used for making new molds over and over. I'm not sure about the number of times that you can re-use it, but am planning to update the article with another blogpost. I got this product at Jimnettes in Lynnwood, Pretoria (www.jimnettes.co.za), While at Jimnettes I also got Alpha plaster for test castings. I will also use this Alfa plast as a shell in a later stage where I will be attempting a skin mold with "Remelt a mold".
The product is at the baking section. The reason for this is that it is designed to make molds for food (such as chocolate); completely food safe.
I am particularly interested in the detail in a mold, especially when working with very small and fine text. I was at first sceptical when I opened the 1l bucket; it seems to have a lot of bubbles that could potentially cause malformations and loss of detail.
I was using a laser cut & engraved Triplex design (the logo of lamp making & Design company Beards & Banjos - www.beardsandbanjos.co.za) for testing the detail.
I always test my casting material on a small sample and for my first test I used only a small amount of the gelatine gel. The gel is of course in its set phase when you open the bucket. So first thing we do is melt it.
I've realized that the Spray and Cook is a must. The gel didn't come off from the triplex, so I re-attempted my test.
After I tested this mold I washed it with water to remove some of the Plaster. This is where I realised the only downside of this medium. When you try and wash the mold you will lose detail because the "Remelt a mold" reacts with the water and slowly start to dissolve. In the next image I have washed the mold a lot. This however might not be such a big problem depending on the material that you will be casting with.
My final test would be to test the durability of the material. Stay on the lookout, I might also make a quick YouTube video where I will show how to make a two part mold for casting chocolate!!
It will also be interesting to test the effect that other materials such as concrete (which is highly alkaline) will have on this material.
If you're interested in this medium the best advise that I can give would be to test it first on a smaller scale and then go onto more complex molds. And if you then think a Gelatin mold is not for you and you're in the Pretoria area, you can always get some Silicon or latex at Jimnettes.
Feel free to comment if you have any questions!
"Remelt a Mold" is a Gelatine based mold making product by "Little Cake Company" and can be melted and re-used for making new molds over and over. I'm not sure about the number of times that you can re-use it, but am planning to update the article with another blogpost. I got this product at Jimnettes in Lynnwood, Pretoria (www.jimnettes.co.za), While at Jimnettes I also got Alpha plaster for test castings. I will also use this Alfa plast as a shell in a later stage where I will be attempting a skin mold with "Remelt a mold".
The product is at the baking section. The reason for this is that it is designed to make molds for food (such as chocolate); completely food safe.
I am particularly interested in the detail in a mold, especially when working with very small and fine text. I was at first sceptical when I opened the 1l bucket; it seems to have a lot of bubbles that could potentially cause malformations and loss of detail.
I was using a laser cut & engraved Triplex design (the logo of lamp making & Design company Beards & Banjos - www.beardsandbanjos.co.za) for testing the detail.
I always test my casting material on a small sample and for my first test I used only a small amount of the gelatine gel. The gel is of course in its set phase when you open the bucket. So first thing we do is melt it.
Test one
Being a bit impatient to see the results, I completely forgot to apply a mold release (they advise that you use Spray and Cook). The gelatine gel melted completely within 15sec in the microwave on high and the working time wherein you can handle the mold before the gel stalls was very short (about 1 minute). Using a bit more gel increases your melting time and working time; 3 X 15sec stirring, waiting for the gel to dissolve, with a 5 min working time.I've realized that the Spray and Cook is a must. The gel didn't come off from the triplex, so I re-attempted my test.
Test two
The second test worked out to near perfection. I made the layer of "Remelt a mold" a bit thicker and also this time used some Spray and Cook. The only problem (if it is a problem for you) was that the cook and spray then left a slight texture on the mold. Despite that... the details are amazing.
Test three
For my last test attempt I decided to let the cook and spray absorb into the triplex before applying the "Remelt a mold". I have now been able to create a perfect negative with all the detail that I wanted without any texture of the Spray and Cook.
After I tested this mold I washed it with water to remove some of the Plaster. This is where I realised the only downside of this medium. When you try and wash the mold you will lose detail because the "Remelt a mold" reacts with the water and slowly start to dissolve. In the next image I have washed the mold a lot. This however might not be such a big problem depending on the material that you will be casting with.
My final test would be to test the durability of the material. Stay on the lookout, I might also make a quick YouTube video where I will show how to make a two part mold for casting chocolate!!
It will also be interesting to test the effect that other materials such as concrete (which is highly alkaline) will have on this material.
If you're interested in this medium the best advise that I can give would be to test it first on a smaller scale and then go onto more complex molds. And if you then think a Gelatin mold is not for you and you're in the Pretoria area, you can always get some Silicon or latex at Jimnettes.
Feel free to comment if you have any questions!
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