Remember Michael Knight’s offer to send samples of Quick Sil? Well,
I took him up on it, received some, then wrote him to ask if there
were any techniques one could use without a wax injector. He was
nice enough to write back and give some suggestions which brought up
lots of ideas! I thought others might be interested too (got his
permission to reprint them here).
Cindy Crounse
Refined Designs Original Fine Jewelry
Yes, there is another use for our Quick Sil that you might like.
You can make a quick and easy impression of almost anything using
this material and then use it to reproduce the design in either PMC
clay or wax.
If you are using PMC clay already, you know how great it is. With
this material you can press the clay into the impression and have a
copy of – anything!- in gold in a few minutes.
You can also melt a few teaspoons of wax and pour it into the
impression. After it cools you can carve or otherwise modify the
design and incorporate it into a new or existing wax. You may get
freeze lines on the wax if the rubber is cold. It will warm up after
a few tries, or you can pre-warm the rubber somehow.
I just got a trial amount of Castaldo’s Quick Sil mold-making
material. I want to make a two-part mold of a small fossil. I can’t
tell from the directions how to insure that the two halves will
separate after curing. It is supposed to be self-lubricating,
needing no release agent. Here’s the question: do I pack the
bottom half of the mold frame, press in the fossil, let it cure, and
then fill the rest of the mold frame and let IT cure - in two steps?
Or do I pack the bottom, add the fossil, and finish packing the
mold - all in one step? Do I need to use something as a separating
powder, like talc?
Elen, Castaldo quick sil is great for flat objects that can be
pressed into the rubber and cured. If the fossil is flat enough,
dont worry about the back side. Simply pour wax into the mold and
carve out the back. If you want a true 3 dimensional mold, you may
want to try the Castaldo LiquaCast RTV. Heres the method I use on
RTV’s. I epoxy or attach the sprue wire and base to the model and
then use hot wax to stick the bottom of the sprue base to a piece of
cardboard. I use a small section of PVC pipe (tall enough to cover
the model about 1/2"). I use a cutoff disc or saw blade to make a
slit all the way down on one side(this allows the pipe to be
separated slightly to remove the rubber mold after it cures and also
allows me to align the model so I know where to cut later).I then
wax the base of the pipe to the cardboard and also the slit so
rubber wont leak out. After the rubber is cured, I remove the mold
from the pvc frame and cut the model out with a number 11 surgical
scalpel; using zigzag cuts so the mold locks together well while
injecting the wax. The PVC pipe will hold the mold tightly together
when injecting. Best regards, Ken