Making a mould for 3D transfers: take 2

Today I made a new mould for 3D transfers. This came about after talking with Brian Sipe at IMATS and getting some useful tips from him. I has also recently tried making some encapsulated silicone prosthetics using our existing 3D transfer moulds and while some of the sculpts and moulds we have are pretty good, it is noticeable that our earlier moulds have a few technical issues. Another reason for this blog post is because my earlier post on making a mould for 3D transfers (found here) makes me cringe a little.

To begin with sculpt the 3D transfers onto either sheet styrene or foamcard (the longer route for this is to float off the sculpts from a positive of the model who they will be applied to later then rework them on a flat surface). The ones shown here are a series of bullet wounds to be applied to the body and a cut to be applied to the side of the lips on the face.



After taking my time sculpting these as neatly and with as fine an edge as possible, I build a simple box mould using foamcard, pins and duct tape (alternatively this mould can be made out of High Impact Polystyrene Sheets or HIPS and glue). Make sure your walls are high enough for the level of silicone you are going to pour into this to make your 3D transfer mould. I'm comfortable with using foamcard, pins and duct tape for this purpose and they are very easy to work with, but I'm also planning on using HIPS for this purpose for future moulds as it looks faster.



After the box mould is stuck together it is worth double checking any areas that might leak. This time I used a condensation (Tin) based silicone to make the mould for the transfers. Previously I had used a platinum silicone to make the mould from, which does give other options in terms of either doing prosaide transfers OR encapsulated platinum silicone pieces. Brian Sipe reckons that using tin silicone for the mould gives a bit harder mould that works better for 3D transfers. Remember to always mix your silicone thoroughly!




After the silicone has set, pull apart your box mould walls and you should have flat silicone mould for 3D transfers.



I am also planning on buying some better quality tattoo transfer paper and having another go at doing some more 3D transfers as well as experimenting with encapsulated silicone pieces for the same purposes. (See an earlier attempt at applying 3D transfers here.)