12-19-2017, 06:41 AM
i've been experimenting with making wands. I made several as gifts this year. I'll let you know what the kids think after Christmas.
My wife suggested I added drawer pulls to them as finials to make them seem a bit more 'magical'. she was right. I was thinking about acrylic finials. I'm wondering about using a couple of the pulls as forms to make silicone molds for casting to cut down on turning/production time. The acrylic gives me lots more color options and I can do things like embedments in the castings. Molding a drawer pull use a lot less acrylic rather than casting in a straight PVC mold and turning it down. To date the only molds I've made out of silicone are simple open top ones for casting pens.
Current plan is make the mold with the pull vertical in PVC pipe so that the wide part of the pull at the top. Do I need to end up with a two-piece mold or is silicone flexible enough that I could pull the narrow neck of the pull over the narrow part with the screw hole in it? I know I'd need to attach a dowel or somesuch to the pull to create a hole to pour acrylic into when I do the casting. I might also cut the PVC in half and then clamp it back together when I do pours, that way its easier to get the castings out.
I'd put something in the screw hole on the original pull to create a tenon in the mold. that way I can do polishing, etc on the lathe and I have the tenon for attaching to the wand.
My wife suggested I added drawer pulls to them as finials to make them seem a bit more 'magical'. she was right. I was thinking about acrylic finials. I'm wondering about using a couple of the pulls as forms to make silicone molds for casting to cut down on turning/production time. The acrylic gives me lots more color options and I can do things like embedments in the castings. Molding a drawer pull use a lot less acrylic rather than casting in a straight PVC mold and turning it down. To date the only molds I've made out of silicone are simple open top ones for casting pens.
Current plan is make the mold with the pull vertical in PVC pipe so that the wide part of the pull at the top. Do I need to end up with a two-piece mold or is silicone flexible enough that I could pull the narrow neck of the pull over the narrow part with the screw hole in it? I know I'd need to attach a dowel or somesuch to the pull to create a hole to pour acrylic into when I do the casting. I might also cut the PVC in half and then clamp it back together when I do pours, that way its easier to get the castings out.
I'd put something in the screw hole on the original pull to create a tenon in the mold. that way I can do polishing, etc on the lathe and I have the tenon for attaching to the wand.
Woodnet is good for that for me. I cross-posted this on IAP, no hits there yet. I have next week off, was planning to experiment then. My current thought is go with making a mold that leaves a 1/2" or so tenon at the top. Large enough to pour acrylic into and I have a tenon to hold the cast for polishing.
It showed me an easy way to make a 2-piece mold. I think I'm going to do it that way. I'm also thinking in future with a 2 piece mold I can mold an entire wand handle + escutcheon as one piece if I want.
