Blake Kostroun - 3D Print Molding Process

      Here is the general overview of the process of creating a mold from a 3D print with the help of Professor Scott. First we attached the print to a solid base to create a bigger working space and so that the mold material has somewhere to run instead of the surface of the table.

    There are three main processes in creating the mold. The base mold, the mother mold, then pouring the resin. 

  The base mold is crucial, this is where you capture all your detail and determines what will be the outcome of the cast. 

After each layer we needed to make sure of no air bubbles were getting trapped, I didn't want a bubbly torso.

Here is that last layer of the base mold. The ridge that is going along the back is for when we are finished with the molding process and need to gut out the 3D print.

Now onto the mother mold, made with burlap and plaster!

Here's another ridge, this is where the two sides of the mold will fit in place and connect

Time to pour the resin! We're almost there.. for this we fit the base mold into the mother mold making sure it fit securely. Then we wrapped two bands around the mother mold to make sure it was not moving anywhere.

And here is the cast from the mold, I'm rather happy with the outcome. I'm even more pleased that I now know the process of creating a mold. I'm not done with the casts themselves, I'm still experimenting with how to get the final result that I want. My goal is to create a faux marble look. For my next molds I will also smooth down the 3D print itself instead of having to sand each cast individually.