Tutorials for Molding and Casting
Taking a prop that you’ve made and making a copy can be scary–but don’t worry, it can be pretty simple! Start with a small prop and make a one-part mold. Follow along in our tutorial videos in the playlist below to learn the full process of silicone molding and casting plastic resin copies.
For our molds, we tend to use Smooth-On products, since they are reliable and have a great variety of materials. Another company with mold products is TAP Plastics, who also has the great benefit of carrying plastic sheets for other cosplay needs. For finding silicone and resin suppliers in your area, go to your local pottery supply store. They sometimes carry molding supplies, or can at least point you in the right direction.
We recommend starting small with trial size kits of silicone and resin. The materials below link to the smaller kits sold on Amazon. These links help support Punished Props–thank you for using them! If you’re looking for larger size material containers, go straight to the company’s website.
Silicone
- Mold Max 30 – Our favorite
- TAP Plastic Silicone RTV – Similar to Mold Max 30
- Rebound 25 – For brush-on molds
Urethane Resin
- Smooth-Cast 300 – Our favorite
- Smooth-Cast ONYX FAST – Cures black
- Smooth-Cast 65D – For slush casting
- Smooth-Cast 325 – Cures transparent with a slight amber tint
Moldmaking Materials
- Mold Release – For multi-part molds
- SO-Strong Tint – Add colors to resin
- Plastalina Clay – Block off silicone
- Thi-Vex – Silicone Thickener
- Plastipaste II – For a quick mold jacket
- Fiberglass Mat – For fiberglass mold jacket
- EpoxAmite – Combine with Fiberglass Mat
- EpoxAcoat – Brush on layers over EpoxAmite
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Molding & Casting 101 Playlist – Everything you need to know!
Builds with Molding and Casting
Our prop and costume builds listed below include our molding and casting techniques. Most of our molds are one-part or two-part molds. Our most complicated build to date is the District 9 Rifle, which involved our first matrix mold. We later improved the matrix molding process for the Bleach Hollow Mask.
