# Artificial tree in a mold cast from real tree? Help?



## flyingSquirrel (Aug 22, 2011)

I want to replicate wood, branches, rocks, etc by creating a mold from REAL objects. Then cast in the mold using resin or similar material. (I don't want to carve or manually try to replicate something)

Example photo I found online of the kind of results I'm looking for: https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/ca/20/db/ca20dbbeb52abb7c8d0d99fc82c03d77.jpg

Any tips on specific chemicals / materials / products to use for the mold and also for casting the finished item? FYI I probably don't want to use concrete or similar materials. Resin seems better for weight and other reasons.

Tips for processes / techniques / tricks to do this?

How about dye, paint, resin coloring agents, etc for realism?

Anything you can suggest will be appreciated.

p.s. I've searched for this info on the forum and many of the posts I found have photos which don't show up. Also most of them talk about carving and other such things, and not casting from natural object molds.


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## Timbow (Aug 17, 2016)

I've used  Alja-Safe Alginate for making molds before with good results. Never used it for vivarium purposes, but I don't see why it wouldn't work.


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## JPP (Mar 25, 2015)

Vivarium Works Online Shop

Vivarium Works used to have all the supplies to do this, but for some reason the stuff is out of stock. Maybe email him and see if he's getting more in at some point?


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

http://www.dendrobatidae.org/Portals/0/activeforums_Attach/1424223459371.pdf


some comments 

Ed


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## Bunsincunsin (Feb 11, 2008)

You might try talking to the folks at TAP Plastics - they have several locations in/near Seattle. I'm not sure if they will have what you are looking for, but they do carry several different casting products for mold making.


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## pa.walt (Feb 16, 2004)

try this smooth-on . they sell aquarium safe stuff.


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## flyingSquirrel (Aug 22, 2011)

Thanks for all the replies, I appreciate your time and effort to help.

I have been down all of the paths suggested in the replies and done some extensive research and deep thinking.

Carving / sculpting ideas are out.
Concrete and similar materials are out.
TAP plastics selection is limited and isn't quite what I need

As I looked into Smooth-On products, I determined they have an extremely admirable selection of very high-quality products. A number of them are specifically created for aquarium and vivarium use. I looked at a few other sellers of such products and most of them were just reselling Smooth-On products. I might look a little more and see what else I can find, but I think I have probably already found the needle in the haystack.

Hopefully I can help other people who may stumble across this thread in the future in search of some suggestions. Here are the Smooth-On products which are closest to what I described in my OP:

*Casting Material:*
Smooth-Cast 325 ColorMatch Resin

*Mold Material:*
Dragon skin 10 silicone rubber

*Tint / Color*
SO-Strong color tint

There are a few other chemical products which may be useful as well, notably:

- Habitat Cast N Coat™ Epoxy
- Free Form® Habitat®

They have some really great tutorial videos, examples, and so forth, on their website.

Biggest problem now - the chemicals are very expensive! 

In the future, if I choose to go down this path and try my hand at casting from natural hardscape materials, I will post my report on the forum.

Thanks again


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## pa.walt (Feb 16, 2004)

smooth-on has sample kits. i got a sample kit of habitat. if i remember around 30.00
reynolds .... sells smooth-on stuff. smooth-on and vivarium works are the only ones that i have read have "safe" products.


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## amandakathryn (Jan 1, 2014)

what you make your mold from depends on a lot of things, but since the mold will not be in your vivarium you dont have to worry about it too much if what its made from is safe. you will have to use a release agent in your mold which you will have to make sure to scrub off your cast resin before using it in your vivarium. the mold is usually a silicone rubber, these can be tin cured or platinum cured depending on what you need out of your mold. if it is a very large mold usually you use a silicone rubber you paint on in several layers to get the details and then use a hard backing like plaster or a fiberglass shell to keep its shape. if you are casting something like rough wood or anything porous you may need to put a sealer or release agent on it first or it may get stuck in the mold. if you are going to be casting anything that you dont want to have a flat back, you will need to make at least a 2 part mold, or it may need to be 3 or 4 parts to reduce undercuts that could lock your mold shut. you also need to figure out where to put your pour spouts so the mold fills completly and keep air bubbles to a minimum. this can be very tricky. Ive been making molds for awhile now and I still get the spouts wrong sometimes. 

to make sure its safe you will have to be very careful about mixing your resin if you dont get the catalyst in the right amount and totally mixed in it wont cure right and might remain sticky or gooey in spots. you also need to be careful not to get the uncured resin on you....it can cause skin irritation. and make sure you are in a well ventilated area because it does have a smell and its not good. depending on the resin you use you may need to use safetly equipment....


this guy below was molded in mold star from smooth on and cast in color match urethane resin with white so string dye. 









a lot of the stuff smooth on sells is safe once it is properly cured its just expensive and a bit of a process to learn to do it right, which is even more expensive. but they are very helpful and knowledgeable about their products at smooth on and always will to help you out


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## flyingSquirrel (Aug 22, 2011)

@amandakathryn

Thank you for the very detailed info and insights! Really helpful to give me things to look out for. I appreciate you taking the time to offer your knowledge


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## amandakathryn (Jan 1, 2014)

No problem. I'm actually mold making this week....replacing some old ones and molding some new stuff I have finished, so mold making is very much in my head right now.


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## Ravage (Feb 5, 2016)

I was an assistant mold maker at a fine-art bronze foundry long ago, and the techniques used were both expensive and time consuming. Making a quality mold that is suitable for many "prints" is an undertaking.
But I got thinking about a method a friend of mine and I came up with to non-destructively cast petroglyphs in the field. If you just want to get bark texture (or say, a background) this might work. You use potters clay to make the mold. It will only make one print, so it's a compromise. But it's Cheap.
You need to get soft clay from a ceramics supplier and roll it out into a sheet. You want it several times thicker than your deepest detail. This will work with a bit of curving and undercutting, but the more you deviate from gentle curving, the more detail will be distorted (but not necessarily a lot).
Get the surface of the clay sheet that will take the impression as smooth as possible. Dust your objects surface with corn starch. You can sift it on with a flour sifter or a screen. If you get drifts, blow them off gently, you only need a slight dusting.
Lay the sheet over the object draping lightly, get the basic form down. Now take a wooden block, sized so that it will fit into any crevices on the object. So this means if the surface is generally flat you can use a relatively big (2X4X4) block, and if it has inward and outward curves, use a block the could fit into those crevices. TAP the block with a rubber mallet. Do it again, go over the entire surface multiple times. You don't have to hit hard, just keep tapping. You can tell if you have "molded" to the surface, or if there are air gaps by the sound and resistance to your blows.
The idea is: once you get the image of the surface transferred to the face of the clay, you can gently peel it off, re form the contours by blocking underneath with foam peanuts, or whatever you have. A box of sand or fine gravel could also support your sheet and restore it to the proper contours.
Cast into this mold immediately. 
You can let it sit for awhile to let it firm up (or shrink) a bit, but we found that the danger of the unforeseen generally outweighs the risk of waiting. For example, the cat walks across it while you are having a sandwich in the next room.
Use whatever material you want to cast, but it will want it to be somewhat thick in preparation (urethane would be good, you could use Bondo, we used hydroCal).
When the casting sets, just peel off the clay and wash away the details with water. If you don't like how your "cast" came of- it's only clay, you can do it again. 
Obviously you can't do a 360° mold with this technique, in fact, 180° is pushing it. It has other drawbacks- like it's one shot, if you drop the sheet after peeling it's toast.
But for a cheap and easy method of grabbing surface detail, it's pretty slick.
Since the clay is flexible it will grab details excellently, it can bend around what are called under cuts and then curl back in place, once, but that's all you really need.


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## sbreland (May 4, 2006)

If you're wanting to make a cast of a tree stump like you showed just find a suitable stump to take your impression from and use Tap plastics premium liquid latex to get several different "stamps" of the texture. Then, construct a base similar to the shape of the stump you want to (you can use foam or whatever you really want) and then cover it with Polygem epoxy. Search this forum for threads on it (may also be under zoopoxy, I don't remember). Once you have the stump base covered with epoxy use the "stamps" that you created weigh the latex to give the epoxy texture... no carving or sculpting necessary.


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