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Author Topic: Making candle moulds from silicone  (Read 5374 times)

Online Lesgold

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Re: Making candle moulds from silicone
« Reply #20 on: February 01, 2023, 09:25:58 pm »
The silicone mould was cast in a plastic container which was slightly tapered. This reduced the amount of silicone required. It took a bit of work to remove the timber template from the mould but a cut down one side ensured the desired result. A test candle was then poured to clean out any remaining debris and also act as a test candle in relation to wick size.


The candle came out of the mould with little effort. I was really pleased with the end result. Hopefully it will burn well in relation to the chosen wick.


150 grams of wax was needed for this candle.

Online Lesgold

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Re: Making candle moulds from silicone
« Reply #21 on: February 04, 2023, 01:25:50 am »
Decided to try a few of the tree trunk candles at the markets tomorrow. It will be interesting to see what the response will be.

Offline Ben Framed

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Re: Making candle moulds from silicone
« Reply #22 on: February 04, 2023, 01:59:00 am »
Quoting: Lesgold
"Decided to try a few of the tree trunk candles at the markets tomorrow. It will be interesting to see what the response will be".

I have been watching this thread with interest. You have done a find job with your original ideas displayed here Les. I would suppose your candles will be met with interest and success... Wishing you the best tomorrow. :-)

Phillip

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Online Lesgold

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Re: Making candle moulds from silicone
« Reply #23 on: February 04, 2023, 02:36:38 am »
Thanks Phillip. It was a bit of fun while the hand was healing. This is all new to me so the learning curve has been quite steep. I decided to push the boundaries with one more candle design to add to the collection. On the east coast of Australia  there is a tree called the banksia which grows on sand just behind the beaches. One variety (Banksia Integrifolia or coast banksia as it is commonly called) produces a beautiful flowering display throughout the winter. If hives are located close to the beaches, the banksia can provide enough nectar to produce a minor surplus through the winter. The honey is dark and has a distinctive flavour. When flowering finishes, a seed pod is created which is quite attractive.

I looked around for quite a while to find one that had some balance and character. This particular nut is about 3 inches high and about an inch and a quarter in diameter (to the edge of the pods)
One end was cut as a base and 5 coates of sealer were applied to the nut.

As the holes in each pod were quite deep, they were quickly filled and roughly shaped with play dough.

I?m not sure if this complex shape will release from the mould but if it does there is a chance that an interesting candle may result. I will pour the latex later and give you guys some feedback tomorrow. I?m guessing that the silicone may have to be cut in two or three places if there is to be any chance of extracting the banksia nut. Fingers are crossed?..

Offline BeeMaster2

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Re: Making candle moulds from silicone
« Reply #24 on: February 04, 2023, 08:29:29 am »
Les,
The pine comb mold has deeper indents than that one and it only has two cuts in it.
After you make it, try making another one with a little bit deeper indents.
Another choice might be to carve little petals into the clay.
I don?t know if you can do it but if possible, I would copy write these. They are very unique and you probably can sell a lot of these molds on the internet.
Jim Altmiller
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Offline The15thMember

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Re: Making candle moulds from silicone
« Reply #25 on: February 04, 2023, 11:33:13 am »
That is so fun!  It looks like a bunch of clams attached to a rock that are all singing together in a choir!  :cheesy:  If you were to sell candles or molds made from this online, I'd buy them.  I'd buy the wood molds too!  :happy:       
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Online Lesgold

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Re: Making candle moulds from silicone
« Reply #26 on: February 04, 2023, 03:18:29 pm »
Hi Jim,

I don?t know if you can see it from the photo but the seed pods were very deep and went almost to the centre of the cone. They were tapered which would aid in release from the mould. I did shape the play dough to replicate the open clam shape that Reagan spoke about. I wanted to make sure that the candle had a good, solid body of wax.  I won?t attempt to release the silicone until after the markets. When I do, I will get a feel for how many cuts that I need to make in the mould. Thanks for the tip. If I can get away with two cuts, I?d be happy. There is still a strong chance that the whole thing will fail but it is still fun trying something new.

Online Lesgold

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Re: Making candle moulds from silicone
« Reply #27 on: February 05, 2023, 01:18:33 am »
As expected,  release of the banksia nut was slow with quite a few pinch points where the silicone grabbed on difficult areas of the shape. As you suggested Jim, two cuts were needed to ensure the master could be removed. Quite a bit of the play dough stuck to the mould so it was soaked in a soapy water mix for a couple of hours before being hosed out. As you can see from the photo, there is quite a bit of detail and complex shapes within the silicone.

After drying, the first candle was poured. As beeswax shrinks away from the mould slightly, removal of the first candle was quite a painless process.

The finished candle turned out quite well. A wick test will now be required to see how the candle burns.

Offline BeeMaster2

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Re: Making candle moulds from silicone
« Reply #28 on: February 05, 2023, 05:42:30 am »
Looks great, good job.
Jim Altmiller
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Online Lesgold

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Re: Making candle moulds from silicone
« Reply #29 on: February 06, 2023, 03:49:02 pm »
A couple of candles were made using different wick sizes. There was some wax that ran off the candle during the burn due to the complex shape. Burn time was well over 4 hours with a good flame throughout.

I had about a cup of liquid silicone left in the container so I made two beehive skep moulds using a wax blank that I poured from a purchased mould. Here is the result

As you can see from the candle that was made, no detail was lost in the new candle. The new mould cost less than 25% of the original moulds purchase price.

 

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