Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Adventures in Polyurethane Mold Building Part 1.

I say adventure because I'm not sure this will turn out. Here is the bamboo tiki light I am attempting to turn into a concrete tiki light holder. I need to build a mold for the rubber (the easy part) and make the lamp water tight (the hard part).
Here we go, two part polyurethane used to make durable and reusable concrete stamps and molds. It's not cheap but if the mold turns out, I will be able to make a bunch of these to help defray the cost.
On the left the mold for the mold. On the right, the sealed tikiman. I backed the face area with masking tape and filled in the light bulb access and cord holes with molding clay.
Then I sprayed everything with a liberal shot of silicone mold release and glued them down. Per manufacturers suggestion there is 1/2inch between the mold and the tikiman. Once the polyurethane is set I will split it in two halves to remove the bamboo.
The silicone glue will have to set up at least a day before I can make a mess, I mean pour the mold.

Monday, December 13, 2010

Happenings in the Dr. Concrete World

The weather has turned cold and the miscellaneous outdoor projects that have been keeping me from concrete projects are wrapped up for the year.
Looking towards next year I've got a few fun projects in the works.
1. I now have the domain Dr. Concrete so everything will be migrating to www.drconcrete.net eventually. The website will be a mishmash of different services from consulting to countertops.
2. I will be experimenting with two part polyurethane molds for a couple neat projects. I have been toying around with the idea of making some Tiki torch holders. What better than a tiki to hold them. We got a tiki light as an early Christmas present. I'm going to attempt to turn that into a mold. Don't worry, the light isn't trademarked or copyrighted so I won't get in trouble.
3. I'm teaming with again studiobuild to work on some concrete and wood trophies.
4. I'm doing a limited run of the planters to clear out the rest of the Ipe wood.
Stay tuned for more details.