How To Find The Best Silicone Mold Material For Your Jewelry-Making Business
When you work with resin and other materials that have to be shaped and formed to make your jewelry pieces, silicone molds are an important part of the process. However, buying an entire collection of molds can be a money-consuming process. Therefore, it is far more efficient to buy silicone mold materials and make your own silicone molds. You can find liquid silicone materials everywhere, but not every product is the same. Take a look at some of the attributes to look for in the best products to use in your jewelry-making processes.
Make sure the material has a good tear strength.
If you are using epoxy resin or another material to make pendants and other pieces, you will be pulling those pieces out of the silicone molds after you make them. If the material you use does not have a good tear strength, you will be faced with tearing molds every time you remove a piece from the mold. This can lead to having to make molds more often than you'd like, which can grow to be rather expensive over time.
Make sure the material offers working time before it sets.
Yes, silicone should set rather quickly, but it should also not set so quickly that you cannot get your impression piece into the mold before the silicone dries. The harder the silicone is when you press an impression piece into it, the less likely it will be that it actually conforms to the shape. Quick-setting silicone often seems like it would be preferable, and if you can work really fast, they definitely are. However, it is a lot easier to have a slower silicone cure rate that gives you more time to work even if you have to wait a bit longer for it to actually set.
Make sure the material is self-leveling.
When you are pouring your silicone into a mold, you want it to level itself out without you having to interfere with the material after it has been poured. If the silicone mold material is not self-leveling, you are forced to use a spatula or tool to level it out, which can lead to a lot of waste as the silicone sticks to the tool you use. The materials that are self-leveling will be clearly labeled as such, so make sure you look for this attribute while shopping for the best silicone mold-making materials.
Look online and in local stores to find silicone mold material that you could use.