help, never made a mold of anything...

[hamman]

and i would like to try it.  I searched the site for a while looking for a instructional DVD and haven't had any luck finding a name of one to look  for that you good folks have suggested.  I seen some old ebay links that went nowhere.
I have a few antlers that i would like to try and make a repleca of and don't have the foggiest where to start or how to do it.  Never did it an would love to try it.  any suggestions would be appreciated.

[bill@hogheaven]

Try something simpler first, antlers arent a beginners project. Look in the links & download the breakthrough index . there are some molding articles. Look for one by Larry Bloomquist on antlers. It is in an old issue. I believe b-through will copy the article for a price. If you try that method consider using Latex in place of silicone it is a lot cheaper & gives good results.

[Polymer Guy]

I agree with Bill.  Try looking at the mold of the week pictures.  The deer form is probably not a starter project either, but the fish forms are simple enough.  I would start with something like that.  There was a cool link on here somewhere for rock replicating with RTV caulk tubes, but I'm not sure where it is.  That was great for beginners.

[Jamt225]

Gary Bruchs articles in Breakthrough

Bruch, Gary. Reproduction Fins for Skin Mounts, Issue 78, pp69-72
How to Make Artificial Fish Heads, Issue 83, pp17-23
Part 1: How to Mold a Fish, Issue 84, pp34-39
Part 2: Molding & Casting a Fish, Issue 85, pp28-30


http://www.bruchsfish.com/workshops.htm

[EJ]

Here ya go Ham...This will get you started.

http://www.smoothonsecure.com/store/howto_service.php

http://www.smoothonsecure.com/store/pages_service.php?pID=62&cID=15

[GulfcoastWF]

EJ said it all right there.    my second favorite website!!!

Smooth on is the only way to go...

I started out the same as you... The very first thing I molded was a 140" whitetail rack... definatley not something a beginner should do and I would not recomend it in hindsight. I bit off much more than I expected to chew.  It took me over a week, doing it right using smooth-on's products and methods shown on thier site.  Came out fantastic! Also, they have some VERY detailed tutorials and even videos that will show you step by step everything you need to be sucessful.

Since then, I have made many other molds but...  I have poured countless casts from that very first mold using thier products.

Fair warning.... once you do this you will be hooked

LJ