Hack: Baby Powder for Perfect Silicone Mold Release

This is a how to tutorial that goes over using baby powder as a mold release for silicone molds. Baby powder is an inexpensive and non-toxic material that can be sprinkled and brushed into a silicone mold as a release. Here are some links to the materials I'm using in the video:

THE MOLD

RESIN POURING
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There are several brands of spray-on releases. But most are chemical based, and require you the wash the resin after casting to prep for paint. What I really like about the baby powder is that after the resin pops out of the mold, I can go directly to the paint stage with no cleaning or wiping. The baby powder creates a thin film between the resin and silicone, that aides in the resin separating from the silicone. It also creates a thin barrier that preserves the silicone, and adds longevity to your mold. Over time a mold can breakdown- mainly from the heat created by the resin as it cures. I noticed that using the baby powder will generally increase the longevity of a mold by 30-50%. I have quite a few tutorials and how to videos on silicone mold making and casting resin under the "Sculpting Tutorials" and "Designer Toy Tutorials" Playlists. Please give them a look and feel free to hit the like and share or comment if you enjoy them. At some point I'll be doing a more comprehensive tutorial on a variety of mold releases on the market today. Thanks for looking!

[lowerastral]

Thank you for your video. I have been a professional sculptor as well as mold maker going on close to forty-two years and I had not made any silicone molds in at least the last six years or so. I really didn't want to use a chemical based mold release for my molds, and I actually had been using talc or baby powder for my wax injection molds, but I wasn't familiar at all with being able to use talc for casting Fast Cast resins. You answered my question quickly and to the point which is great! Excellent, straight to the point, informative video.

[CeciliaLovecats]

Thanks so much for this tutorial!, I've never tried baby powder and i did yesterday and worked really nice. Looking forward for more tutorials! :D

[Engineerboy]

Good tip and info. On the baby powder as a mold release, thanks.

[jevries]

Hi, my experience with babypowder and smooth cast 300 is that the cured part hardly comes out from the mold. There’s so much suction going on that more than once I ruined my molds. What do you use.for silicone and casting material?

[caiphilms]

Great tip, Steve! May I ask what those blue chunks are in your silicone? May bad if you answered it in another video.

[volcomkoi]

Do you have a two piece mold video or do you plan to make one in the future?

[sara-kwcc]

Can you use baby powder with clear export resin? Or will it leave it foggy on the outside ?

[PANDANIKEFOOTBALL]

Hi Steve! Thanks for such a cool lesson! Please tell me how can withstand casting, plastic your silicone molds?

[starwarsguy]

When i am making a 2 piece mold and i did the 1st half can i use babypowder to make the 2nd half not stick to the 1st half when curing? Or does this only work with a release spray?

[nikolaigriggs]

Can you use this when making a two piece mold? Thanks

[Raymond_Petit]

I know you are not working with a clay mold, but do you know if this works with clay molds and a plaster casting?

[SebastianBurdon]

Thanks for the tutorial. I will give it a go. How does the baby powder affect the paint job. With wax release agents, it is often impossible to spray the model after casting because it is oily and needs cleaning for the spray paint to stick. Love your instagram feed 👍

[keciadeveney]

very cool! what was that machine you put your mold into? i've never seen that before. thank you for the tutorial. i've always wanted to do my characters in resin, but very clueless about the whole process. Your molds are spectactular too!

[dgregory]

Does it matter what baby powder you use scented or on scented?

[gd]

Does baby powder affect the gloss of the resin right out of the mold? Does it make it matte?

[chaucer]

Baby powder is not a mold release of any kind. It's a surfectant. It breaks the surface tension of the liquid casting agent which reduces bubbles in the casting. It makes for much cleaner castings. Rock on.

[jstman]

But you didn't make it clear, new baby powder uses Cornstarch, while the one you use is Talcum powder based. There's a huge difference.