This post shares how to make your own silicone mold using EasyMold Silicone Putty. Silicone putty is a quick, easy, and cost-effective way to make your own silicone molds for food crafts, resin crafts, clay crafts, and more. I received the silicone putty used in this tutorial for free; however, my review of the products is 100% unbiased.
How to Make Your Own Silicone Mold: EasyMold Silicone Putty Review
Hey guys! I’m sharing a product review and tutorial today. It’s been a long time since I’ve done one of these reviews, so I’m excited to dig in and try something new: making my own silicone mold. I’m specifically making this mold for use with resin and will be using and reviewing ETI’s EasyMold Silicone Putty.
What is EasyMold Silicone Putty?
ETI’s EasyMold Silicone Putty allows you to create molds of small objects. The easiest way to use it is to create impression-type molds. It’s odorless, non-toxic, FDA compliant, and food grade. This is all very important if you want to use this putty to make a candy mold, for example—or anything that will be ingested.
This silicone putty works great for crafts using resin, wax, baking, candies, ice cubes, soap, air dry clay, concrete, plaster, and even low-melt metals. Once cured, the molds have a high heat range—up to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
They will not shrink, are strong and flexible, and are self-releasing—no mold release agent required, which is one less thing to buy! Oh, and they’re reusable, but I haven’t used a mold twice yet. So I can’t speak to how well they hold up and when they begin to deteriorate.
Note: The instructions for the EasyMold Silicone Putty do say that molds used repeatedly may accumulate a buildup of material from castings. You can use a mold release/conditioner to help restore your molds if this happens—but remember to use only food safe mold release/conditioners if you mold is for food. will help to prevent this build up and restore your molds natural releasing properties.
It really is easy to use, too. The putty comes in two jars: one with purple putty and one with white putty. You just mix the two together and make your mold. But you have to work quickly—it has a 3-minute working time, and you should have the two components totally mixed together in only 1 minute.
How to Make Your Own Silicone Mold: Making a Snowflake Mold for Resin
(Read all EasyMold official instructions and warnings before getting started.)
Step 1: Mix the two parts of silicone
(Curing Note: There are some things that the EasyMold instructions say will inhibit the silicone from fully curing: items that contain sulfur (masking tape, clays, and latex gloves) or stearates (soap). Avoid direct contact with craft paints that contain chromium, copper, or black pigment, as well as water, peroxides, and alcohols).
Quickly mix the two parts of silicone together. You can do this by kneading it on a clean, flat surface. It’s pretty squishy, so you can squeeze it to help mix it together. Remember to work quickly…this stuff has a 3-minute working time! Those are 3 precious minutes.
You should be able to achieve a swirl-free consistency in about 1 minute. I didn’t use gloves, but if you want to use gloves, do NOT use latex gloves. They have sulfur in them, which can interfere with the mold curing after you take your impression. Use vinyl or nitrile gloves.
Step 2: Roll and flatten mixed silicone
Once both silicone components are completely mixed, roll the silicone into a ball immediately and gently flatten. You can use a rolling pin, but make sure the rolling pin it totally clean. You should flatten the putty based on the depth of the impression you’ll need. Don’t make it too thin—the cured mold could tear.
Step 3: Use an object to create an impression
I’m using a wooden snowflake ornament to make an impression. The instructions for the putty do say that some items may contain sulfur or stearates, which can inhibit curing. Soaps, for example. If the item you’re using to make an impression has one of these, just coat it with acrylic spray to seal it first. The instructions also recommend testing a small piece of putty on the item first, but I skipped that.
I quickly pressed the snowflake down into the silicone until I was happy with the placement. Then I took a knife and cut out around the snowflake just to make the mold look a bit more professional. I left the snowflake in the putty for the entire cure time, which is 25 minutes. Actually I left mine in for a bit longer because I was working on something else.
I was really impressed with how quickly the putty began to solidify. They aren’t kidding when they say it has a 3-minute working time. And between 4 and 25 minutes, it solidifies completely. Pretty amazing.
Want more resin projects? Check out my epoxy resin paint pour for beginners tutorial and my tips on whether to use a shiny or matte silicone mold for resin projects.
Step 4: Remove object and heat cure if needed
I removed the snowflake from the mold. After the cure time, the mold is ready to use. However, the instructions say that if you’re using a resin casting product, concrete, or plaster, the mold needs to cure at room temperature for 24 hours first.
If you’re feeling impatient, you can heat cure the mold by putting the mold only (not the item you are making an impression of) in the regular oven (not a toaster oven) on aluminum foil or a cookie sheet. The guidelines say to place in the center of the oven—or at least 6” from the heating elements—and make for 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 30 minutes. I did test out heat curing mine, and it worked just fine.
Casting Resin in the DIY Silicone Putty Mold
To test out my mold, I used a two-part epoxy resin colored with a light pink mica dye powder. And it worked out great! The mold did develop a bit of a condensation on it, but I didn’t wipe or clean it before using it.
I poured poured the colored epoxy resin and let it cure according to my resin’s instructions. I also used a heat gun to pop the bubbles and ensure it cured without any imperfections. The next morning, I popped it out easily. It turned out amazing! The mold released it very quickly and easily, and there are no imperfections in the mold after using it once. It’s very strong.
Like resin? Check out my tips for how to make resin jewelry using molds and how to make a gorgeous DIY marble and wood tray!
How to Make Your Own Silicone Mold: EasyMold Silicone Liquid Rubber
There’s a second way to make your own silicone mold that I tried out and want to share. While the first version used a silicone putty to make an impression mold, the second using a pourable/brush-able liquid silicone to make a mold.
Much like the putty option, EasyMold liquid pourable/brushable silicone rubber is great for a wide variety of molds: resin, wax, baking, chocolates, ice cubes, soap, plaster, clay, concrete, and low-melt metals. The biggest difference between the putty and the brushable/pourable silicone is that the putty is for impression molds.
That is, pushing something into the putty to make an impression of it. The liquid pourable/brushable silicone rubber is for blanket, glove, or block molds. It is also non-toxic, FDA compliant, and food grade.
What is EasyMold Silicone Liquid Rubber?
Since this silicone is pourable, it has longer working and curing times compared to the putty. Instead of the putty’s 3-minute working time, the liquid has a 45-minute to 1-hour working time. And a 24-hour cure time. (You can cure yours faster using heat, but I didn’t.)
The liquid can get into every nook and cranny of the item you’re making a mold of, meaning it produces great detail. No mold release required for most applications, and it has a high heat range of up to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. The molds are reusable if they aren’t damaged (mine was damaged, will talk more about that in a bit).
To ensure your mold cures properly, take the same precautions required for the putty. Don’t use anything with sulfur: masking tape, certain clays, latex gloves (use vinyl or nitrile gloves instead), or soap that contains stearates. Avoid craft paints that contain chromium, copper, or black pigment. Avoid contact with water, peroxide, or alcohol.
I wanted to choose something a bit more difficult to make a mold of because I’m a glutton for punishment. So I chose a small faux succulent…I didn’t mind if it got destroyed in the trial-and-error process. 🙂
How to Make Your Own Silicone Mold: Making Succulent Flower Mold for Resin
(Read all EasyMold official instructions and warnings before getting started.)
Step 1: Decide on the type of mold you’ll make
Decide what kind of mold you’d like to make: a glove mold, a blanket mold, or a block mold.
- Glove Mold: A glove mold is one of the easiest molds to make. You can make a glove mold by brushing the EasyMold Silicone Rubber onto your item. A few coats are required for full coverage, excellent detail, and strength.
- Blanket Mold: A blanket mold is generally best for flat, two-dimensional pieces.
- Block Mold: A block mold uses a container to hold the object you’re making a mold of and the silicone rubber while it cures. It’s generally best for reproducing an entire object.
2: Mix the two parts of the liquid silicone
I decided to make a block mold. But I probably should have chosen a glove mold. More on that in a bit. So I mixxed up my two-part silicone first. If you’re doing a block mold, ETI recommends estimates how much silicone you’ll need using uncooked rice.
To do this, put the item in the container you’ll use, then add rice. Once the item is sufficiently covered, pour the rice back out and measure how much you needed. That’s how much silicone you’ll need.
Step 3: Position the item you’re making a mold of and pour
To make my block mold, I poured a bit of the silicone into the base of a small container. (Remember, this silicone is food safe, so no worries there.) I then put my succulent figure upside down into the container, making sure it didn’t hit the very bottom of the container.
I used a clothespin and a reusable straw to position the succulent in place while I poured the rubber. This was necessary so the succulent wouldn’t fall to the bottom.
If you were making a glove or blanket mold, you’d apply 3 or 4 layers of the silicone with a small brush. Let each layer cure for about 1 hour before applying another layer. Speed up the curing time with a heat source (hair dryer, heat lamp, heat gun, etc.).
Step 4: Let cure and remove the object
After my mold was done curing, I used a popsicle stick and a spoon to pry it out of the container. The good news is that this silicone cures really well. It was very tough and strong. The bad news is that that meant I couldn’t easily get my succulent out of the silicone. I didn’t leave enough of an opening at the top.
Here’s what I did. First I cut off the corners to hopefully give me more leverage to pop the succulent out. No dice. So I decided to pry the succulent out. It’s a good thing I wasn’t keen on keeping the succulent, because I ended up pulling some leaves off in the process. Oops! Definitely leave a bigger opening than I did!!
Casting Resin in the DIY Liquid Silicone Mold
I wanted it to be a bit easier to get my resin succulent out of the mold, so I use a pair of small scissors to strategically cut the opening out a bit more and then used a small syringe to fill the mold with green-colored resin. After that cured, it was time to get it out.
Long story short—I had to cut the mold up pretty badly to get the resin succulent out. Kind of defeats the purpose of springing for silicone that makes reusable molds, right? But it was a trial and error process. I now know that for an item like this, it would probably be best to do a glove mold or a multipart mold. Nonetheless, you can see that I actually was able to replicate the succulent! Pretty cool.
This was definitely a fun process, and I enjoyed working on a new skill. Hopefully some of my mistakes help you if you’re Googling around wondering how to make your own silicone mold. I highly recommend both of the products I tried out! Good luck!
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