Yea, yea, yea... Nice of you to be so stereotypical. I started this topic because I wanted some information and got it! The thread turned into a very informative, useful and entertaining piece. Your post is part of the "entertainment!" LOL. And, BTW, here is "the rest of the story;" The squirrels you love kept raiding my bird feeder. I peppered their backsides with BBs hoping they would get the message and stay away. I guess squirrels are not one of the brightest creatures on the planet! So... I got the pellet gun out, gave it 15 pumps and terminated one squirrel. I left his lousy carcass lie in its tracks for a couple of days and haven't had a squirrel problem since. End of story and "no SHAME" on me. As James Brown sang, "I feel good!" BTW, Never did use the POP/PB balls =(

Hi, just a quick follow-up re. a problem that I'm seeing doing this process. Specifically bad results with a different silicone. I used GE brand 'Silicone I' to make my mold and everything went fine. When I went to produce some more silicone molds from my master I thought that I'd go the extra mile, shell out another two dollars and get the GE 'Silicone II', their premium .. er caulk stuff. The masterful Nofu silicone thread specifically mentions that either silicone will be suitable. I bought a tube of brown GE 'Silicone II'. Anyway, to cut to the chase, the brown GE 'Silicone II' failed to set properly, remained gummy in places, and kind of mucked up my plaster master mold. I'm suspecting a bad reaction with the Murphy soap that I'm using as a release agent. As a second coat on top of a layer of 'Silicone I' it had been fine. The II really is different from the number I product. Lacking much of the awful aroma that number I gives, and feels softer to me. Anyway, caveat emptor, not sure why this is so, but that's what is going on over here, and I'm passing this on, SD

I too have just read this entire topic - AND the Faux rock AND moulage - and I'm soooo glad it's been bumped up. What a treasurehouse of info you folks are! THANK you for such kind open sharing. Um... at the risk of opening up a wound, that shell mask is so stunning - mass, delicacy, balance, lyrical line... I cannot help but mention that if you have any of those lovely pieces left sulking in a corner, there *are* solvents that will work on already cured silicone... solvents are funny things, verrrry specific and persnickety, but take a peek at the link below, won't you, ButterflyBush? Please? (sheesh... yeah, yeah, I know... but see, what a strong effect a piece of original art can sometimes have on utter strangers, turns 'em into real pests...) Kindest regards, either way. ; >

"My general contractor offered me to hang a drywall on top of plaster but I dont see a value of this." Oh for the love of God - I wish if people didn't know how to do something or it was outside their range of expertise they would just say so and not propose these ridiculous things that do more harm than good. So he adds more thickness with a layer of drywall - what does he do with the trim then? Rip it out and install skinny cheap modern trim from Home Depot (some do exactly that - ugghhhh) Sorry OP I just had to vent there!! Ive been looking at old houses to buy and theres no end of goofy, futzy things that people have done to them. Im glad you saw the folly of that esp in such an old house. Like fine antiques, as time goes on people more appreciate the old things - esp if well maintained in original condition. You may want to go over to thehistoricdistrict.org, which has many old house lovers on the forum including professionals who can advise in great detail about how to do plaster repair. Especially with your age of house - you might want to confirm what type of plaster you have . There was an earlier type of lime plaster with different composition with materials you might have to hunt for (but certainly are obtainable at reasonable cost) The later type of gypsum based plaster used in early-mid 1900s - materials not available at big box - I think Ace had a type of patching plaster that can work but the plaster of paris that they (and home depot) sells is not good - sets up way too fast and hard. Otherwise any small-mid size city should have a building supply store where they carry the more specialized types of materials - while traditionally plater walls had a three coat system, for repairing cracks Ive just used plain patching or veneer plaster - if a bigger hole you can get a rough coat plaster for first layer and veneer plaster for the top layer. Use a bonding agent on the edges of the old plaster and the lath to help the new plaster adhere well to the old. There's various other techniques for bigger areas and different types of situations - and other people will have their favorite methods and materials (some use drywall compound but IMHO if you have extensive repairs its best (and considerably cheaper) to get the real stuff. Re very fine surface hairline cracks - ignoring those works the best! In a nutshell - plaster repair is exactly the kind of labor intensive but very doable thing that a typical home owner can learn to do, and do well.