Hi Marly this is a little off topic.
Have you tried cryogenic perlite for making molds in place of POP.
Just Portland and powdered perlite. A little admix and superplasticizer probably wouldn't hurt as well.
I have made a couple test bricks.
Very light weight, waterproof and strong and cheap.
I have no idea how it would wear, it's soft, or make a sillycone mold but it seems very promising.
It has a texture so it probably wouldn't be a great choice for leaves but I think it has some potential.
I'm preparing an old workboot that I want to try to mold with perlite for a boot planter but it's winter project.

Buddyfly, THANK YOU!! That tutorial is PERFECT! And yes, I know I am shouting but your work is worthy of it! It answered the exact questions I have had about this part of the process and I really appreciate your hard work and generosity in sharing your work. Even if you DO really have fun at it. Please put me on the waiting list for your tutorial CD. Hey, I am on social security and have to save up.
spiderwoman

Another route -

1 - make the concrete leaf, casting it as you would
2- use latex or urethane spread on to create mold
3-peel off when done

sure seems as straight ahead

A friend who is doing this is selling her urethane leaf molds for between $50-$100 on the infamous online auction site.

Vicki

OK, the rest of the tutorial has been added to my site.

Tutorial - Leaf Mold Part Two (The Silicone Mold)

Tutorial - Leaf Mold Troubleshoot

Vicki, I haven't tried urethane molds yet... I expect it would be quite a bit more costly than this method. I like being able to go to the local hardware store to pick up the supplies for this type of mold. I'm glad your friend is getting such a good price for her molds! I'm going to go and check it out at that 'famous site'! Wink! lol

David, I think I will stick with POP and silicone. Don't see a need at this time to find another material that works since this one is affordable and available and VERY familiar to me.

Spiderwoman, thank you so much for your kind words of encouragement. I'm hoping the newbies will benefit from these tutorials. I've learned so much at this site and am happy to be able to give something back.

OK, I'm tired now. Going to sign off for now.

Goodnight all!

Marly

"David, I think I will stick with POP and silicone. Don't see a need at this time to find another material that works since this one is affordable and available and VERY familiar to me."

Well that's no good at all.
Now I have to figure this out by my self.:)
I'm eager to make a three part cast of this old boot but it's gonna be tricky because I've never done it before.
I have 50 pound bag of POP so I might try that.

Thank you Marly! We love you... :)

Dear Marly,

I don't know you other than reading your posts to the GardenWeb, however I wish I lived near you so I could see all your wonderful creations!!!! I want to thank you very deeply & sincerely for being so kind to share what I am sure has taken you a long time to develop. Your generosity and the time it has taken you to put the tutorial together especially, when you weren't feeling well is greatly appreciated.

The effect of one good-hearted person is incalculable. ~Oscar Arias

Warmly and with thanks,
Nancy

That is one fantastic tutorial Marly. You certainly have a knack for 'splaining things. That will be a great cd to make and I wish you all the success possible if you make and sell it. Thanks again. I learned quite a bit from it . Good luck.

Marly,

Thank you very much for the great tutorial. Making leaf molds is something which I've wanted to try for some time now but to date I've not been able to piece all the process elements together. Your instructions appear to be complete and concise. Great job - Fantastic!! Can't wait to get started. How long does the process take from start to finish? Approximately how long does each layer of silicone take to cure?

Thanks for sharing - John

John, the first layer will take a little longer to cure because of the deeper veins. Each layer takes about 1/2 hr to cure. (I'm talking about the silicone) The POP layers... well the first more 'liquid' layer takes a bit longer as well to harden - about an hour. After that each layer you add should harden within 1/2 hour. I'm guessing here. I should have timed all that but I didn't think of it. I would think if you started early in an evening you could have the POP mold fully done and possibly even all the silicone mold. I spread mine over a few days because I was trying to let the POP fully dry which isn't necessary.

Oh, and something I forgot to mention on the tut ... I used approximately two full tubes of silicone for the mold. I ended up using up what was left in two tubes plus almost all of a new full one.

I'm glad you will give this a try. You will be looking for leaves to mold EVERYWHERE you go now! lol

Marly

Thank you, thank you, thank you Marly! That was great, I will be trying this as soon as Katrina permits. Marly, am I correct in assuming you used the silicone straight out of the tube, no thinning?
bonnie

Correct, no thinning.

Stay safe!

Marly

This is a great tutorial! Makes me want to try it and gives me enough pictures and explanation that surely I could be successful. Thanks!
Laura

Marly, Marly, Marly,

How absolutely fantastically talented you are, and how wonderful of you to share it all with us. You have taken such time to explain it all so thoroughly and concisely.

Thank you, thank you, thank you. To reiterate what Garden Chicken said

We really do love you !!! :o)

FANTASTIC Its so nice when people share their talent.
Thanks Marly.
Paws

Hi Marly,

I just now got time to go through your tutorial. My exuberant "HEAR! HEAR!" to the foregoing accolades from our tufa forum friends.

A couple of questions. First, what kind of leaf did you use? I have made a couple of castings from that same type of tree/weed but I don't know what it is. I found it growing in an electrical substation in the foundry (actually, since sand, cement, and leaves are here, I did the castings here).

Secondly, you mentioned in the tutorial about putting cheesecloth in the silicone mold to stiffen it. Will that make it too rigid to shape over a mound of sand? My casting of one of those leaves is concave enough to be called a bowl. How stiff will the silicone mold be with the cheesecloth?

David

Hi David!

Thanks for the 'accolades'! lol

I used a rhubarb leaf for this tutorial. Even with the cheesecloth the mold is extremely flexible for shaping into a bowl if you like. I have done that with some of my mold castings projects. The cheesecloth doesn't make it less flexible at all. It just strengthens the mold to prevent tearing. Tearing happens when unmolding too enthusiastically! lol Which I am soooooooooooo guilty of! So I SHOULD have put cheesecloth in my silicone mold! lol If you read through the 'troubleshooting' part of the tut, you will see one of the suggestions I gave for lessening the stress on those 'trouble spots'.

Happy molding/casting!

Marly

Marley,I can only repeat what has already been said- GREAT JOB.
After reading through it a couple times I had to give it a try. It was a wee bit trickier than I thought...not sure if I have enough patience to be successful at this.LOL At least I had enough sense to start with a smallish leaf. It was slow going cuz I was trying not to let it go over the edge and seep under even though you said not to worry about it cuz I hate trying to get them off a concrete casting. some of them separated easily but others didn't. I can see the advantage to using the cheesecloth but found it a bit aggrivating to work with. I did do a couple small leaves without it. When applying the 2nd coat of POP do you ever moisten the first layer ? I seemed like when I put the 2nd coat on the bottom layer sucked the moisture out so fast that I couldn't spread it out. I got the edges trimmed down to the leaf OK but the next challenge is removing the leaf. I guess the trick here is choosing the right leaf. Squash is NOT a good choice and the sunflower leaf doesn't look any easier but the taro leaf pealed right off in one piece YIPEEE! ! unfortunately I broke the tip off of it :( I have the other 2 baking in the sun in the greenhouse hoping they'll dry up and fall off. Any other leaves that come off easily? How are rhubarb and hosta to remove?

One more question. You say to use the interior/exterior silicone. What is the difference between that and the 100% silicone for kitchen and bath ?
Thanks again for so generously sharing your talent.

packrat2

Hi Packrat2!

I'm happy to see that someone is trying the POP leaf method. Sometimes I wonder why I make up these tutorials and when I see that someone is using them... well that makes be feel it was worth it.

Your questions... re the second layer of POP ... sure you can wet down the first layer before adding second. I've never had that happen with the second layer being sucked up like that. Maybe you let your first layer dry longer than I do, maybe it is not as humid there as it is here, ... lots of possibilities. But wetting the first layer will work.

Regarding the silicone types... if it is 100% silicone I would give it a try. When I was first learning how to do all this mold stuff, I had read that the interior/exterior was the type of silicone to buy. I didn't question it as to why. Guess it just became part of my basic routine to buy the exterior stuff.

Yes, leaves are tricky to remove if they have ANY kind of a rough or hairy texture to the back of the leaf. Rhubarb is a bit tricky to remove because the leaf itself is very delicate. You can't remove it in one fell swoop. I WISH!! Hosta is a BREEZE to remove cuz it is so smooth. Squash and sunflower, raspberry, malva... all are very rough textured and therefore more patience is required to remove the leaf.

Hope I have answered all your questions.

Have a great day!

Marly

Hi folks! I just wanted to re-post this tutorial directly into this thread. My MSN account has been deleted but I had saved all my tutorial pics on my own computer. I'm reposting them here for y'all. Each 'thumbnail' can be clicked on to see the large view. I decided to try this method of posting a tutorial instead of links. Hope you find it works suitably.

Just a note to folks that have recently commented that they find POP too soft to work with... after the POP dries completely - as in no longer cool to the touch - it will be VERY hard. I just tried to break a mold I no longer wanted (it had the cheesecloth imbedded into it) ... and it was very hard to break! After a few attempts I gave up. I figure it wanted to live! lol Anyway, just thought you might like to know that it indeed becomes a very strong product once it fully dries.

Marly

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I'm sorry to ask this, Buddyfly, but what "POP" ingredient? Portland and Perlite?

Wow Marly, I didn't think you could post so may pics in one thread here. Fantastic !

I did my first leaf POP casting already.

Your toot is great .

I saved it to computer and also printed, sleeved and put them in a binder. 2 images fit on one sheet so I printed boths side of the paper and got it all on 13 pages (((*-*)))

Thanks

Miss Marly,
You are SOOO talented....thanks for your hard work!!!
Fran

Satoko - Pop is Plaster of Paris

Marly, thanks VERY much!!! This is a great tutorial, I hope to be able to make use of it this weekend :)

Great job! How large is the leaf? I don't recall reading how many tubes of silicone you used. Did I miss that? Would this method work on an already cast concrete leaf using the Murphy's Soap as a release agent on the concrete?

Hmmm, I think I used almost two tubes of silicone. I would suggest that you use the method that Buckyforce demonstrated in her tutorial on mold making and mother molds. She uses wax on an already cast item to act as the release agent. I wouldn't use Murphy's on a cast leaf... might end up permanently sticking to the stone and that would be tragic!

Marly

Hi Marly! Of course, by the time I find you the pictures aren't available anymore. Is there a place to find them currently? I am new to the forum and want to absorb as much as possible and you seem to be the person to sponge off of ;)

Hi Mmfine,
Here you go . Marley moved to a different website.
She did some great work on her tutorials.
Enjoy,
Jan

Here is a link that might be useful: Marley's tutorials