Hi Crete Artisan, I am trying to make first a POP leaf casting, and then use it to make a re-useable silicone mold using Marlinska's Photobucket tutorial as a guide. (Thank you Marlinska). She uses the Murphy's as the release agent between the POP master and the silicone mold. I recently found this GW posting by Nofu which seems very thorough. "I personally like dry mold releases rather than greasy ones. For porous materials like plaster, I like to buff in several coats of Johnson's paste wax, leaving only a micro thin layer on the surface and then allowing it to completely haze over before making the mold. For non-pourous surfaces, like glass, I take Ivory dish soap and mix it 1:3 with distilled water. Use a soft artist's brush and swish the sudsy mix over the surface of the model while drying with a blow drier in the other hand. The result should be a thin soap film that is relatively dry to the touch. Petroleum jelly (Vasoline) will also work, but is messy to clean up. I don't like PAM or other cooking sprays. Silicone sprays make great mold releases for everything EXCEPT silicone. They tend to become part of the mold and may actually increase adhesion. Also avoid petroleum based lubricating sprays. They are messy and make it difficult to brush the silicone over the surface evenly.' From what he says, I would be better using a wax paste rather than a soap-based release? That will be the next thing I can't find here, sigh....

Peak the Tufa God---thank goodness you're back. After months of being forced to lie in bed and dream of the things I wanted to do, I attempted a two-layered grot and a casting of a hosta leaf. I did not do this directly on to the patio----remember...I'm the one whose new husband had to use a crowbar to get my first project off the cement. I'm also the (semi)fool who made bowls in the sand and allowed the tides of Puget Sound to set them. They are fine--probably because I did what Tufa God told me to do----used tons of rinse water after taking them off the beach. I've been trying to collect Dena's instructions on casting......Marly's general knowledge---all of which I have printed on scads of paper and stored in notebooks, which are now in a thousand different places. My wonderful husband's face looks pinched and worn as I stumble around and collect "shapes" for tufa production--and he just called from Home Depot, while I scrolled up this page to tell him which kind of tape to bring home. They're going to have to cut off my arms before I give up...but I feel much more secure now that Peak is back. By the way, Peak, would it not work to decorate the side of that gorgeous hunk with cement-soaked tulle? What might deter it from sticking?

Hello everybody, I'm new here :o) I was interested in reading how these moulds were made. I use a slightly different technique for both the silicone skin, and the mother mould. Here's what I do, just in case anyone wants to experiment. Names of products may be slightly different, as I'm not in the US. I use ordinary clear silicone - the type you buy for sealing anything outdoors. 1. Fill a basin with warm water, add a very good squirt of dishwashing liquid and mix well. 2. Put silicone dispenser in caulk gun, cut off top, and squeeze straight into the soapy water. 3. Using your hands (you can use rubber gloves, but I never bother) gather up the silicone mass, lift it onto your master (the object you want to make a mould from) and press down well all over. Make sure it gets pressed into all depressions. 4. Dip your hands back into the soapy water if the silicone starts to stick to them. Smooth over the outside of the mould with wet soapy hands. 5. Leave overnight to cure. Case-mould I use Fine Casting Plaster, which is much the same as Plaster of Paris. Large bags of it can be bought in large hardware and builders' suppliers. It will perish if the bag is left open, so buy only enough for your needs. I use hessian scrim or plasterer's scrim. Small rolls of plasterer's scrim will do the job OK, and are easy to source. Hope these tips are useful...

Not sure if this helps, since the situations are so different, but I did a full wall (8x14ish) mural of the world map in my oldest son's room when we were switching his room to make way for a baby brother. Almost 7 years later, it's still a great feature and I wish I could find something similarly timeless and interesting for the younger one's room. Obviously that's a very different context and we used a different company though (we got ours through Pottery Barn Kids although I see the same item on lots of other sites). Be forewarned: ours was a nightmare to install, and we have nowhere near height of your room. Definitely time for a professional or very patient and savvy DIYer. Good luck!