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...

Good points--I had thought of filling the master with sand but there's no reason not to use clay and as you said, it will save a lot of grief. Live and learn. I will have the same issues packing the base with mud that you do with the nun. Hair would solve the problem but I think the aesthetic on both of them would be sacrificed. I love the clean lines of your nun--her headdress is what makes her so arresting. My head was looking pretty bald and has big ears, hence the bead headdress (I may rework some of that). I didn't want to compete with the "hair" that will be growing out of the top of her head. I'm sure I'll sing a different tune when I'm trying to pack the mold through the neck. Upside-down will probably be the only way. You've given me a lot of food for thought--thanks for sharing your expertise. Deb

Can't see a blinking thing mate! Maybe this will help. Providing your storage site will link to the site you want to display one of your photos. Copy the properties, right click on the photo to find them rather than take the URL from the title bar. They will be pasted between HTML tags. I have to remove and > so you can figure the HTML tag required. Enclosed with and > no spaces, my photo link reads this;- img src=http://www.dropshots.com/photos/138984/20061119/154609.jpg border=0 Use the red type only and your picture will link out to your posting like so. Cheers, Yvonne. Ex-pat-Sydney-sider.

good point justgotabme, In fact I'd venture to say that most in fact are NOT painted. (I will have to confirm this tomorrow morning while I'm there setting up my cabinets etc). Not sure about the hardware question, I guess overall that depends on whether it's painted or stained. UGH am I back to not knowing again? What I'm not completely clear about is perhaps not so much about whether to paint or stain, but more about the "appraisal" of sorts of the piece itself. In my own summary, IF the wood is average/damaged in some way, then painting will hide this best and give the dresser new life. On the other hand, IF the dresser is worthy of maintaining in it's original condition, to minimize the amount of change to the piece, then staining would seem right. In this dressers case, Since it required a good deal of sanding to remove scratches, rings, burn marks etc, then the RAF (without staining first) would not work. and in fact staining itself may not really work well? SO that's what I'm confused about is the varying opinions on actually how worthy is this wood, and how well will stain work on it. Painting to me seems like the easy route, with as much (in some cases) bang for the buck.