Adventures with a Rusty Camshaft

[Hermes2020]

The mould you made is interesting and artistic on its own and it’s amazing that you were able to make it so successfully. Is the gelatin-glycerol material something that could be used to make a printing plate? I know people make them with gelatin and something.

Thanks for your comments. I have never used the gel type printing plates, but my guess is that my formulation has a chance of working. It really is amazingly rubbery and tough, so you could give it a try. It is totally nontoxic and even food safe. The recipe is on my desktop PC, but I will only get to it tomorrow, when I will post it with instructions.

 

[Donna T]

Thanks Hermes - I’m curious about the recipe but there’s no rush on my part. I think the homemade gel plates need to be stored in the fridge but I’m not sure about that.

 

[Hermes2020]

To clarify, the pink mould material in my photo is silicone rubber (Mold Max 30); the gelatine-glycerol material is not shown and was just used to mask half of the camshaft during the first silicone pour to get the negative mould in the top part of the photo.

Here is the gelatine-glycerol recipe I used.

GELATINE-GLYCEROL MOULD MATERIAL RECIPE

1. Put 113g of unflavoured, unsweetened gelatine into a glass mixing bowl
2. Add 120ml cold water
3. Leave for about 20 minutes and stir now and then to allow the gelatine to swell
4. Add 300ml glycerol (some companies label it as glycerine) and stir well
5. Add 360ml HOT water
6. Put a tray with hot water on the hob and bring to a gentle simmer. Place the mixing bowl into the hot water. The water should be below the level of the mixture in the bowl
7. Stir well until all the gelatine is dissolved. It takes about 30 minutes.
8. Pour the liquid into a tray to and leave to cool. It usually sets below 40°C

If you want a very stiff gel for printing, perhaps increase the amount of gelatine to 120 grams.

 

[Donna T]

Thanks so much for this, Hermes! I appreciate the very specific instructions. I would like to try half a recipe just to see how stiff the printing plate turns out and then add more gelatin if necessary. I press botanical things and hard stems might damage a soft plate. A softer plate would pick up more details though so it might good to have.

 

[Hermes2020]

Thanks so much for this, Hermes! I appreciate the very specific instructions. I would like to try half a recipe just to see how stiff the printing plate turns out and then add more gelatin if necessary. I press botanical things and hard stems might damage a soft plate. A softer plate would pick up more details though so it might good to have.

You are welcome and I am excited to hear how it works for you. I am probably a bit strange, but I enjoy the process and experimentation as much as the production of the end product.

 

[Artyczar]

This is great! You know, I have to say, there's something about how that pink color of the mold goes with the color of the cam shaft. I don't know why, but I really like that odd contrast.

 

[Hermes2020]

This is great! You know, I have to say, there's something about how that pink color of the mold goes with the color of the cam shaft. I don't know why, but I really like that odd contrast.

Ha, ha, yes I agree. However, I cannot claim credit for the choice of pink. It happens to be the colour of the 30A Shore hardness silicone rubber. The company that makes the Mold Max range, Smooth-On, uses a different colour code for every type of rubber to aid in identification. This one is light pink and the others are purple, pink, and mint green.

 

[Hermes2020]

Sorry, I forgot to mention that the material can be remelted and reused over and over. I usually remelt it in the bain-marie I mentioned in step 6 of the recipe.