Please help with casting claws

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Please help with casting claws

Author	Message
Gantaeno	Gantaeno posted 10 Years Ago HOT Topic Details
Group: Forum Members Posts: 2, Visits: 10	Morning all, I am hoping to move from using epoxy resins and polymer clays to casting for the claws on my hand sewn sloths and bears. I have cast a few parts in resin before at University but it was a while ago and under supervision of an artist, so I don't have a clear idea of the direction the claws would be best sitting in the mould. I don't know if this needs to be a two part mould with the claws lying horizontally or vertically, or if the silicone is flexible enough that I could just have a single layer with the mould creeping over the top of the claw but a small space to fill from. I assume the holes will complicate things further too. Anyway, any advice before I take the plunge is much appreciated; I hope the attached images of the claws in use and how I think they could be cast are helpful, but I have no doubt they could be completely wrong! Thanks, Chloe. Tags animal beginner casting claws
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Hanaldo	Hanaldo posted 10 Years Ago HOT Post Details
Group: Forum Members Posts: 2.5K, Visits: 28K	I'd say there's a couple of ways to go about it, just depends on what you actually need. The easier, but less accurate/detailed way would be to do a simple blanket mould. Lay the claw flat on a piece of plastic, stuck down with a tiny bit of hot glue, then brush some silicone over it in a few layers. I think the better way though, would be to do a 2 part block mould. This video gives a great walkthrough on how to do it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGZ2OeQinzw If you did it that way, with the claw pushed halfway into the clay then you shouldn't have any issues with the hole at the end.
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Gantaeno	Gantaeno posted 10 Years Ago HOT Post Details
Group: Forum Members Posts: 2, Visits: 10	Thank you for the link, that's a great help and I can see how that would work with the claws as well. This is the method we used at University, but I had forgotten the use of clay completely: no wonder it wasn't making sense! Thanks again
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