Tutorial: Making Silicone Molds

I love to decorate the tops of my soap with swirls, curls, and textures. Some of my favorite bars of soap are topped with soap embeds, like my Lemonade soap and my Green Grass soap. I've had loads of great ideas for embeds, and I've finally perfected my silicone mold-making technique, and I have started making new designs for my soaps!

To make your mold, you will need:

• One package of polymer clay (to make your own designs) OR any hard object you want to make a mold out of
• One bottle of silicone caulking (try to find the outdoor kind)
• One caulking gun
• Corn Starch

1. Start off by making your objects in clay. 

2. Once you are satisfied with your clay objects, bake them in an oven or toaster oven using the directions on the packaging. The clay I used called for 275 degrees in the oven for 20 minutes. Bake your clay and let it cool fully.

3. Pour about 2 cups of corn starch into a separate bowl.

4. Open your silicone caulk and load the caulk into the caulking gun carefully. Squeeze out some silicone caulk into your corn starch, then fold the silicone into the corn starch until it is no longer sticky and has the consistency of clay. You may want to wear gloves!
5. Now, gently press your object (in my example: my clay owl!) into the silicone and set it aside to allow the silicone to dry out.

6. Once the silicone has dried (I gave mine a few hours to be sure), remove your object! 

Keep a couple of things in mind:

-- These molds are not suitable for edibles, like chocolate or candy. 

-- You can also buy silicone putty in craft stores under the Sculpey brand if you are not interested in using the caulk. Make sure to follow their instructions!

-- Store your new mold in a cool, dry place. After each use, wash your mold with soap and warm water, then dry thoroughly.