Make a Skeleton Mold?

 Here is a question I recieved recently and my answer. It may help some of you considering making your own Haloween decorations.

Hi, I am trying to find a mold of a skeleton or find a cheap easy way to build one. can you help? I did make a whole body skeleton out of clay but now I want to make molds out of that and mass produce, not for resale though. My son's and I want to do a haunted house next year and need lots of skeletons. any ideas? thanks ******
Reply....

Hi ****** thanks for checking out my site:

That is a tough one to answer. How much do you know about molds? Undercuts are the big deal. If your clay model has any it will mean you have to fill them.

How big is the model you have? Maybe you could send me a picture and I could give you a better idea of what you could try.

Offhand I think a plaster mold will be the best bet, but quite a bit of work. You will have to prep your model and cast it and then clean and prep the resulting casting. You should be able to Pour several good skeletons from the casting you make, it will be your mold.

I always use a product called Hydrocal it is a lot harder than plaster when dry but just as easy to work with. You can buy it where they sell plaster and stucco supply's They won't have it at Home Depot so look in the Yellow pages for contractors supply's A 25 pound sack is around $30.00 or so. You mix it just like plaster.

Be a little bit careful with it - it expands some when it hardens and gets a bit warm.

Let me know if I can be any help.