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Tutorial for Making a Leaf Mold
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Posted by Buddyfly 4A/4B Ont (My Page) on Sat, Aug 27, 05 at 16:29
| Howdy folks... I have gotten half of this tutorial finished. I am going to post it in three parts.
Part one is - Making the POP mold
Part two is - Making the silicone mold
Part three is - Trouble shooting with mold-making
I have Part One done and it is posted up on my MSN site now. Unfortunately MSN has decreased the size of the pictures. The text is PART of the picture, hence the text was decreased as well. It is still readable but you will have to squint a bit! lol
Some day I will be looking into making a Tutorial CD to sell. It will have the larger pics for folks ease of reading. In the meantime, enjoy the freebie!
Here is the link to Part One Tutorial - Leaf Mold Part One
I presume you know to click on the thumbnails to see the larger pics and then click 'next' to continue through the tutorial.
I'll post Part Two and Three in this same thread as they are finished. If you know your way around MSN sites, you will likely notice that I have posted the last two parts before I mention it in here! lol
Take care y'all!
Marly |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: Tutorial for Making a Leaf Mold
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Hi Marly this is a little off topic.
Have you tried cryogenic perlite for making molds in place of POP.
Just Portland and powdered perlite. A little admix and superplasticizer probably wouldn't hurt as well.
I have made a couple test bricks.
Very light weight, waterproof and strong and cheap.
I have no idea how it would wear, it's soft, or make a sillycone mold but it seems very promising.
It has a texture so it probably wouldn't be a great choice for leaves but I think it has some potential.
I'm preparing an old workboot that I want to try to mold with perlite for a boot planter but it's winter project.
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RE: Tutorial for Making a Leaf Mold
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Buddyfly, THANK YOU!! That tutorial is PERFECT! And yes, I know I am shouting but your work is worthy of it! It answered the exact questions I have had about this part of the process and I really appreciate your hard work and generosity in sharing your work. Even if you DO really have fun at it. Please put me on the waiting list for your tutorial CD. Hey, I am on social security and have to save up.
spiderwoman |
RE: Tutorial for Making a Leaf Mold
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| Another route - 1 - make the concrete leaf, casting it as you would
2- use latex or urethane spread on to create mold
3-peel off when done sure seems as straight ahead A friend who is doing this is selling her urethane leaf molds for between $50-$100 on the infamous online auction site. Vicki |
RE: Tutorial for Making a Leaf Mold
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| OK, the rest of the tutorial has been added to my site. Tutorial - Leaf Mold Part Two (The Silicone Mold) Tutorial - Leaf Mold Troubleshoot Vicki, I haven't tried urethane molds yet... I expect it would be quite a bit more costly than this method. I like being able to go to the local hardware store to pick up the supplies for this type of mold. I'm glad your friend is getting such a good price for her molds! I'm going to go and check it out at that 'famous site'! Wink! lol David, I think I will stick with POP and silicone. Don't see a need at this time to find another material that works since this one is affordable and available and VERY familiar to me. Spiderwoman, thank you so much for your kind words of encouragement. I'm hoping the newbies will benefit from these tutorials. I've learned so much at this site and am happy to be able to give something back. OK, I'm tired now. Going to sign off for now. Goodnight all! Marly |
RE: Tutorial for Making a Leaf Mold
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| "David, I think I will stick with POP and silicone. Don't see a need at this time to find another material that works since this one is affordable and available and VERY familiar to me." Well that's no good at all.
Now I have to figure this out by my self.:)
I'm eager to make a three part cast of this old boot but it's gonna be tricky because I've never done it before.
I have 50 pound bag of POP so I might try that. |
RE: Tutorial for Making a Leaf Mold
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| Thank you Marly! We love you... :) |
RE: Tutorial for Making a Leaf Mold
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| Dear Marly, I don't know you other than reading your posts to the GardenWeb, however I wish I lived near you so I could see all your wonderful creations!!!! I want to thank you very deeply & sincerely for being so kind to share what I am sure has taken you a long time to develop. Your generosity and the time it has taken you to put the tutorial together especially, when you weren't feeling well is greatly appreciated. The effect of one good-hearted person is incalculable. ~Oscar Arias Warmly and with thanks,
Nancy |
RE: Tutorial for Making a Leaf Mold
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| That is one fantastic tutorial Marly. You certainly have a knack for 'splaining things. That will be a great cd to make and I wish you all the success possible if you make and sell it. Thanks again. I learned quite a bit from it . Good luck. |
RE: Tutorial for Making a Leaf Mold
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| Marly, Thank you very much for the great tutorial. Making leaf molds is something which I've wanted to try for some time now but to date I've not been able to piece all the process elements together. Your instructions appear to be complete and concise. Great job - Fantastic!! Can't wait to get started. How long does the process take from start to finish? Approximately how long does each layer of silicone take to cure? Thanks for sharing - John |
RE: Tutorial for Making a Leaf Mold
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| John, the first layer will take a little longer to cure because of the deeper veins. Each layer takes about 1/2 hr to cure. (I'm talking about the silicone) The POP layers... well the first more 'liquid' layer takes a bit longer as well to harden - about an hour. After that each layer you add should harden within 1/2 hour. I'm guessing here. I should have timed all that but I didn't think of it. I would think if you started early in an evening you could have the POP mold fully done and possibly even all the silicone mold. I spread mine over a few days because I was trying to let the POP fully dry which isn't necessary. Oh, and something I forgot to mention on the tut ... I used approximately two full tubes of silicone for the mold. I ended up using up what was left in two tubes plus almost all of a new full one. I'm glad you will give this a try. You will be looking for leaves to mold EVERYWHERE you go now! lol Marly |
Tutorial for Making a Leaf Mold
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Thank you, thank you, thank you Marly! That was great, I will be trying this as soon as Katrina permits. Marly, am I correct in assuming you used the silicone straight out of the tube, no thinning?
bonnie |
Hi Bonnie!
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| Correct, no thinning. Stay safe! Marly |
RE: Tutorial for Making a Leaf Mold
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- Posted by ltd123 6A southern Ind (My Page) on
Sun, Aug 28, 05 at 22:07
This is a great tutorial! Makes me want to try it and gives me enough pictures and explanation that surely I could be successful. Thanks!
Laura |
RE: Tutorial for Making a Leaf Mold
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| Marly, Marly, Marly, How absolutely fantastically talented you are, and how wonderful of you to share it all with us. You have taken such time to explain it all so thoroughly and concisely. Thank you, thank you, thank you. To reiterate what Garden Chicken said We really do love you !!! :o) |
RE: Tutorial for Making a Leaf Mold
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FANTASTIC Its so nice when people share their talent.
Thanks Marly.
Paws |
RE: Tutorial for Making a Leaf Mold
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| Hi Marly, I just now got time to go through your tutorial. My exuberant "HEAR! HEAR!" to the foregoing accolades from our tufa forum friends. A couple of questions. First, what kind of leaf did you use? I have made a couple of castings from that same type of tree/weed but I don't know what it is. I found it growing in an electrical substation in the foundry (actually, since sand, cement, and leaves are here, I did the castings here). Secondly, you mentioned in the tutorial about putting cheesecloth in the silicone mold to stiffen it. Will that make it too rigid to shape over a mound of sand? My casting of one of those leaves is concave enough to be called a bowl. How stiff will the silicone mold be with the cheesecloth? David |
RE: Tutorial for Making a Leaf Mold
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| Hi David! Thanks for the 'accolades'! lol I used a rhubarb leaf for this tutorial. Even with the cheesecloth the mold is extremely flexible for shaping into a bowl if you like. I have done that with some of my mold castings projects. The cheesecloth doesn't make it less flexible at all. It just strengthens the mold to prevent tearing. Tearing happens when unmolding too enthusiastically! lol Which I am soooooooooooo guilty of! So I SHOULD have put cheesecloth in my silicone mold! lol If you read through the 'troubleshooting' part of the tut, you will see one of the suggestions I gave for lessening the stress on those 'trouble spots'. Happy molding/casting! Marly |
RE: Tutorial for Making a Leaf Mold
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Marley,I can only repeat what has already been said- GREAT JOB.
After reading through it a couple times I had to give it a try. It was a wee bit trickier than I thought...not sure if I have enough patience to be successful at this.LOL At least I had enough sense to start with a smallish leaf. It was slow going cuz I was trying not to let it go over the edge and seep under even though you said not to worry about it cuz I hate trying to get them off a concrete casting. some of them separated easily but others didn't. I can see the advantage to using the cheesecloth but found it a bit aggrivating to work with. I did do a couple small leaves without it. When applying the 2nd coat of POP do you ever moisten the first layer ? I seemed like when I put the 2nd coat on the bottom layer sucked the moisture out so fast that I couldn't spread it out. I got the edges trimmed down to the leaf OK but the next challenge is removing the leaf. I guess the trick here is choosing the right leaf. Squash is NOT a good choice and the sunflower leaf doesn't look any easier but the taro leaf pealed right off in one piece YIPEEE! ! unfortunately I broke the tip off of it :( I have the other 2 baking in the sun in the greenhouse hoping they'll dry up and fall off. Any other leaves that come off easily? How are rhubarb and hosta to remove? One more question. You say to use the interior/exterior silicone. What is the difference between that and the 100% silicone for kitchen and bath ?
Thanks again for so generously sharing your talent. packrat2 |
RE: Tutorial for Making a Leaf Mold
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| Hi Packrat2! I'm happy to see that someone is trying the POP leaf method. Sometimes I wonder why I make up these tutorials and when I see that someone is using them... well that makes be feel it was worth it. Your questions... re the second layer of POP ... sure you can wet down the first layer before adding second. I've never had that happen with the second layer being sucked up like that. Maybe you let your first layer dry longer than I do, maybe it is not as humid there as it is here, ... lots of possibilities. But wetting the first layer will work. Regarding the silicone types... if it is 100% silicone I would give it a try. When I was first learning how to do all this mold stuff, I had read that the interior/exterior was the type of silicone to buy. I didn't question it as to why. Guess it just became part of my basic routine to buy the exterior stuff. Yes, leaves are tricky to remove if they have ANY kind of a rough or hairy texture to the back of the leaf. Rhubarb is a bit tricky to remove because the leaf itself is very delicate. You can't remove it in one fell swoop. I WISH!! Hosta is a BREEZE to remove cuz it is so smooth. Squash and sunflower, raspberry, malva... all are very rough textured and therefore more patience is required to remove the leaf. Hope I have answered all your questions. Have a great day! Marly |
RE: Tutorial for Making a Leaf Mold
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RE: Tutorial for Making a Leaf Mold
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| I'm sorry to ask this, Buddyfly, but what "POP" ingredient? Portland and Perlite? |
RE: Tutorial for Making a Leaf Mold
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| Wow Marly, I didn't think you could post so may pics in one thread here. Fantastic ! I did my first leaf POP casting already. Your toot is great . I saved it to computer and also printed, sleeved and put them in a binder. 2 images fit on one sheet so I printed boths side of the paper and got it all on 13 pages (((*-*))) Thanks |
RE: Tutorial for Making a Leaf Mold
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Miss Marly,
You are SOOO talented....thanks for your hard work!!!
Fran |
RE: Tutorial for Making a Leaf Mold
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| Satoko - Pop is Plaster of Paris |
RE: Tutorial for Making a Leaf Mold
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| Marly, thanks VERY much!!! This is a great tutorial, I hope to be able to make use of it this weekend :) |
RE: Tutorial for Making a Leaf Mold
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| Great job! How large is the leaf? I don't recall reading how many tubes of silicone you used. Did I miss that? Would this method work on an already cast concrete leaf using the Murphy's Soap as a release agent on the concrete? |
RE: Tutorial for Making a Leaf Mold
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| Hmmm, I think I used almost two tubes of silicone. I would suggest that you use the method that Buckyforce demonstrated in her tutorial on mold making and mother molds. She uses wax on an already cast item to act as the release agent. I wouldn't use Murphy's on a cast leaf... might end up permanently sticking to the stone and that would be tragic! Marly |
RE: Tutorial for Making a Leaf Mold
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| Hi Marly! Of course, by the time I find you the pictures aren't available anymore. Is there a place to find them currently? I am new to the forum and want to absorb as much as possible and you seem to be the person to sponge off of ;) |
RE: Tutorial for Making a Leaf Mold
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Hi Mmfine,
Here you go . Marley moved to a different website.
She did some great work on her tutorials.
Enjoy,
Jan |
Here is a link that might be useful: Marley's tutorials
RE: Tutorial for Making a Leaf Mold
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| I just found the site where you moved all all data on making the leaf. I am so excited about this. Can't believe it's been 4 years ago that you did all this and I'm just now finding it! Thank you so much for sharing your outstanding project with the world. You are truly one in a million!!! Oreopaint |
RE: Tutorial for Making a Leaf Mold
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| Hi, I've been lurking on the turfa forum for awhile and just came across this posting, also. I can get to the first tutorial but not the other two. Can someone lead me in the right direction? Thanks so much. |
RE: Tutorial for Making a Leaf Mold
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| camaren, I too have been lurking and this tut. caught my interest. to get to the other parts, on the lf hand side (of photobucket/tutorial) is 'Albums', click on 'back to making L...' and the others come up. my ? is what are the steps to step 1 of part 1. it starts off with 'burn off the strands...' did i miss something here? mick99 |
RE: Tutorial for Making a Leaf Mold
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| mick99, Actually that first pic showing burning off the strands is the last picture in that series showing how to make a Plaster of Paris (POP)mold of your real leaf. In pic 9 she shows measuring out 2 layers of cheesecloth, pic 7 shows adding the second layer of plaster of paris and then draping the cheesecloth in the fresh plaster and embedding the cheesecloth. Once the plaster cures you turn the leaf over, trim the plaster and then burn off the strands of cheesecloth that are sticking out so they don't stick to the silicone. Hope that's what you meant. Billie |
RE: Tutorial for Making a Leaf Mold
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| HI all! I just found this thread too, and I'm so glad Jan posted a link to Marly's photobucket site! The photos do seem to be backwards, so you have to start at the end to see the tutorials in the correct order. It took me awhile, but I finally figured out how to access all 3 parts of the tutorial. Great detail, and I plan to try it soon, since my rhubarb plant is just about done for the winter! Nancy |
hi all!!
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| Hi Everyone! I can't believe this thread is still going!! Every so often I get a notice in my email that someone has posted something on to the end of the thread. I'm sorry I didn't realize that the pictures were out of order. When I first posted them in Photobucket they didn't have the option to sort the order of the pics. So I went into each of the three parts of my tutorial and put the pics in the right order. Should make a lot more sense now. Wow, when I look back at that tut, I can't believe I actually did all that. I haven't done any tufa stuff for a long time. I still hang on to my tools and forms that I value and will do some more some day. I have to get my garden re-structured in the back yard. Our city came along and literally ripped up my street and as a result I've lost my whole front yard. Turns out that it was the city's front yard all this time! lol Oh well, I'll have fun in the spring re-planning everything. I plan to build a nice lattice arbor to crown it all. Enjoy the tuts. If you do have any questions, I do receive the notifications in my emails so I'll see if I can answer them from now on. I hope I can remember everything involved in this tutorial. Take care! Marly |
Here is a link that might be useful: Marly's link to Photobucket Account
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