Silicone Caulk Mold Tutorial
Since 2013 I've been using this method to make silicone caulk molds for my resin jewelry cabochons. The silicone molds are reusable and will last a long time. I have some molds that I use to this day that I created back in 2013!
There is only two ingredients for making a silicone caulk mold. You will need 100% silicone caulk and suppository glycerin. Both are fairly inexpensive and easy to obtain.
100% Silicone Caulk
The silicone caulk can be purchased at just about any hardware store. The GE brand that I use in this video was bought from Home Depot. It's very import that the silicone tube says 100% silicone. If it doesn't say 100% silicone, it will NOT work.
Glycerin
Glycerin reacts with the silicone and causes it to cure. Normally, silicone caulk is used in a thin layer and will cure just fine on it's own. Since we are making a mold with the silicone, a larger thicker amount of silicone is used. Without glycerin, the silicone will not cure in the middle. Just the outside layer of silicone will cure. If it wasn't for the glycerin, we would have a sticky mess!
I used the Fleet brand of liquid suppository glycerin that I bought in the pharmacy department at Walmart. Here is a link for a one dollar off coupon from Fleet's website. I've been asked if vegetable glycerin will work. So I tried vegetable glycerin twice and found that it does NOT work. After doing some research, I've found that there are two types of glycerin. One is vegetable based and the other is petroleum based. I'm not positive, but since the VG did not work, I'm to assume that the suppository type is petroleum based.
I don't know the exact ratio of silicone to glycerin. But It doesn't take much glycerin. In this video I used about 15 or so drops for a small 30 mm cabochon.
Video: DIY Silicone Caulk Mold for Resin Jewelry Cabochons
If you'd like to see some of the resin jewelry I've made with these silicone molds, you can go to the following links.