<snip?
I'll make an impression of mine in some plumbers putty. then I'll fill the
impression
with clear RTV and let that set for a couple of days. Once unmolded, I'll
paint the back with reflective silver and that should copy the original,
minus the age yellowing. Anybody suggest better material or process?
<snip>
Okay, I'll bite. great project to start with, and good choice of matls,
also good choice of putting the color on the backside, where hands cannot
scratch/wear it off. Drawback #1: RTV doesn't deal with sunlight (UV) very
well, but try it and keep the putty mold, as the next try could be cheap
polyester resin with silver pigment added. Plaster would make a good
molding material too. The plaster will be fragile unless you surround it
with a structure, like a wood box or tupperware bowl.
Note #2: what you have described is 'casting', and one of the biggest
challenges with casting is air bubble removal. When you mix the RTV,
stirring will mix in bubbles, which will be hard to get out. Some use
mechanical vibrators (oh, now here comes a boatload of OT comments) although
for small parts something as simple as drumsticks would work the same. Or,
if you are in the LA area, come by as I have access to a 'bell-jar', which
creates a vacuum chamber around your mixing bowl, all the bubbles come to
the top and pop, and you are left with creamy bubble free mix. (kinda like
tomato juice consistency)
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