/diy/ - Do It Yourself

>>2775290
>>2775747
>>2775871
>>2775972
>>2775866
Okay, for all the fellow cheapfags who want to make copies of items or custom taxidermy forms onnacheap, I finally figured it out. I still need to figure out making forms from animals but that's a whole other can of worms (or guts, I guess). Take a form you've made or sculpted, cover it in foil. Try to squish it down as best as possible without tears. Try not to add too much thickness to it. Take strips and patches of brown packing/butcher paper (the type used for shipping) that isn't waxed. Use glue, something like clear elmers or mod podge, to sloppily coat one side. Put a thin layer on the outer side. Stick it on. Repeat until covered at least with 2 layers. Dry, preferably with fan or low heat. Fix any pieces that have sprung up. Dry. Cut along the most exposed side and slip the original out of the paper (ie. the outside of the arm, shoulder to elbow...). Go slow and don't be afraid to stick a finger or smooth flat plastic tool in there to get the elmer's to let go. Larger pieces like pic rel may need to be cut into three pieces. Small standalone limbs may only require one cut. Once removed from the master, the shell should be picked clean of foil. From there, it should be glued shut with strips of paper again as done before. From there, dry it and close any holes except the top. Then fill with a 2 part foam and wait for it to cure. Interestingly, I found that while even craft stores don't stock 2 part foam, your local Home Depot or Lowes does. And cheap. $16 gets you 33oz of fluid, 50/50 part A and B. Mix that shit up and swirl it around inside the form. It's much cheaper, at least to experiment with, than buying 2 quart bottles of 2 part foam from most other places.
https://www.lowes.com/pd/Fast-2K-Fast-2K-Deck-Post-Anchor/5001643775
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Sika-2-lb-PostFix-Fence-Post-Mix-Mix-In-The-Bag-Expanding-Foam-for-Supporting-Non-Structural-Posts-Mailbox-Sign-7116170/300934597

>>2771090
I have a semi-stupid question as I'm interested in making copies of things in expanding foam. I've never done such a thing before and I'm trying to get an idea of what I'm getting into and how dumb of an idea it is. Think something slightly bigger than a basketball in volume. I'm also curious about how to make cheap molds. So I'm wondering:
>how would a semi-cheap mold be made (I don't need a crazy $300 fiberglass mold with reinforcements that lasts 30 years and 500 copies poured; I'm making maybe 5-10 copies max)
>how expensive would this mold be?
>how expensive would the foam be per pour?
Think something like this (pic related). I'm interested in making designs and copying them rather than making a design once and having to use something that took 10+ hours to make.