Home Silicone-10

Mix ratio: equal amounts of each (by weight or volume.)

Work/pour time: 6-minutes

Full cure/de-mold time: 30-minutes

Color: translucent/colorless

Clean-up:
Uncured Silicone-10 can only be cleaned away with lacquer thinner.
When using Silicone-10 as a brush-on (for the initial coats), you must clean your brush with lacquer thinner immediately after using it, before the material begins to "gel" or else your brush will be ruined. Wear thin nitril or latex gloves while working with Silicone-10 so that you will not have to use lacquer thinner to remove uncured material from your skin.

General Instructions:

Measure-out equal amounts of each component and mix thoroughly, scraping the sides and bottom of the container. It is often a good idea to empty your already-mixed material into another container and give it a quick mix again. The advantage of this is that the material that was at the bottom of the first container ends up on the top in the second container, so that, when you mix it again, you can be sure that everything is thoroughly blended together. Since Silicone-10 involves a chemical cure (not an air-dry cure), if some of the material was not thoroughly mixed, it would not fully cure and could remain sticky indefinitely.

Silicone-10 is not inhibited by moisture, so you can make a mold of a water-based clay object, and you can pour or brush Silicone-10 directly into an Algiform mold.

Making a mold using Silicone-10:
When making a mold of an object using Silicone-10, make sure that the surface of the object to be molded is non-porous. If the surface is porous, it must first be sealed with shellac. Apply as many coats of shellac as are necessary to achieve a uniform surface that is somewhat shiny. Just be sure that between coats of shellac you allow the surface to air-dry so that it is not sticky when you touch it.
Shellac will dry relatively quickly. Use denatured alcohol to clean shellac from your brush. Shellac and denatured alcohol (also known as methyl hydrate) are available at any hardware store.

After your coats of shellac, you should spray your shellacked object with a wax spray release, or brush a very thin coat of paste wax over the surface. Nonporous objects, or objects already sealed, such as finished wood, metal, stone etc. do not need any shellac, but a thin coat of wax is a good idea.
Silicone-10 (cont.)

Do not use Vaseline (or petroleum jelly) as a release since it will inhibit the cure of Silicone-10.

If you are using Silicone-10 to make a mold, it is a good idea to first apply three coats of the plain mixed material before using material thickened with the thixotropic additive. This will ensure that your mold
will pick-up every detail of the original. Begin by applying the three coats of plain material using a brush, waiting thirty-minutes between coats. After that you can begin applying the material thickened with thixotropic. It is not necessary to wait between "layers" of thixotropic-thickened material; you can just continue adding one coat after the other. If for any reason you need to mix-up an additional batch of thickened material to apply, you can apply it directly to the previous batch without waiting for the previous batch to cure. Bear in mind that the thixotropic additive is very efficient, so you must use it sparingly, a few drops at a time, until you have achieved the consistency of cake-icing. Apply the thixotropic-thickened material with a spatula.

If you wish to smooth your final coat of thixotropic Silicone-10 so that your support shell goes against a ridge-free surface, you can apply a thin coat of Smool before the material cures. Apply it with a spatula, or with your fingers (protected by nitril or latex gloves).

Casting in pigmented Silicone-10:
If you are using Silicone-10 as a casting material (for a finished piece) and you want to pigment it, keep in mind that you only have six minutes of working time before the material gels; so it must be poured within that time. It is a good idea to premix your pigments into each separate component before you combine the components together. You won't really have enough working time if you pigment the Silicone-10 after the two components have been combined. In fact, you can pigment the components individually at any time before use, and then store them like that until you are ready to mix them together. If you only color one of the components, keep in mind that when you combine it with the un-pigmented component, the color will effectively be "diluted." This is why we recommend that you pre-pigment both components to the desired shade. Only silicone-based pigments are compatible with Silicone-10.

Silicone-10.

One pound .......................................................$23.

Two pounds or more........................................$20. per pound

Thixotropic additive.....................................$6. ( 1/4- oz.)

Smool.......................................................$3. (1- pint)

Highly concentrated silicone pigment: one-quarter-oz. unit....$8.00 each (available in white, red, yellow, blue ,brown, and black)