The most frequently asked questions I get from this blog are from folks who are interested in making their own toys out of silicone. Someday I hope to put together a more step-by-step guide which will cover the entire casting process, but at least for now I can tell you about the materials that I’ve used when making my own toys.
Before I get started, let me remind you that I am not a medical doctor. Please use common sense when selecting materials and designing toys. I’m presenting you with the best information that I have, but using a condom over any homemade toy is the safest course of action.
The focus of this particular post is on materials, not the casting and moldmaking process itself. If you haven’t done much casting or moldmaking, I suggest you take a look at this Instructable to get you started.
Casting Materials
The silicone I use for my toys is a brand called Smooth-On. According to the folks at Reynolds Advanced Materials, where I purchase my casting supplies, any of the Smooth-On platinum cure silicones are body safe: http://www.smooth-on.com/Silicone-Rubber-an/c2_1115/index.html
I’ve used both Dragon Skin (20 is what The Hammer is made of; 10 is softer, 30 is harder). I’ve also used Sorta-Clear 18, for the TARDIS Tickler — but unless you have a way to degas the silicone, it will be so full of bubbles you won’t be able to tell that it’s really clear.
Moldmaking Materials
I use LEGOs for building custom-sized mold containers, which I learned about from this article on making cock-sicles. It works really well — the LEGOs fit tightly enough together that the silicone doesn’t leak out.
For the filler material, I have used homemade Play-Doh using this recipe: http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-Make-Playdough-Play-doh/. The downside is that it’s hard to get a nice part line, but the stuff is super cheap and easy to work with. You can also use clay as your filler material — but if the clay is going to be touching any silicone, make sure the clay is sulfur-free. Otherwise, the sulfur in the clay will prevent the silicone from curing.
I’ve also used alginate as a filler material — it’s more expensive than Play-Doh, but it gives you a really nice part line.
For The Hammer and for the TARDIS Tickler, I made both of the molds (and the resulting toys) out of silicone. This gets to be very expensive!
Update (8/14/14): I still don’t have a really good solution to what to make your mold out of that’s cheaper than more silicone. I tried making a mold out of plaster, but it was really fragile and took a long time to try. I also tried using Oogoo to make a mold instead (see http://www.instructables.
You’ll also need to use mold release — Since I’m pouring silicone into a silicone mold, I use Ease Release.
If you have other questions about materials, don’t hesitate to post them in the Comments section below!
Our toys start as solid maquettes over which dental alginate is poured to make the mould. This cures quickly and makes a super mould. Every detail captured. It’s up to you what is poured into the mould. Silicon, plaster etc, etc. But follow the alginate make up instructions to the letter! Have fun and enjoy.
I’ve mastered the cast making part using alginate & replicas of my penis (with exact details).
The intent being, a dildo which will be heat/humidity sensative..
It will also auto ejaculate (which is what I’m working on now)…
Having my own mold allows me to insert as much technology as I please…including ejac pumps, thermostors…etc… congrats on your projects as well…
Cheers from Montreal…
Perry
OH MY GLOB, The Hammer is awesome! XD
About degassing the silicone and getting rid of bubbles: If you don’t have a vacuum chamber, you can do a “high pour” which will create a narrow stream of liquid silicone and pop many of those pesky bubbles. I’ve seen people in my shop take it to the extreme and put their molds on the floor and stand on a table and pour. I get decent results with about 5 feet distance. :)
Also, if you have something that vibrates aggressively, vibrate the mold after you’ve filled it with silicone and that will bring some of the bubbles up to the surface to pop also.
Thanks for being positive!
Thank you for taking the time to comment! And thanks for these tips, especially the “high pour”. :)
Unlike pressure pots for pressure casting, vacuum chambers aren’t very difficult to make or expensive to buy. Given that platinum silicone runs $140 to $185 or more per gallon, and vacuum degassing pretty much eliminates all bubbles even with a crappy pour, it makes good sense for anyone doing more than a one off project to have one.
I made a 2.6 gallon chamber using a 1ft long, 8″ID aluminum pipe from online metals, scrap 3/4″ plexiglas top and bottom, and rubber drawer liner for gaskets, reinforced vinyl tubing and valves from Home Depot, and a 2.5cu-ft/min vacuum pump from Harborfrieght (http://www.harborfreight.com/25-cfm-vacuum-pump-98076.html). It ran me a little over $200 for everything and has worked flawlessly for a year now.
If I had it to do all over though, I would probably buy a 10 gallon chamber and a pump off ebay. $250 will get you a complete 5 gallon setup with a 3cu-fty/min vacuum pump, while a 2 gallon unit complete with pump can run $160. That is less than one gallon of dragon skin silicone. Just search “vacuum chamber”
And for people on a budget, ‘TheBrain’ from fetlife (who makes the hugher fucking machine (http://www.hugher.net) posted the following scavenger based solution:
“A domestic refrigerator motor/pump assembly is an excellent source of vacuum and could be obtain at nearly no cost as very often refrigerator are thrown away with a still good working motor. (I’ve found two on the side of the road in less than a week). The vacuum chamber doesn’t need to be huge. A chemistry desicator glass jar [can] often be bought for about 50$ used [on ebay for example], depending of the size.
Then you just need a piece of tubing between the motor/pump assembly and the jar lid [put “vaccum grease” or simply vaseline between the jar and the lid]. You also need to know about how to connect the motor but this information could easily be found on the internet (just make sure you also keep the capacitor attached to the motor)”
he adds and I heartily agree:
“the difference between using vacuum or not is HUGE for the final product”
If you have used silicone rubber before without vacuum degassing, you won’t believe the difference. Even if your pour introduces bubbles, they will be gone by the time the rubber cures. The degassed silicone has a significant capacity to dissolve gas, and will soak up the gas in the bubbles, eliminating them. Just my opinion, but with silicone costing so much, a vacuum chamber is worth every penny.
I’ve had pretty good luck with vacuuming myself. Thanks for sharing these suggestions, especially for DIY options!
I am going to use playdough to make a mold. Then I will line it with extra large latex condoms. Then fill it with silicone let it harden then peal off the condoms. I just need to figure out a release material between the condom and silicone. I also know you can thin silicone to make it pourable.
Hi Tim,
Unfortunately, latex inhibits the curing of silicone — so you’ll want to use non-latex gloves and condoms. Maybe plastic wrap or aluminum foil would work? I haven’t tried the kind of technique that you’re describing, so I’m not exactly sure.
For a release agent, I use Ease Release 200.
So if you’re casting with a body-safe silicone (something platinum cure), when you mix it together, it should be pourable. I’ve never had to add a thinning agent. This video gives an example of what it’s like to work with a platinum cure silicone. Not all silicones are quite this runny, but it’s still a nice overview of the process.
Thanks for writing! Best of luck with your project.
One note on mold releases for casting silicone. Even though Mann Ease Release 800 is specifically says it releases silicone from silicone molds, it does not. I ruined two molds this way. Stick with Ease Release 200.
Ouch! Thanks for the heads-up!
Please oh please don’t insert anything that has been sprayed with mold release directly your body. The MSDS for that stuff is terrifying.
This is something I’ve been trying to find a work around for, specifically because of that. I’ve been considering experimenting with warm, kiwis coconut oil and trying to get a thin enough layer that it doesn’t dull details. I have no idea if this would work, but there has to be a work around to the chemical mold release.
Vaseline is one of the best mold release agents in the business. ;)
Thanks for writing! Yep, you can use it, it’s just so think by default that you might want to thin it with mineral spirits or you’ll end up with brush strokes visible. See: https://www.smooth-on.com/support/faq/94/ .
Pam cooking spray between the silicone and condom
Huh! That’s a thought – I would probably do a very small-scale test run before committing to it on a project, myself. Thanks for writing! – Kit
I made ooGoo waited for it to semi harden but was still sticky and very moldable. Rolled it on some tin foil and shaped it. When it was dry I peeled the foil off. This worked great. I did have some problems with the foil and should have used a release agent. That would have made it easer to shape. I have been reading some people have used Vaseline as a release agent. I was thinking what about spray cooking oil?
Interesting! So you were making a positive out of ooGoo? I tried mixing some up a while ago to make a mold (a negative), and it was a huge, smelly, ineffectual mess. I’m glad you had better luck!
I know Vaseline can be used as a release agent against plaster; I don’t know about spray cooking oil — you’d want to check the materials safety data sheet for your silicone and see if it has anything that might inhibit curing.
Yes it was smelly and yes it was somewhat a mess. There is a thinner for silicone you can buy at the hardware store. It will evaporate out of the silicone but not before you pour it. I thought of using it but changed my mind when I thought it might mess with my skin. I did see a vid where the person put the silicone in water and mixed it up. Took it out of the water and molded it into to whatever she was doing. She was wearing gloves also. When I find the site I will post it. Myself I didn’t wear gloves but wiped my hands off frequently then when done washed them off with Dawn or a good hand cleaner like Goop.
I’m playing around with a 3D printer to print my own molds… Once the printing is done, you can smooth out any lines or imperfections with sand paper and acetone (I’m using ABS plastic) and then pour the silicone into it.
If you want a hard plastic toy, like the eggs and vibrators, just print what you want, smooth and polish it and you’re done!
3D printers have gotten to be ridiculously cheap… Some kits are under $300, and they’re not difficult to build or understand.
Very cool! Thanks for sharing your experience. I haven’t had time to work on the 3D-printed-molds thing, but I’ve been very curious how well it works. Let me know if you’re able to post photos of the molds & final pieces somewhere, I’d be very curious to see the results!
You might want to check out a new product by smooth-on, XTC-3D.
http://www.smooth-on.com/Epoxy-Coatings-XTC/c1397_1429/index.html
I haven’t used it, but reviews so far are pretty good.
Sorry should have said what it is and does. It’s a coating designed to smooth 3D printed objects.
Ooh, very cool! I don’t have any 3D printing experience myself (yet), but I’d be curious to hear what folks think of this material. I can imagine a couple of ways you might use it — either to smooth your 3D-printed positive, so you can make a mold from it; or to smooth a 3D-printed mold before pouring into it.
As far as smoothing 3D printed molds, you can use Acetone vapor.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VvCEnA0NEG4 (10 to 30 minutes)Once you let the Acetone evaporate (24 hours to be safe) you should have a smooth surface. I printed a two part mold with no smoothing and it gave the final product kind of a micro rib feeling to the silicone. No release agent required as silicone really won’t stick to anything but glass and silicone.. You can add a vibrator to the mold before you pour the silicone.
Cool — thanks for the tip!
I intend to make a mold and cast a custom toy in the future, but I have a question; how would I clean up the parting line on the finished casting to make it completely smooth? I remember hearing/reading somewhere that harder silicone, which I intend to use, can be sanded. Would low grit sand paper be a decent way to smooth out the parting line?
Hmm! I’m afraid I haven’t heard about using sandpaper with silicone, and I don’t have any experience with that. Perhaps someone else will chime in. Otherwise, my suggestion would be to do a very small-scale test, first — cure a little bit of silicone, try the sandpaper on it, and see what happens.
I have never heard of using sandpaper on silicone. So I tested it out yesterday. I used rebound 40 which is the hardest silicone I have. It works… but not very well. It’s akin to wearing down a pencil eraser, with little rolls of rubber coming off. The area around the parting line will have a noticeably different texture than the rest of the surface. The sanding opens up tiny holes in the surface which could host bacteria growth. eewwww!
I don’t recommend this approach for toys. :)
Thanks for testing that out; I wouldn’t have been able to myself for awhile yet.
I’ve tried sanding on platinum silicones from Shore A hardnesses 10, 18, 30, 40, 50, and urethanes at 60 and 85. With standard hand sanding, my experience was pretty much identical to Mike’s with the caveat that, in general, the harder the rubber is, the better it works. The urethanes worked quite well, and the ones I used (simpact 60 and 85) are body safe and non-porous. You just can’t boil urethanes to sanitize and are stuck with chemical sanitization methods. Some small scale makers of toys use urethanes, notably Rupert Huse for his large butt plugs.
There are ways to make sanding work *much* better for silicones though.
First, power sanding is a must. I use 5″ and 6″ sanding discs mounted on a drill press. Speeds at 800 to 1750 rpm or so. Too fast and the rubber heats up and the rubber dust gets sticky and stays on the item. I’ve tried grits from 80 to 1200 with good results. Grits under 150 or so can remove rubber very quickly. Finer grits leave a smoother surface, and like sanding wood or plastic, sanding with progressively finer grits leaves a smoother surface. IMO, beyond 400 grit or so, latter steps to make the surface uniform render any benefit minimal.
Second, the rubber area being sanded absolutely must be stretched taught, unless thick enough to behave as though it is stretched. Pull the item and use your thumbs to bend the target region towards the sanding disk. If you can’t do it, it’s probably thick enough not to worry about it. Otherwise the sanding disc grabs and pulls the rubber either doing little or if prolonged making a rough almost ripped surface with rolled up silicone fragments. This is most important with softer rubbers.
Third, light feathery strokes, barely touching the rubber surface to the disc for just a moment work best. This is also most important when using softer rubbers.
The rubber should come off mostly as dust, not large prills like with a pencil eraser. If it does, you are probably using too much pressure, too coarse a grit, or rpms are too slow or too high.
Under these conditions the surface will be matte and as Mike said a different texture than the rest of the item (how to address this shortly). However, the surface will not have large pores, just ones that look under magnification pretty much like the ones that give matte texture silicone toys their matte finish.
To get the surface uniform required another step. The simplest was to use a thin coating of silicone rubber dissolved in a suitable solvent for gloss or matte finish. I have used psycho-paint silicone and either NOVOCS gloss or NOVOCS matte (all from Smooth-On). It is best to do this soon after casting (a few days), and the toy will need to be washed in soap and water and dried especially if it was sanded. You may want to wipe it down with a lint free cloth soaked in mineral spirits to remove anything left so the coating sticks better.
Prepare the psycho-paint as directed and dissolve in at least one volume of NOVOCS (gloss for gloss finish, matte for matte). You want it to be about the texture of thinnish latex or acrylic paint. Then paint it on evenly top to bottom in smooth strokes. Make sure there are no drips, then COVER THE TOY to keep dust off of it. Unless you want dust embedded in your toys. One coat usually does it. For toys without a base and that need complete coverage, I mounted the toy on as thin a needle as would hold it and painted on the coating. After it cured, I pulled it off the needle and covered the needle hole with more psycho-paint.
It is possible to save some of the silicone from the primary coating for covering the hole. I discovered that platinum silicones can be saved for a week or more by using their extreme cure sensitivity to temperature in order to temporarily suspend the cure. Just cover the silicone and place it in a deep freeze. Pull it out and let it warm up when ready to use. It will be very thick when cold but will become less viscous as it warms up.
This works for all the smooth on platinum silicones I have tried (dragon skin, sorta-clear, and smooth-sil) and is a great way to avoid wasted material.
Finally, it is also possible to use abrasive mass finishing methods to make the surface uniform. I have used a large vibratory tumbler for this and experimented with both glass beads in denatured ethanol as well as ceramic media followed by porcelain media both in water.
To use these methods you will need a heavy-duty tumbler as the media are heavy. Be aware that despite the Harborfreight 18lbs tumbler being shown on the box using wet ceramic media, the instructions correctly note that the bowl is too thin for this media. You will wear it through pretty quickly. However, the extended warranty will replace the entire tumbler when the bowl wears thin or the motor burns out (from the weight of the media). If you use this tumbler, get the
plan, you will need it and it will pay for itself several times over.
The glass bead method was based on an expired patent (see http://www.google.com/patents/US5133159). I used 100-150micrometer glass beads wetted in denatured ethanol and run from overnight to 48 hours. I’ve tried it on silicones from Shore 00-50 to Shore A 50. I found that it did not work well at all for silicones with inclusions (glitter, glow-worm powder, etc). It left the surface rough and pock-marked. For silicones without inclusions (i.e. most toys people will make), tended to leave a uniform fine hammered appearance on the surface. Surface smoothing as well as abrasion of edges and mold lines was virtually nil, except with ultra-soft silicones (Shore A 5 or below). A problem is that it makes urethanes swell and can leach color from them. Since many drain plugs on tumblers are urethane rubber, this is a issue. I ruined a drain plug this way. Overall the effect was unimpressive with one exception, items that had been coated with gloss psychopaint became even smoother and more shiny and bright.
The ceramic and porcelain method was based on standard mass finishing of hard plastic resins and metals. So far I have only tried this with shore A 40 silicone. A more complete test has been awaiting a new drain plug . I used Harborfreight ceramic media without any additional abrasive with slightly less water than was needed to have droplets fly up when the tumbler was on. Minimum run was overnight, maximum was about 36 hours. Water was changed whenever it became thick with ceramic powder, and foamy on top, about every 12 hours or so. The ceramic produced a duration proportional rounding of sharp edges, surface smoothing, and elimination of fine mold lines and sprue marks even without sanding. The finish was matte and dull, but uniform even in places that had been sanded.
Following the ceramic run, test items were tumbled with Ray-Tech porcelain balls 1mm to 5mm in diameter with just enough water to keep everything wet, overnight to 24 hours. In addition to items that were tumbled in ceramic media, some samples were included that were not tumbled yet to determine the effect of the porcelain alone. The porcelain alone had little effect. However, the items previously run in ceramic media became markedly glossy and bright, though not as much as with psychopaint coating. The surfaces remained unform, and areas that had been sanded were not distinct.
I have pictures of some of the above results, as well as the effect of sanding, but I’m not sure how to make them available. I should also mention that I spoke with Smooth-On tech support early in the process of developing these methods and they seemed surprised by the question. The only suggestion they had was try to use a glove mold to avoid mold lines and sprues, though they did like the psycho-paint method.
I hope this helps people out.
Wow! Thank you so much for taking the time to document your process — this is an amazing amount of information!
Gostaria de saber onde posso comprar todos os ingredientes para produzir bonecos de silicone aqui no brasil.
I’m sorry, I’m afraid I don’t know. Me desculpe, eu não sei.
Thanks a lot for all this information! I used this as a starting point for my hobby project. I just made my first mold and dildo and am looking to make a new mold for a much larger dildo soon. I do not have a vacuum chamber but might invest in one since I did get some bubbles (not on the surface of the toy but I saw them coming up to the base after pouring). It’s been really fun so far but quite expensive since I am using silicone for the mold as well, and I used a lot for my first mold (I will try to make a shell mold for my second mold, hopefully reducing the amount of silicone needed).
You’re welcome! So glad to hear it was helpful. :) If you post any photos or notes on your process, I’d love to know!
Hi, yes, I have! I’ve made two masters (the second one considerably better than the first), one mold and one dildo so far. Waiting for material to arrive so I can make a more advanced mold for the second master, and hopefully soon also a dildo.
I really want a vacuum chamber. I didn’t get many bubbles because I bought a silicone that supposedly doesn’t need degassing, but there were still a few ones that came up to the base (which is the opening I poured from/in). The set-ups I’ve found are either expensive (£400+) or okay in price (£200) but I am not sure if those would be suitable since silicone cures quite quickly so a good pump is necessary.
I need to experiment with the pigments as well. I didn’t want to use too much, but as a consequence, the white and black I used weren’t ‘through and through’ but more of a ‘milky’ colour instead of a ‘solid’ colour (sorry I can’t explain better).
It is super fun though and I am hooked (for now). Can’t wait to get better at sculpting, mold making and pouring, as well as learning to make more advanced colour combinations :). I am considering offering some of my creations on Etsy (I have an account there but nothing on offer just yet).
Any feedback is greatly appreciated.
To add: In order to save costs on the mold making: instead of making a single piece silicone block mold, you can consider making a glove mold or any other type of mold that isn’t a block mold: http://www.smooth-on.com/pdf/Smoothon_HTB_2008.pdf
I have considered other materials but I think silicone is probably best since it is flexible, is non-hazardous and can be re-used.
Yes, that’s a great idea. I did a little bit with glove molds in my first casting class, but I haven’t gotten back to it yet. :)
Cool! Yeah, vacuum pumps are unfortunately expensive — I’ve been borrowing a chamber from one friend and a vacuum pump from another, but now I need to get a new chamber myself.
As for the colors: Based on your blog, it sounds like you were trying to get streaks of solid color throughout the piece — is that right? I’ve used pigments several times, and because you have to blend them in with the silicone before it’s fully mixed, the color ends up dispersing throughout the silicone. My guess is that if you wanted multiple solid colors, you might have better results mixing up three batches of silicone (a small amount of white, a small amount of black, and then whatever your base color is), and then trying to swirl them all together before the silicone cures. You could potentially ask the folks at Smooth-On or Reynolds Advanced Materials how they would recommend you do it; they might have more specific or better ideas.
Hi, thanks for your comment. That’s how I did it. I added a pigment to one component, and did that for two or three different colours, then added the other component to each, mixed thoroughly, and then mixed them by adding all into the mold. I don’t get as pretty swirls as other people but I think it’s a matter of getting more experienced.
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Hello, I’ve recently started making silicone toys as well, and I found a lot of the info here very helpful! It was actually here that I discovered I was using the wrong type of silicone – I was using Oomoo from Smooth-On, one of their tin cure silicones. Which is a shame because it seemed to not mind curing against latex. I tried using Rebound from Smooth-On, the other liquid silicone available at my art store. I tried pouring it into latex molds as well as a mold made from the Oomoo silicone, and both came out with an uncured, tacky layer on the outside that is sticky and gross and difficult to work with.
I am hesitant to use alginates or plaster for the mold because I like having single-part molds that I can pull the finished product out of, but I’m not sure what else I can use at this point. The toys I like to make tend to have lots of ridges and nubs and things. One thing I should mention is that I started putting a condom over the clay master to make the latex mold smoother. The latex bonded with the condom of course, and I also used a condom when making the silicone mold. Could the condom lube be what is inhibiting the Rebound silicone from curing?
Hi! Thanks so much for sharing your experiences. Unfortunately latex contains sulfur — and sulfur inhibits the curing of platinum-cure silicone, so my guess is the problem is the condom itself. I wouldn’t use anything latex around anything silicone, period — gloves, condoms, molds, what have you. You might want to try asking the folks at Smooth-On what they would recommend to help get you the smooth effect you’d like. My totally-untested ideas are perhaps a non-latex condom (lambskin?) or even just plastic wrap — you could do a small-scale test and see if either of those give you better results. Keep us posted, and good luck with your project!
I think tin cured silicone isn’t considered safe for use in/on the body, so I’d stay away from that. I made a mold using silicone, and a release agent inside to make sure that the silicone I pour into it won’t stick. I wouldn’t use latex or things containing sulphur for the reasons already mentioned.
You can make a block mold or a glove mold out of silicone, which is what I did. I am not happy with the glove mold though, and my next plan will be to make a two part block mold. I noticed that every detail in the master will transfer to the mold, so in the future I would probably want to make the master out of something other than clay (something with a better finish; or I need to improve my sculpting skills). I am also considering making the mold out of another kind of material, but not sure what that would be….. I think I’ve read people suggesting to 3D print the mold itself, but I believe that the surfaces will be rough, so those will need treatment before use as a mold.
Hello . I’m a male and trying to make a penis sleeve . I plan on using Dragon skin 30 for core she’ll that will slip over me . And put extra soft silicone On the inside for my pleasure. Then the same on the outside with a skin like membrane. In other words looking at the FTM penis from Reelmagik.com is what I’m trying to do . They don’t make any for men . But they have unbelievable real looking and real feeling penis. I know a girl that has one she has moved away so I can’t take another look .She special ordered it and it cost nearly 1000$ 7/12 inches long and pretty wide the head and mid shaft . Can anyone help me on the right direction to get the feel I’m looking for. My wife and I enjoy our toys and we have many . Including the big Colossal. My favorite is the Colours Thick 8′ hers is the Kong. I plan on taking the details of the Colours and use the width and head shape of Kong I know how to do this part . Do I brush the silicone rubber on and build it layer by layer or use a mold ? Any help is useful.
Hi! Thanks for writing! If I understand you correctly, you’re wanting to build a sheathe-type toy (like Bad Dragon’s Basilisk). Unfortunately, this is a more complicated casting project than I’ve attempted, since your final product has a void inside it, so I’m not sure how much useful advice I can offer. Here’s a guess: You might want to start out by making a copy of the toy that you want the exterior to be like using something cheap like an alginate mold and then pouring molten sulfur-free clay into it, so that you have a clay copy. Then you could cut or carve out the interior of the clay toy into the sheathe shape that you want. Once you’ve got a copy of your sheathe in clay, and I’m not really sure the best way to make a mold from that. My guess is you’re going to need to use a technique similar to what’s used when casting something like a vase or pot (see “How to Make a 2‑Piece Core Mold” by Smooth-On); there may be other tutorials from Smooth-On that might also be helpful.
And, just for future reference — we tend to be careful about language in the sex-positive community to try and keep things inclusive. A naturalist might call an animal “a male” or “a female”, but for people we try to stick with “man,” “woman,” “non-binary person” or whatever the case may be.
Good luck with your project!
Thank you for your time and effort to answer my email. Yes I’m trying to build a sleeve. Rx sleeve is basically all I can find but the reelmagik is awesome. I’m a fabricator and engineering welder and I have a good idea . As far as the hollow chamber thought Im gonna make a vacuum from the end and sides . I’ve talked with Smooth-on and man I’ve enjoy there help . I’ve learned so much . With the vacuum chamber in mind let me through this out . Silicon won’t stick to anything but silicone. So if I ran a hose to create veins I can pull it back out after its finished. Given me a lifelike design and if I Apply a low air pressure system it should stand erect as air fills the tunnels . And a low vacuum for my pleasure. My only concern is how to go about getting the outside skin to move . I’ve found a video of smooth-on in there medical videos where they make a pad to teach students to learn about to cut and stich human flesh. And how to make blood vessels. I think it needs to be made in layers from the inside out . I think it should be built in this order see what u think . From the clay mold . Put a membrane skin towards to mold , then a few layers of the ( fat ) , then a few layers of mussel. This is for me . Then go in reverse. Fat over the mussel. Then here is when the vessels and outside details are made , then the final skin . I’ve ordered a product called Slack u add to dragon skin. But I can’t find much information about it . It makes the silicone not setup and stays tacky . Can this be injection under a layer? I hope I’ve not used any rong words this time . I apologize. What do u think of my idea . Any suggestions to how to put all this together. Thank you for your time
You’re welcome! I think the project sounds really interesting, but I’m afraid you’re well beyond my knowledge at this point! It sounds like you might want to contact Smooth-On again and see if you can get some more info on Slack. You could also try running your ideas by them, especially if you can get a hold of the folks who built that medical model. I’m sorry I can’t offer you more help!
I think I may actually be able to help here, in my atempts to make dildos I accidentally made a cock-sleeve. By making of a model of what would be the empty space in the middle, I can pour the silicone around that to make a silicone sleeve with a hollow center. You cod then either make a mold for the outside shape or brush the silicone on to build the desired shape.
As for the moving skin, I believe I stumbled across something that could help there too. As I mentioned in an earlier comment, I attempted to use a latex mold while casting a toy, and the sulphur stopped the silicone from curing around where thr two materials were touching, making a gooey, tacky outside layer. However, I was able to pour more of the silicone over the top. I was using Smooth-On’s Rebound silicone, which is particularly good at sticking to vertical surfaces, so I’m not sure if it would work withh other mixtures. But the second layer of silicone cured properly, while the original surface under it remained gooey, making what was actually a really good imitation of the skin of a penis.
Like I said I came across both of these by accident, and haven’t had the chance to try and replicate them on purpose yet. I hope they give you some good ideas, or a direction to go in though. Good luck! And sorry if there are any typos I missed, I am replying on my phone.
Great mistakes u made and turned around and fixed . I was thinking about a something like that but didn’t want to mess up. But I’m working with Dragon skin and it ant cheap . And to be honest I have no clue of its ( nature ) or how it’s gonna act . I’m a master mind when it comes to metal but I’m out of my league working with silicone. I’ve molded many angles and broken gears so I can refabricate them but this is different. I’m gonna try the medical pad thing on the video and try to ( mess up ) like u did and see where that takes me . The Slacker stuff is suppose to Deaden the silicone and cause it to be Tacky even when dry and cured . Then put a membrane skin over it . I’ve ben messing around with clay and didn’t know there was so many different kind . What is the best to use for making ( free hand ) models for silicone application? What is the rong kind to use to ( mess up ) if I wanted to. I truly thank u for your help , insight, advice. People sharing there experience and ideas is what built this country and who know what accident miracle we make stumble across .
As far as I know most air-dry modeling clays contain sulphur, which is what stops the silicone from curing. Thats what I’ve been using to make the original models. They also make some pretty sturdy palastine modeling clays thst don’t contain sulphur. Alternatively you could do what I just did, which is buy some latex-free condoms and slip them over the clay model to prevent the sulphur from inhibiting the silicone. I just tried a test run using that meod and it works super great, as long as you aren’t trying to make something highly textured. Th condom will smoothe it out, naturally.
Looking back at my first post on here I truly apologize for my choice of words. And I greatly appreciate your help and advice. I’ve learned a lot by u . If anyone reads my first post and is offended please remove it . I’m a Naturalist also I donate my time to state parks and host guided walks on the trails , point out plants we can eat and not to . Also I make ruff log furniture , benches , coffee tables and so one . I said all this to try and re-gain my respect for even myself. This project of mine sounds crazy, off the wall I know that . I ask u to be open minded and see the big picture. It started out as joke and funny talk between my wife and I. Then I dug deep into Prosthetics and found amazing products. I’ve contacted most of them and there is not a offer for men. There is nuthen rong with me and I don’t need anything but hey Fun is Fun and payday is on Friday. I’ve put a ton of thought on this idea. I understand the problem with the core , and putting a vacuum inside sounds crazy without strong side walls to support it . The main frame needs to fit like most with a strap around the testicles. But this needs to fit like a glove and inflate a small seem around the entire base . This will allow the design to look totally real . Now inside the hollow structure needs just as much attention and focus on pleasure as the outside. The vacuum is going to collapse the sleeve making it not erect but looks normal and comfortable. Apply the air / blood to the vessels and a few air pockets here and there and it will/should stand erect. The idea is out there in outer space. Expecially for someone who just wants it for play . But the inter side of me has seen where this could answer a dream or wish to someone, save a marriage or 2 . There is millions of men with health problems. And u know theres surgery and implants but dang . And to look at the art and skill offered to transgenders kinda ant right forgive me for saying that but they want it for fun to . I have no problem with anyone who wants to be there way . The law of physics is on my side in this idea. I need help building it . How to layer it , brush it , dip it , pour it ? I have no clue how to start . I was truly embarrassed to ask for help when I talked to a smooth-on representative but I was honest about what I was making but I didn’t go in depth details of its mechanical fictions in fear of being laughed at and embarrassment . But I’ve seen need and desire for this type of Prosthetic I know putting this idea on here could be taken and ran with but that’s fine to if I can’t build it myself maybe some can and get help to people who needs it. I do ask if anyone does build it . Please contact me and name it The Loaded Pistol. I thank u for enduring my post and to again forgive me for my first post. I have far greater hopes for this idea than I pretrayed . Thanks again
Thanks again for writing and sharing your ideas. I do think if you wanted to contact Smooth-On and be completely upfront about your idea, you could — I haven’t talked much with the Smooth-On folks directly, but the people at my local Smooth-On distributor are very sex-positive. You can tell them you’re making a dildo or other sex toy and they won’t bat an eye. If you decide to invest more time/money/energy in learning how to build this project, that’s great. If you decide that you don’t have the time and resources to pursue it, that’s also totally understandable.
Just as a heads-up, “transgender” is an adjective, not a noun — so you’d want to specify “transgender men,” “transgender women,” or “transgender people,” depending on the situation. You say you’re a naturalist, and it’s completely normal in the context of biology to refer to animals as “males” and “females,” but for people, those words (and “transgender”) are all adjectives, and using them as nouns is dehumanizing.
I understand that it might not feel fair to you, and you have the right to feel however you feel. That said, here are a few things to keep in mind:
I think that everyone, whether cisgender or transgender, has the right to be comfortable in their body and enjoy their sexuality if they want to. You have a penis and you can enjoy using it, and that’s fine. It’s also a something that a lot of transgender people don’t have, so you’re not going to get a lot of sympathy from me about what’s fair and unfair. If you want to educate yourself more about transgender issues and about the privilege you have as a cisgender man, you can. That’s your choice.
I’m happy to have this blog as a place to facilitate discussion among people interested in DIY toys — I just ask that people try to use respectful language and to separate gender from genitals whenever possible.
Again I think I stepped on some toes . But your right , Im not very educated in this field. I don’t do good with typing either. U can probably tell by my words I use I’m from arkansas. I mean no disrespect to any one . I’ve seen amazing art word with precision details on some Websites I ant hating on anyone just wish that reallisom was offered. I was looking for some answers when I came here and I did gather a few . I said I was a naturalist , I believe in Nature. I see it as it is . We are all different that’s what makes use all cool . I teach young people to respect this earth, others , and themselves. I was in Atlanta GA not long ago . That the nearest smooth-on dealer near me and that’s 400 Mile away. Very cool place.
I think we get the point about being politicaly correct…
Anyone offended after reading your post and excusing yourself has greater issues to deal with than being offended.( your intentions speak loud, no worries)…concentrate on the purpose of the site,…sharing info and experience on making toys…
You may want to investigate products from PolyTek ( google PlatSil) as an option.
Shore 00 to shore 10 for lifelike texture if making a dildo.
In my opinion its an excellent product, low cost shipping…easy to work with and can be tinted to skin tone.
Hi everyone, thanks for sharing all your experiences. I am still continuing to learn to work with silicone and recently made a plug. I started out because I wanted to make larger and big toys and could not find them, or they were so expensive (and especially including shipping, they’d cost a lot). I also like making things, so I thought I’d give it a try. Anyhow, when I was browsing online for toys, I came across quite a number of retailers and I decided to try to make a database of large dildos/plugs made of silicone I found at different manufacturers. It’s only just a beginning, but please take a look at my site if you want to see what I’ve done so far.
http://www.chickmakesdick.com
I’ve also been made aware of a GoogleDoc made by other people that include detailed measurements of many toys of manufacturers I have not (yet) incorporated in my list: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/18yajdqObiRf2eFFqm7hjs1cF230udzkUna-_phUbcrw/edit?pli=1#gid=1411861205
If anyone wants to help out or has any constructive criticism, please email me: info@chickmakesdick.com .
Thank you.
Wow, your progress is amazing! And thanks for your work collecting and sharing toy measurements, that’s awesome.
I’d love to see photos of your latest couple of molds, too, if you have time to add them to the blog.
Thanks a lot! I’m nowhere near what some others I found online are doing but I strive to get better at each step of the process. The main thing now is to get a vacuum setup as that will greatly improve the quality of the final product.
I’ve not yet shared any of my manufacturing details but I might in the future.
Hi, my girlfriend and I are really excited to work on a project like this and the hammer sounds fun and working on KEIGLE a bonus. For now we would like to use alginate and make a mold of my parts including balls, later we could even add a bulb as in the fildoe.
The question for is what is the titanium silicon from smooth on that would be recommended here and why?
We are looking at the Ecoflex-20 or 30, mold star 20 or 30?
The ideal molding material would be firm with soft skin like a penis would feel like.
Also, I have access to vaccum chamber at work but the pumpq can pull about 26in Hg? Would that be enough? Could I get to the recommended 29in Hg with two pumps in series?
If all goes well with making a mold how long can an alginate mold last and be used for? If we want to reused for more than one molding should we make a silicone mold out if the first successful produce toy replica?
Thank you in advance for your inputs and recommendations. Looking forward to narrowin our choice to a good first titanium silicone candidate for our project.
Hi! Thanks for writing! So, just to clarify: I think you mean platinum-cure silicone, not titanium — “titanium silicone” doesn’t exist, as far as I’m aware.
As far as I’m aware, the only way to get “firm with soft skin” is to make a toy that has a harder silicone in the center and a softer silicone on the outside. I don’t actually have any experience making something that complicated — I’ve made very hard toys and very squishy toys, but they are completely hard or completely squishy.
The best thing to do is to contact Smooth-On (or your local distributor) and see if you can get samples — then you can feel the different silicones for yourself, compare to other toys that you like, and make an informed decision. Personally, I find that anything Smooth-On labels 20 and above to be almost uncomfortably hard. My guess is you’ll want a 10 or below, but again, please get some samples — don’t take my word for it!
I’m honestly not sure how strong the vacuum needs to be in order to remove bubbles from the silicone before you pour it, but the Smooth-On folks should be able to tell you. If you’re talking about using a vacuum on your penis while you make the mold ( like Jimmie P. Rodgers and I did), you need to be extremely careful and have a safety release valve that won’t let the pressure go above one or two inches Hg.
An alginate mold can only be used one time. It’s basically gelatin — it will come apart after you cast into it once. I recommend melting a sulphur-free clay and pouring that into the alginate mold. You can then make a more durable mold from the clay positive.
Hi,
Thank you for your quick reply. Yes, I meant platinum. The vaccum pump would be to degas the silicone.
I have no experience to melt sulfur free clay and pouring it to then I guess make a permanent mold. Could I use the first silicone toy produced then.
Regarding the alginate original mold, could I use the same silicone material to make the mold as the one I’d use to make the toy?
How worm could I got with the water to be confortable for me during mold making process?
For a silicon similar to the fildoe, which smooth on product do you recommend then?
Regarding the softness I guess I should have said rigid or firm. I’ll go to the local smooth on distributor afterwork today.
I hope order the ingredients for this weekend and have a go with my girlfriend over labor day.
On a side note, I watched your video, great session, very usually primer.
Thank you for the input.
You’re welcome! So when you’re done with the alginate, you’ll have an alginate positive and a negative space the shape of your penis. You melt sulphur-free clay and pour it into the alginate, then you have a positive copy of your penis. That is what you’ll want to make your mold from — you can make the mold in silicone (or in plaster, if you have the time & patience to make sure it dries completely). You can use the same silicone to make the mold and the toy, but you’ll need to use a release agent that’s intended for silicone-on-silicone casting.
The alginate will have instructions for temperature. The hotter the water, the shorter the time you’ll have to work. IIRC, 95F water will result in alginate that sets up in about 5 minutes. That may be a long time to keep an erection, so you may want to use hotter water.
I hesitate to recommend a specific silicone because people’s preferences vary so widely. My guess is you’ll want something no firmer than 10; try the samples they have so you can see what feels most similar to you.
Best of luck with your project!
I got to Reynolds just before it closed. The samples I got were for the Mold Star15, 20T, 30 and the Dragon Skin Dragon skin 10. The dragon skin felt takier, the relative hardness all felt good choices. The color can be a lavender or blue so nothing fancy, shore 10-20 harness felt good. No opinion between these?
How many could you mold from I sampler pack (1lb per part, ie 2lbs total). My guess, it looks hardly enough for 2.
I was shy to tell the lady what was my project. There was no samples for rhe Eco Flex, but she said it was the only skin safe certified product.
Also she said that making a silicone positive by pouring it into the alginate mold might be affected by the moisture?
Clone a willy and your demo/video fared well with alginate, didn’t they?
Moisture in alginate issue, is it why melting clay would be better and cheaper?
Can I get the sulfur free clay from the Smooth On distributor or elsewhere would be cheaper?
If I were to use silicon to make my mold, which smoothon product do you recommend for good result which is cheaper? I’d probaby slice it open.
Plaster is an option but is easy to make a two part mold then without prior experience following a YouTube instruction?
It seems the expensive and tricky part is to make a good mold for reuse. I’d probably would make two.
Thanks again for the details.
I would like to create a silicone copy of male auto athesive external catether..
i’m very tired to change every time.. this one will be reusable.. :-D and i will use for my water sport…
do you have any idea on how to do? Do you suggest to make only for gland or for all the dick body?
tnx in advance for you help.
Hi! I’m not familiar with this type of device. My best guess is that you would need to take an existing device, make a mold off of it, and then cast it using a very soft platinum-cure silicone. You’re basically going to need the same kind of technique that’s used to make copies of things like vases or bottles. I’ve never used that technique, though, so I don’t have any knowledge to offer. Try googling “how to make a mold of a vase” or “how to make a mold of a bottle” as a starting point.
Hello! I’m looking to make a friend a toy for a birthday gift, and I know a well-made one will be expensive, but I still want to be as frugal as possible. I’m looking at a trial size of the Dragon Skin silicone, which is 2 lbs, but I’m having a hard time visualizing what the volume of that would be, and if it would be enough material for one mold and one toy. Does anyone know what maximum dimensions that would allow me, or how many cups that would be?
For reference, the toy I plan to make will be about 5.5″ in length and 3.5″ at its widest point in diameter.
Hi! Thanks for writing!
What I’d recommend is looking at the product information for whichever of the Dragon Skins you’re looking for — either through the website or a PDF, they will list the density of the final material (weight per unit volume). Then you can use that number to convert your 2 lb sample into a volume. Now: Unless you have a vacuum chamber to degas your silicone, you will end up with something slightly less dense because of all of the air bubbles (meaning you’ll end up with a slightly larger volume of silicone than you would if you degassed).
You can estimate the volume of your new toy either by doing some geometry (assuming it’s a cone or cylinder, for instance), and/or by taking your positive and measuring its volume — say by filling up a measuring cup with water and then seeing how much your positive displaces the water.
The most material-efficient way to make a mold is to make a glove mold (so try googling for that; I don’t have much personal experience with it myself).
Thank you for your response! :) I looked on the website and actually found this handy calculator I thought I’d share:
https://www.smooth-on.com/support/calculators/
Oh, that’s fabulous! Thank you for sharing!
It depends on the shape of the toy but without a drawing, I’d say no way you will have enough silicone for the mould and the toy when ordering a trial unit of silicone. You will likely not even have enough for the mould alone (if you want to create a block mould).
I’m wondering if there’s any way to smooth out a matte textured silicone “store-bought” sex toy, maybe by coating it in another layer of silicone?
I really don’t understand why they don’t make these things glossy. I shouldn’t feel any friction when my lube is so thick it’s coming off in slimy strings! And I don’t want to have to resort to using condoms due to the extra expense.
That’s an interesting question! I haven’t run into that particular problem, myself, so I’ll just throw out a couple of ideas:
I hope this is helpful! Thanks for writing. :)
The answer to your question is the same as Asa’s below, except you want to use NOVOCS Gloss not NOVOCS Matte. This is one of my methods for getting a smooth surface after power sanding a silicone item as a finishing technique. You can also use a vibratory tumbler with ceramic and then porcelain media as I describe way up above.
Or get atlas unlubricated condoms (many condom lubricants are silicone based so I tend to avoid them on toys on general principle) 100 for $11.86 through amazon (0.12 each). Given that the smallest container of NOVOCS gloss and psychopaint will run you over $40, that is over 300 condoms.
Hey, so I’m kinda looking for some advice on how to make the toy *super* realistic in terms of how it feels. Like what kind of silicone is best for that and do you use Slacker? I was thinking of going all out and doing 3 layers (core, “flesh”, and skin) but I’m not sure where to start or what to get, yknow?
Apologies for the delayed reply! I haven’t worked with super-realistic designs myself. I haven’t heard of Slacker, I use Smooth-On platinum cure silicones. If you want to have three layers you’ll need kind of a complicated mold structure, but you should be able to use three silicones with different shore hardnesses for each layer. As long as you let each layer cure completely before adding the next layer, I think it should work.
take a look at my comments to SL13 below, The same applies to what you are interested in doing. Do keep in mind that multiple layers is a bit of an advanced technique so it will help if you have done some single layer casting before trying it. I would also recommend doing some small scale trials of encapsulations to see what you think is most realistic before making a full size toy. Its could save you a lot of money.
You might be interested in seeing how a suture pad or needle insertion trainer is created to get an idea of different layer textures:https://www.smooth-on.com/tutorials/creating-silicone-suture-pad/
https://www.smooth-on.com/tutorials/making-needle-insertion-trainer/
I wouldn’t use the fabric in a toy though.
I have used slacker. It makes the rebound of the silicone a more like real flesh, but at the cost of making any silicone it is used in markedly tacky. It helps but the effect isn’t huge over just using a softer silicone, Regardless, use it only on interior layers. So you might use eco-flex 30 for skin, eco-flex 30 plus slacker ate very or extremely tacky concentrations (see https://www.smooth-on.com/products/slacker/) for an interior layer (or ecoflex gel), and dragon skin 20 or 30 for a firm core. I suppose you could use slacker on the core, just be aware you will want to go for a bit firmer silicone if you do as the slacker will soften it.
Hi! Thanks for all the great tips! My question is, is there a way to make a silicone toy have a matte finish? Or just less tacky really? Without having to cornstarch it? I’m in Europe and using PS Composites at the moment.
Apologies for the delayed reply. Hmmm. So I haven’t had problems with tackiness, and I haven’t worked with PS Composites, but there are a couple of things that might be contributing factors: 1. If the shore hardness of your silicone is very low, I could imagine you’d get more of a tacky feel. You might want to try a firmer silicone? 2. To get a matte finish, it might help to make sure your mold has some kind of texture to it. I’d definitely recommend trying either of these ideas at a very small scale first to see what combination you need to get a finish that you like.
yes there is. You can use NOVOCS matte. This could be added to the silicone being cast, but it is more efficient to add it to psychopaint silicone and brushing or spraying it on via airbrush. see https://www.smooth-on.com/tb/files/NOVOCS_TB.pdf
and https://www.smooth-on.com/tutorials/novocs-gloss-matte-silicone-solvents/
One note, after you apply the silicone with the NOVOCS matte to the toy, be sure to cover it while it dries/cures to keep dust from embedding itself into the coating.
I don’t see any reason why you could not use these over ps composites silicone. But in general unless you are using very soft silicone (shore A <5) the surface shouldn't be tacky when fully cured. Attract dust like crazy sure, but not actually tacky.
There’s something in the Dragon Skin 20 B (the thing that cures the actual sillicone) that’s toxic. It even says so on the package, that it causes skin irration and is recognized in California as a carcinogen.
I don’t know how you could ever manage to cast with the stuff.
Here’s what I did. I measured up 50/50 of each, blended them and poured them in a mold. Then I waited the required time. As soon as I touched the finished product my hands started itching, so I removed the silicone casting materials and stored them very safely. I also removed the cast physically from my house. However, even over a week later as soon as I enter the room I did the casting in I develop skin irritation and inflamed sinuses that leads to headaches. I also develop cold hands and transient dizziness.
How in Gods name could you make anything with these materials and actually use them, even if you used gloves, a condom, etc. ????
I contacted Smooth On but they were not at all willing to help me.
I’m sorry to hear that. I haven’t done much work with Smooth-On directly, instead I’ve called and talked with their distributor, Reynolds Advanced Materials. I’ll make sure to recommend talking to RAM (as opposed to Smooth-On) in the future. Thank you for writing!
Apologies for the delayed reply! That totally sucks. I’ve been handling my finished toys with bare hands for several years now and haven’t had any problems, but it’s entirely possible that it’s something like the batch of silicone you had was bad, or that you have an allergy to something in the silicone, or it could be something else.
My guess is that they may not have gotten mixed throughly enough. It isn’t uncommon in polymer chemistry for monomers or polymerization initiators to be toxic while the polymer product is harmless. I’ve had reactions to the uncured silicone but never the cured silicone. I use the double mix method: see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7js1j4dYL0
Briefly you pour the two components together, mix well, then scrape all into a new container and mix well again. I degas after the 2nd mixing, then pour.
It is also possible that you have an excess of one component resulting in unreacted material. To avoid this, measure components by weight not volume. Dragon skin measures 1:1 by volume and by weight, but it is much easier to get precisely equal amounts using a cheap gram scale than by eyeballing containers.
Finally, it is possible you have an idiosyncratic reaction to platinum silicone rubber. If that is the case however, you should have the reaction to many silicone toys and items. If you only have reactions to silicone you cast, it is probably method related.
I did a little follow up, as I was surprised to hear a prop 65 warning on dragon skin 20 reported when I knew there was none on dragon skin 10. Both dragon skin 20A and B are potential irritants but according to the MSDS, neither have any known carcinogens in them. See https://www.smooth-on.com/msds/files/Dragon_Skin.pdf
Neither has a prop 65 warning and both are considered non-hazardous by US and Canadian definitions. Neither has any % volatile although both have an odor so there has to be some slight volatility.
Of note, there are reports in the medical literature of idiosyncratic allergies to the platinum used as a catalyst for the curing of these silicones.
I need to fill two cat-toy pacifiers with rubber. The pacifiers are made of a pet chewable rubber because the inside of the pacifier bells are hollow. My cat tears these up! I want to make these longer lasting and solid chew toys. Will latex rubber work as a non-poisonous filament for these toys please? I have been looking for the correct rubber for almost a year! Any help is REALLY appreciated!!! Thank you!
Hi Joseph, my apologies for the delayed reply! I honestly don’t know, but my guess is if there is any kind of rubber or epoxy that will work, the folks at Reynolds Advanced Materials may be able to tell you. –Kit
I have a question for you.
I have some silicone the I’m going to make a replica of myself with for my girlfriend. But I don’t think I have enough to fully fill the mold.
Now I also have some left of silicone that is a few different colors that’s the exact same brand and type thats already set and dried. So can I take the dry stuff and cut it up into bits and mix that in to my silicone and pour that into the mold and have it set properly?
I think that would be very cool and unique if I can.
Any input would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you.
Hi Pax, my apologies for the delayed reply! One of my friends who’s done multiple silicone pours says that generally it’s not a problem to have new silicone cure around old silicone as long as you don’t have any kind of mold release around because that will keep them from sticking together. So if your mold is made out of something that silicone won’t stick to (as in, your mold isn’t made of silicone), you’re probably good. Otherwise you might need to make a new mold (like by melting sulphur-free clay and pouring that into your current mold so you have a clean, new positive to start from). If you’re able to get this to work, drop us another comment, I’d love to see the result. –Kit
I’m working up the design for a meatus/urethral/prostate turbo twin vibrator using two variable speed OTC bullets linked to a dual control unit. The insertables, in fact all parts except the grip will also be OTC, one shaped steel and the other a standard silicone dilator with a double bore.
Toy design has long been a hobby, but this is the first prototype I actually plan to make.
My question is: is it possible to use a dip coating process rather than casting to create a uniform, if not precise, single surface? I would like everything from the electric leads entering the grip to the prostate stimulator tip ( again, all OTC devices ) to be single surface, gloss to matte, mid stiffness silicone for ease of cleaning and sterilization.
Can you folks offer some of your wisdom and experience, please?
Apologies for the delayed reply! I haven’t done any work with dipping myself (maybe someone else here has?) — off the top of my head, it seems like it might be tricky because for each layer you’d need to mix up a small amount of silicone and let it cure 4 hours. You might also need to add something to the silicone to make it thick enough to dip and stay on the part (instead of just running off). You could absolutely call a Reynolds Advanced Materials store — if you didn’t feel comfortable telling them you were making a toy, you could just say you had a part that you wanted to coat and see if they had any suggestions. –Kit
I have done work with dipping and coating items with silicone with reasonable success.
There are two main problems. First the silicone tends to bonds poorly with the item being dipped unless it is also silicone. This isn’t that much of a problem so long as the coating is reasonably thick (several mm at least) and the coverage is complete with any edges where the silicone could be pulled away from the item distant from the part that is used internally. For example, if you were coating a bullet vibe on a wire, coat the wire nearly to the control box. Another approach, though one I have not tried, is to use a primer. Factor II, which sells products aimed at the prosthetics maker, sells several. For examples, see http://www.factor2.com/category_s/13.htm
The second problem is getting even, smooth coatings without wasting lots of silicone. Unless a thixotropic agent (thickener) is added, most of the silicone will flow off of the item being coated. In addition, there tends to be a gradient of thickness from with the part farthest from where the silicone drips off thinnest. If you do use a thixotropic agent, then you have to worry about what is in it. Also, in my experience when silicone is thick enough not to flow off the object easily, it is about at cake frosting thickness and getting a uniform smooth coat is near impossible. What I usually do is use multiple coats, while keeping the object being coated very warm and use a heat gun on low to make the silicone start to very rapidly start to cure and thicken. I have also placed the cup into which the silicone drips off into on ice which works ok, or dry ice which works much better to preserve the run-off silicone for reuse. Platinum silicone cure is extremely temperature sensitive. Warming can dramatically speed up thickening and curing, while cold dramatically slows down curing. In fact, I regularly store mixed silicone in a -20C deep freeze for over a week with no effect on usability. While I usually use either dragon skin 10 medium or sorta-clear 18 for this use, I’ve done it with sorta-clear 40 and psychopaint. Psychopaint gave the most uniform coats, but also the thinnest. I usually only use it for coating silicone as a way of finishing it to give a glossy coat. In general higher viscosity silicones give thicker coats with less waste and fewer coats needed. I strongly recommend against trying any current crystal clear silicone rubber like solaris. It is far too brittle to make a decent coating for toys. I hope this helps you out some. Feel free to drop me a line at casting_questions(at)comcast.net or post here if you have more questions about coating. And if you try a primer, let us know how it works.
I want to make an alginate mold of my penis and add a flared base. It seems like to do this I’ll need to make the regular mold and then add another pour of alginate. Will the second pour of algniate adhere to the first already-cured pour of alginate? If not, do you have any suggestions on the best way to accomplish this?
Hi Lukas, apologies for the delayed reply! Probably what I would do is make the alginate mold, melt & pour sulphur-free clay into that, and then sculpt a base from more sulphur free clay (or you can pour some sulphur-free clay into something like a plastic cup and use that as a base). Then use more clay to connect the base to the shaft, and now you’ll have a solid positive that you can make a mold from. –Kit
Kit’s idea is probably better, but while untreated alginate will not bond to itself there are additives that will allow it to do so. The one I have heard most about is dermagel bonding agent from http://www.douglasandsturgess.com
I’ve never used it and don’t know if it works on alginates other than dermagel brand.
Hello Kit!
Can I ask what the meltable pourable clay you use is?
Thank you
Hi Rhiannon, apologies for the delayed reply! The clay I’ve used the most with melting is Chavant NSP Sulfur-free Plasteline non-drying modeling clay — most of what I have is Hard, but that makes it very difficult to make small changes. –Kit
Soo I want to coat toys I’ve made in silicone…for sealing and good thuddy uses. So any thoughts on a good way to coat items?
I can get clear silicone in caulking tubes from work but I’m not sure if that’s gonna cut it..
Hi Dust, apologies for the delayed reply! I wouldn’t recommend silicone caulk, since that’s generally tin-cure silicone and not intended for contact with human skin. For non-insertable toys, you could try using Tool-Dip, which is a favorite of a lot of crafty kinksters I know. For a toy that may be inserted, you’ll probably want a platinum-cure silicone (see discussion elsewhere on this page and on the site for the caveats there). –Kit
I’ve done coats of dragon skin 10 on both synthetic and natural leathers. It bonds pretty well to the fuzzy parts and less so the smoother the leather is.
Hi.
I found some good description of the materials for dildo making from Dildomancer on the which complement this thread, which I have been following for a while.
https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3785918&pagenumber=2
My girlfriend loves the idea of making a toy from me.
We start to have a feel for the firmness of the silcione toy we envision. We also “toy” we this idea of a double layered dildo in a similatr fashion to the many that can be found on Amazon.com (see examples below).
Dragon skin 20 for the core since its hardness should be close to that of a full erection.
Ecoflex 00-20 for the outter layer (head and foreskin) since it is extremely soft. Wondering how much softer the Ecoflex 00-10 would be.
The core could be formed by adding a slimmer cylindrical shape in the mold when the softer of the two silicone would be poured in to form the outter and softer layer (i.e. foreskin and head). Then use the firmer silicon for the core last and once the first poured silicon is fully cured.
Any thoughts on this selection of materials for a double layered toy?
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0746HXLV9/ref=ox_sc_act_title_2?smid=A3IKZGAVSEJE61&th=1
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07585TDVT/ref=sr_1_2_a_it?ie=UTF8&qid=1504201066&sr=8-2&keywords=double%2Blayer%2Bdildo&th=1
Thank you,
S&D
Hi S&D! Apologies for the delayed reply. Those seem like reasonable choices to me, but I always recommend getting a silicone sample so you can feel what the cured silicone is like before committing to an expensive purchase. Reynolds Advanced Materials may be able to send you some if you aren’t close enough to visit a store. I don’t have experience making double-layered toys myself, although it should be possible — the thing to watch out for is to make sure your mold is made from a material that won’t need mold release — since you want to do two pours, you’ve got to keep anything resembling mold release away from the toy or it won’t cure. Good luck!
You might want to get some advice from FascinusSilicone. He has a etsy shop and can be found on fetlife under that name as well. He makes multilayer toys almost exclusively and is a very helpful person to speak with.
Also I should mention that your approach is IIRC essentially what FascinusSilicone does: use an insert in the shape of the second layer which in inserted to create the space for the harder internal layer. After the outer layer hardens, the interior insert is removed and the space filled with the second silicone. A third layer can be made by using a second smaller insert in the shape of the planned 3rd hardness.
I would avoid eco-flex 00-10 as an outer layer as it is tacky when cured. I would also think about using a shore A 30 (dragon skin 30) for the interior. Just my opinion though.
I have made a sleeve for my fiance out of ecoflex 20. The silicone has cured and everything worked. I have one question. I used smooth on’s std (surface tension defuser) in the silicone. Is this safe for inside her vagina
Good question! I’m afraid I’ve never worked with surface tension defuser or know much about it. Anyone else have ideas? – Kit
I was unable to find out much about slide std except that the allergen warning suggests it is a natural product and that it is suitable for use against external skin. It would be helpful to know more about exactly what is in it. I would recommend contacting smooth on or reynolds advanced materials for more info. With reynolds you can probably be pretty blunt about what it is for. With smooth on, you can ask if it is safe for use on silicone appliances within the mouth. The mucosa inside the mouth is extremely similar to vaginal mucosa.
However, there is nothing that the surface tension diffuser will do that plain water soluble lube won’t do. Can’t see any advantage to using it.
Please warn people about the materials. I know you encourage using a condom over homemade toys, but if anyone decides they’re safe because they’re using silicone and they used that mold release then they’re very likely in for a bad time.
Thank you for the heads-up! I assume most of the danger is if the mold release isn’t cleaned off the toy? And if you have any resources you can point us to for how to check what on an MSDS is problematic, that would be a huge help.
This is another reason to clean commercial silicone toys before use. I have encountered several from at least one well regarded producer that reeked of mold release on arrival. Ease release 200 washes off easily enough with detergent and water or acetone, but there are mold releases that are specifically for FDA approved food and medical device use (see Hapco’s “grease-it FDG”)
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Dr Mike, I’ve seen some toys that have a matte finish (velvety) on one part but not the rest. Any idea on how to accomplish this feat?
That comes from the master used to make the mold .If the master is super glossy and shiny, the mold will produce a glossy surface. If the master surface is matte, you get matte surface,
This topic actually just came up over on a new forum on DIY silicone toys that I started on Fetlife recently. Tip for the info goes to one of the owners of Tantus
https://fetlife.com/groups/100969
This and the “Fun with Silicone” posts are included in a sticky as resources for learning how to make toys for what it is worth.
Thanks for the info and for the FetLife group link! – Kit
Hi, I have recently been making some impact play toys, such as paddles, out of 70 Shore A Neoprene, but I would like to switch to molding them out of silicone in order to take advantage of the greater number of color and finish options. This thread has been very helpful in figuring out how to go about molding and finishing the silicone, but I am not able to find any skin safe material of suitable hardness at the moment. Does anyone have any recommendations for suitable body safe material with that sort of durometer rating?
Thanks for writing! Hmm. Smooth-On doesn’t make a platinum cure silicone that’s that high of a durometer (at least as far as I can tell.) You might could try making a core out of something harder and casting silicone around it? The tricks would be (1) not to use any inner material that contains sulfur (or contains anything that contains sulfur) and (2) how to keep the harder inner material from tearing the silicone. – Kit
Yes I did look into Smooth-On and found the same thing. However, I was recently able to find something from Hobby Silicone which sounds like what I am looking for: http://hobbysilicone.com/product/2-lb-kit-qm-270-70-shore-a-platinum-silicone/
As far as I can see it looks like this should be fine for an impact toy, but I haven’t really purchased silicone for this sort of purpose before. Does it look like a reasonable choice to you?
I’ve wondered about Hobby silicones to try a platinum silicone harder than shore A 50, but haven’t tried their silicones yet. I’d be interested to hear how they work.
Couple of things to think about though. First, like smooth on’s harder silicones (smooth-sil 940, 945, 950, 960), a colored catalyst is used. This makes it easier to be sure the two components are adequately mixed. It also limits your color picks severely. Since color is an important issue, it is something that you will need to think about. Certain colors will be impossible and tones may be limited.
I don’t know if it is true for hobby silicone products, but I found smooth-on smooth-sil 960 platinum silicones to much more easily torn than dragon skin, and markedly more easily torn than any neoprene I’ve ever handled. In general silicone rubbers have substantially less tear resistance and lower tensile strength than neoprene, but are more flexible. This is related to the differences between the silicon-oxygen bonds in silicone and the carbon-carbon bonds of neoprene and so are unlikely to be confined to one source. But there are wide ranges for both and a strong silicone may be more tear resistant than a weak neoprene.n Also, I found with my use of smooth-sil 960 embedding mesh in the rubber improved strength and many be something to consider if problems arise.
One alternative to think about, you may want to try simpact 60. It is shore A 60, lower than the 70 you are aiming for, but I’ve tried using it before and it handles like it is harder than the also shore A 60 smooth-sil 960. Both simpact 60 and 85 are extremely tear resistant. Both are free of the chemicals that can make some polyurethanes not body safe- specifically phthalates, mercury, and a catalyst called MOCA. And both are easier to finish than silicones. It was success with them using standard methods for finishing urethane resins that led me to try variants of them for silicone. Both are white or off white which may limit very dark colors but otherwise permits all colors. Finally, both are cheaper than platinum silicones.
Hi, thanks for all the info. That actually looks quite promising. I think that would almost certainly be an adequate level of body safety for an impact toy, and it would let me do the sorts of color effects that I want
Realized I forgot a cautionary statement about simpact. It like other polyurethanes is not highly heat tolerant like silicones are. You cannot boil it for functional sterilization. Well, you can boil it very briefly but repeated or prolonged boils risk damage.
Best physical properties for it are obtained with 24hrs cure at room temp and then 6 hours at 170F/60C as a post cure. It can be heated up to this temp for many hours without damage. You could probably try heating in 170C water for half and hour, but I can’t be certain it would inactivate the most resistant pathogens such as HPV as we don’t have very good data on inactivating conditions for it generally.
The typical home chemical disinfectants, like 70% alcohol, used for toys are fine . If you use bleach, be sure after water rinses to follow up with a 3% hydrogen peroxide or a dilute solution of ascorbic acid (vitamin C) as these safely destroy residual bleach. No bleach feel, no bleach smell. And any of these are more than can be or is usually done with conventional impact toy materials.
Thanks for the update. Yeah I usually use disinfectant rather than boiling anyway so it should be all good
Do you know of any web pages or companies who have all the information about safe sex and eco sex toys?
Hi! Thanks for writing! So Dangerous Lily has written this post about what it means for a toy to be “body safe,” which might be a helpful starting point. – Kit
I don’t know how the problem of molds still is but i am currently working with polydoh (or polycaprolactone) for other projects and i thought it might be a good fit:
-) it kind of feels a little like lego when it is hard
-) it is reusable for different molds (just melt it down in hot water again)
-) it should be safe as it is used in medical implants
i am currently looking into soft materials for diy sex toy and your post helped. thank you for that
Ooh, interesting! Thanks for the suggestion! – Kit
Had prostate cancer so got a prosthesis, penis shrunk (thats common) in length to 4″ shaft and 1″soft head so I tehn went to Beverly Hills and got an implant and girth is now 7 1/2″ but no increase in length and head still a soft 1″. In an attempt to increase total length (by increasing size of the head) and more importantly make my penis HEAD a bit longer and wider to match the width of the penis shaft, I had hoped there might be a way to make a silicone appliance that would glue? onto the penis head, maybe in the shape of a bigger penis head than I have now. to make sex easier. It would need to have enough rigidity that it would not come off or fold. The difficulty would be to secure it enough on the tip because it would be top heavy so to speak. It would essentially be a way to keep my penis in my wife easier to have better sex. 4″ not much. Is something like this even remotely possible? would appreciate any ideas.
Thanks for writing! Hmm. So from the technical side, I’m not sure — penis sleeves intended to be used for penetration do exist, but those usually go over the whole shaft. I don’t know how well it would work to make something that just covers the tip; it may be possible, but it seems like a pretty tricky problem.
From the non-technical side: It might be worthwhile to look at expanding your bedroom activities to let “sex” include more activities than just PIV (penis-in-vagina) intercourse. I think this is true for everyone, regardless of gender, orientation, or physical capability! I often think about Dr. Marty Klein‘s definition of sex as “the exchange of erotic energy” as a reminder to myself to enjoy whatever I and my partner feel like enjoying during our playtime. His book “Sexual Intelligence: What We Really Want From Sex And How To Get It” has more information, if you think it would be helpful. Best, Kit
Hi I would like to make my own doll can you tell what good to use for a skeleton and it jonits also how to make a mold for body and face please thank you.
Hi, thanks for writing! Unfortunately skeletons and large pieces like that are outside my area of expertise, so I don’t know that I have any help to offer. – Kit
Hello, thanks for this guide!
Just to clarify, here’s what one needs?
1.Modeling Clay
2.Legos
3.Platinum Cure Silicone
4.More Platinum Cure Silicone
Steps:
1. Make your model out of clay
2. Make your custom sized mold container
3. Pour platinum silicone into mold container
4. Hold your model in until it solidifies
5. Take the dried mold out
6. Spray the mold with ease spray
7. Pour in platinum cure silicone
Thanks again:)
Hi there, thanks for writing! Yep, for a one-piece (block) mold, that’s pretty much the process. You may want to use a mold knife to cut open the block to get the model out — a mold knife will help keep the mold registered so that when you put it back together, the edges don’t slide around against each other. Here’s a video on how you can make your own mold knife, courtesy of Smooth-On: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKOWTgAJSmw
Hi Kit, just a thought, have you tried making a 3d printed model and then used latex to cover it and then pour plaster of paris around it in a semi 2part support mold. The only thing I would not know is if you pour silicone in latex if the curing from the heat of the silicone would destabilize the latex.
Was just a thought, I use 3d printed masters to create pewter casts but I use both Plaster of Paris and Mold Max 60 tin cured silicone for low temp metals.
Only reason I asked about latex was I have used that to make candle wax molds and a plaster backer so to speak. Normally would take 5 -10 coats to make a sock that fit in the plaster mold. Then would pour wax let cool then peel the sock off the wax.
Hi Tony, thanks for writing! I don’t have easy access to a 3D printer, so my own 3D printing experience is pretty well zip. That said: The idea of covering the mold and then using plaster of paris as a shell seems doable, but you wouldn’t want to use latex — the sulphur in latex inhibits the curing of platinum-cure silicone. So you have to avoid latex molds as well as anything else latex (use non-latex gloves, non-latex condoms, etc.) when you’re working with platinum cure silicone. You could use silicone as your first coat, you’d just need to make sure to use plenty of mold release when casting your final toy. — Kit
I am looking for a little advice, as I am new to all this. My goal is to find a product that I can make stretchy rubbery type animal figures with. Can anyone point me in the right direction? My hope is it could be poured into a mold and ready to go. Thanks for any help.
Hi PatriciaAnn, thanks for writing! There are definitely very soft silicones that you could use for a stretch, rubbery figure — you want something that’s very low durometer. I’ve used Smooth-On EcoFlex from Reynolds Advanced Materials and the 00 durometer silicones are suuuuper squishy (https://www.reynoldsam.com/product/ecoflex/). I’d recommend requesting a few samples from Smooth-On or Reynolds first, so you can see which has the texture you prefer. Best of luck with your project! – Kit