Tips For Removing Polymer Clay From Silicon Molds
Video #717: It’s one thing to push your clay into a mold… but how to get it out without smushing the pattern? Cool tips in this video.
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IN THIS POST: — silicon molds — rubber molds — resin molds — remove clay from molds — removing clay from molds — clay removal — (Topics marked with an asterick* are discussed in the Comments Section below).
Today I’m going to show you some really cool tips for removing polymer clay from your silicon molds.
Some brands of molds I use, include: Martha Stewart Clay Molds; Kraft Lady Art Molds from After Midnight Art Stamps; Wilton Fondant and Gumpaste Molds; Polyform Polymer Clay Molds; Amaco Clay Molds; Epoxy Jewelry Silicon Molds.
You can use silicon molds to make some really neat polymer clay embellishments like buttons, paperclips, charms, scrapbook embellishments and home decor items.
There are some tricks to using polymer clay in silicone molds… especially for getting the clay out of the molds.
Start with soft polymer clay. Soften it with Sculpey Clay Softener or baby oil if needed. Clean mold with baby wipe or softened piece of translucent polymer clay to remove any clay or lint in the mold.
Press softened clay into mold and trim off excess with a clay blade.
Stick the back of the molded clay to a shiny surface such as a glass mat, glass tile, mirror or piece of acrylic block and pull mold away from the clay. Of course this is much easier to understand if you watch the video than if you just read about it.
00:00:03 –> 00:00:08 Hi guys, it’s Cindy Lietz, your Polymer Clay Tutor in today’s Studio Tip, I’m going to show you
00:00:08 –> 00:00:12 some really cool tips for removing polymer clay from silicone molds.
00:00:12 –> 00:00:18 Now, I’ve got a big pile of silicone molds from a bunch of different companies here on
00:00:18 –> 00:00:26 my table and you can make use polymer clay to make some really neat little embellishments
00:00:26 –> 00:00:33 and things or you can make buttons and paper clips and all kinds of cool stuff with molds
00:00:33 –> 00:00:38 but there are some tricks to getting the clay out of them without getting them all distorted.
00:00:38 –> 00:00:43 Now, I’ve got, like I said, a bunch of different samples here.
00:00:43 –> 00:00:49 Here are some silicone molds from Martha Stewart, I’m not sure they’re still selling these or
00:00:49 –> 00:00:52 not but they were around for quite a few years.
00:00:52 –> 00:00:56 This Rose one here is highly detailed I’m going to show you how to use that in a few
00:00:56 –> 00:01:05 minutes because it’s kind of specific how to– how to do that in those types of molds.
00:01:05 –> 00:01:13 I have some molds here that are from Kraft Lady, they’re Kraft Lady Art Moulds from After
00:01:13 –> 00:01:19 Midnight Art Stamps and I’ve done a video about them in the past and they’re– they’re
00:01:19 –> 00:01:21 really beautiful and highly detailed.
00:01:21 –> 00:01:28 Each silicon mold is a little bit different the way– it’s the type of silicon they use
00:01:28 –> 00:01:31 summer heat resistant, some aren’t.
00:01:31 –> 00:01:38 There’s other molds like this one here from Wilton and it’s meant for fondant and gum
00:01:38 –> 00:01:42 paste for cakes and that kind of thing but they make beautiful polymer clay molds as
00:01:42 –> 00:01:43 well.
00:01:43 –> 00:01:47 You can get these in places like Michaels and that kind of thing.
00:01:47 –> 00:01:52 Now, here are some molds from Polyform, some of these are old ones and some are not.
00:01:52 –> 00:02:00 I have a few here, no, just these two here are from Polyform– I’ve got them from Polyform
00:02:00 –> 00:02:06 and they’ve got lots of detail and they have tons of different silicone molds.
00:02:06 –> 00:02:14 These molds here are from– these are old ones these are from AMACO so AMACO, the company
00:02:14 –> 00:02:20 that does a lot of pottery and that type of clay stuff.
00:02:20 –> 00:02:25 They also do some Pasta Machines and they do some polymer clay molds and that kind of
00:02:25 –> 00:02:26 thing.
00:02:26 –> 00:02:34 I also have a couple of molds here that are from the guy Terry Morris that does the UV
00:02:34 –> 00:02:40 Resin that we recommend all the time, he made these molds here and then I have some old
00:02:40 –> 00:02:44 that I have made myself over buttons and locks.
00:02:44 –> 00:02:49 Here’s the one I did talked about a while ago put some liquid clay in it.
00:02:49 –> 00:02:51 These are some aquatic shells.
00:02:51 –> 00:02:55 Here’s one’s done on buttons and all kinds of different things.
00:02:55 –> 00:03:01 Now, there are a few tricks, like I said, you can, you know you put the clay in.
00:03:01 –> 00:03:08 It’s best if you work with the clay that is quite soft and maybe even a little bit sticky.
00:03:08 –> 00:03:11 It goes into the mold a little bit better and it comes out of the mold a little bit
00:03:11 –> 00:03:13 better if it’s quite soft.
00:03:13 –> 00:03:19 If it’s not soft enough, then you may need to use something like a clay softener.
00:03:19 –> 00:03:25 I have a video about softening clay so you can check that out if you haven’t seen that
00:03:25 –> 00:03:27 before.
00:03:27 –> 00:03:33 And there– you need to get them really clean before you put clay into them, this one here
00:03:33 –> 00:03:39 for example, seems to hold on to the color especially with some of the red clays so you
00:03:39 –> 00:03:43 want to make sure that they’re cleaned out really well before you use them, a baby wipe
00:03:43 –> 00:03:49 work quite well to remove any staining and that kind of thing you’ll see that it will
00:03:49 –> 00:03:55 come out of here pretty good, rubbing alcohol on a piece of paper towel will work pretty
00:03:55 –> 00:03:57 good.
00:03:57 –> 00:04:03 You just want to make sure that your mold is nice and clean and then if you have any
00:04:03 –> 00:04:09 lint or anything in it, make sure to remove that using a piece of translucent clay.
00:04:09 –> 00:04:14 I have a piece of scrap translucent clay laying around that I used for picking up lint and
00:04:14 –> 00:04:21 that kind of thing but it works great in a mold like this one and you can just pick up
00:04:21 –> 00:04:26 any little bit and it’ll keep it clean and dry without leaving anything behind when you
00:04:26 –> 00:04:29 use a translucent piece of clay.
00:04:29 –> 00:04:33 Alright, so now you’ve got your mold you’ve decided to work on it.
00:04:33 –> 00:04:36 I want to show you something like this mold here.
00:04:36 –> 00:04:42 Now see that super fine detail here and I actually ended up using two colors in this
00:04:42 –> 00:04:49 mold, it just makes this particular mode look a lot more spectacular but you’ll want to
00:04:49 –> 00:04:56 do that a cut– in two parts so I’ve got my clay here I’ve got some bright green Premo
00:04:56 –> 00:05:04 Pearl and I’ve soften it up and you want to make sure that you put it in the areas of
00:05:04 –> 00:05:11 the mold where you want to use that color so I’m going to use it in–, the green just
00:05:11 –> 00:05:18 where the leaves are in the stem is and I’m going to just take little snakes of it and
00:05:18 –> 00:05:28 press it into the– into the mold and in all the areas so I’m going to have to put in different
00:05:28 –> 00:05:35 amounts in here, make sure to press it right down into the mold, we can trim off any extra
00:05:35 –> 00:05:41 that there might be and we can also get it out of the areas where we don’t want it.
00:05:41 –> 00:05:48 So we don’t want it in the areas where the rose petals are and that but we can– we can
00:05:48 –> 00:05:53 trim it out of there in a second so it’s going to take me a little bit of time here to press
00:05:53 –> 00:06:02 these in and I’ll just press it in, you want to try to make sure that there’s no seams
00:06:02 –> 00:06:05 or anything and there’s no gaps.
00:06:05 –> 00:06:14 I also want– in this little part of the rose, I missed it on this one here but you can put
00:06:14 –> 00:06:21 the green into the little of what they–the Calyx part of the flower so you can do that
00:06:21 –> 00:06:22 on the mold as well.
00:06:22 –> 00:06:27 So press that into that area, every mold is going to be different, it would do the same
00:06:27 –> 00:06:34 kind of thing if you were doing a– if you were doing one of those Cameo Molds, you can
00:06:34 –> 00:06:39 actually do more than one color in a mold so I’m pressing it into the areas that I want
00:06:39 –> 00:06:44 then I’m going to trim it off really carefully and then I will be able to see where– where
00:06:44 –> 00:06:50 I’m at so I’m just going to use a thin blade and I’m going to be very careful not to cut
00:06:50 –> 00:06:54 into my silicone mold here.
00:06:54 –> 00:07:01 I’m just going to slide along the surface kind of see-sawing back and forth and just
00:07:01 –> 00:07:08 sort of cut off the extra and you’re going to be able to start seeing where the stems
00:07:08 –> 00:07:09 are.
00:07:09 –> 00:07:14 Now, I can see that my green is pushing out into my Rose area so I can just kind of trim
00:07:14 –> 00:07:26 that off with my finger and remove any of the extra green, that, isn’t this cool there’s
00:07:26 –> 00:07:29 so many cool things you can do with polymer clay.
00:07:29 –> 00:07:32 It’s really quite remarkable.
00:07:32 –> 00:07:37 Now, you can use these kind of molds for pouring Resin and stuff too.
00:07:37 –> 00:07:42 Alright, so I have this pretty good, I want to make sure I don’t have any extra green
00:07:42 –> 00:07:53 in in there or in any weird spots, pull it out Alrighty, now let’s get some of the Coral
00:07:53 –> 00:07:54 colored clay.
00:07:54 –> 00:08:02 Now, this is this clay here is called what is it Sunset Pearl so I’m just going to take
00:08:02 –> 00:08:13 a ball of it, warm it up, push it right into the area where the rose is going to be and
00:08:13 –> 00:08:27 we can keep adding more, this will probably need to get a little bit more from here.
00:08:27 –> 00:08:31 I was playing around with it making up some samples and I used up more than I thought
00:08:31 –> 00:08:33 but anyways we’ll get some in here.
00:08:33 –> 00:08:39 Oh, and I forgot to do this leaf we better get back to that too.
00:08:39 –> 00:08:44 What I think I will do, rather than have you watched me soften all this forever, I will
00:08:44 –> 00:08:53 just go and I will put the green in and come back and I’ll be right back.
00:08:53 –> 00:08:58 Okay, I’m back, sorry about that it just put it in put the green in there and I trimmed
00:08:58 –> 00:09:02 it out just like it did before with the other ones and then I’m going to just put some of
00:09:02 –> 00:09:05 this coral color in this rose here.
00:09:05 –> 00:09:09 Now, it doesn’t matter if it overlaps a little bit onto the green because it’s going to be
00:09:09 –> 00:09:15 the back, just want to really make sure it’s pressed down deep like that and then we’re
00:09:15 –> 00:09:21 going to, I don’t want to have any caved in area at the back so I add a little bit more
00:09:21 –> 00:09:23 of the back here as well.
00:09:23 –> 00:09:28 We can trim it off, press it in really good and we’re going to trim that off from the
00:09:28 –> 00:09:40 back as well, being careful not to cut the mold and not to scoop down into the the back
00:09:40 –> 00:09:43 either, you don’t want to bend down and scoop it out too far.
00:09:43 –> 00:09:48 Alright, so it’s looking pretty good back here I’m just going to kind of clean it up
00:09:48 –> 00:09:52 and you can come in from around the edges and just make sure that nothing is hanging
00:09:52 –> 00:09:58 over the edges, it looks kind of bad you’ve got kind of little feet on the bottom of your
00:09:58 –> 00:10:07 molded piece so now that that is all nice and cleaned up, here is a great trick so you
00:10:07 –> 00:10:13 want to use something that is shiny so it can be a piece of glass like this, it could
00:10:13 –> 00:10:19 be a glass tile, it could be an acrylic sheet, something that’s really shiny will grab on
00:10:19 –> 00:10:22 to something like this clay.
00:10:22 –> 00:10:28 So I’m going to just clean off this glass mat here with some rubbing alcohol so I know
00:10:28 –> 00:10:36 it’s really clean and just dry that a bit and then what we can do is rather than try
00:10:36 –> 00:10:42 to pop it out from here, if I try to pop out something as detailed as this, I’m surely
00:10:42 –> 00:10:43 going to break it.
00:10:43 –> 00:10:48 I’ll never get it out of there, trust me, I know this because I tried it but there’s
00:10:48 –> 00:10:53 a cool thing that you can do, I figured it out by accident but if you kind of just go
00:10:53 –> 00:10:59 around the edges and make sure it’s all loose in there, then what we can do, is we can stick
00:10:59 –> 00:11:06 it down to the glass, make sure it’s sticking down and I’m going to start from the end that’s
00:11:06 –> 00:11:11 the– the most– the least vulnerable so make sure its kind of stuck down so I’m going to
00:11:11 –> 00:11:17 start from the thicker end, I’m going to peal this up a bit and it should stick to the glass,
00:11:17 –> 00:11:19 should.
00:11:19 –> 00:11:31 There we go, it should lift from there relatively easy, going to just pull it away gently.
00:11:31 –> 00:11:37 Sorry I’ll get my head in the way.
00:11:37 –> 00:11:43 There we go, so I came out nice and clean except for some reason this little guy did
00:11:43 –> 00:11:46 not want to come along with me.
00:11:46 –> 00:11:53 We can stick that back in there or forget about it.
00:11:53 –> 00:11:54 See that?
00:11:54 –> 00:12:00 So it– you can do it, soften it up to make sure it sticks there quite well and you will
00:12:00 –> 00:12:02 be able to get it out.
00:12:02 –> 00:12:07 If you try to do it otherwise, you will really have a lot of trouble with it and it’s very
00:12:07 –> 00:12:12 very difficult to get it out but with a couple of shots, I was able to get it out on this
00:12:12 –> 00:12:16 one here and this one and then this one– mostly.
00:12:16 –> 00:12:22 So I hope that was helpful for you, you will find that if you’re doing something much simpler
00:12:22 –> 00:12:29 and much less detailed, like a lot less like it’s a rounder piece like these little faces
00:12:29 –> 00:12:33 or something sticking it to the glass will come out really really easy and it will keep
00:12:33 –> 00:12:39 it from distorting or getting all smushed out of shape so try that tip, it should be
00:12:39 –> 00:12:46 helpful for you and if it was, do let us know if you liked this video and if you have any
00:12:46 –> 00:12:52 products you would like me to test, if you’ve got techniques you don’t understand or tricky
00:12:52 –> 00:12:56 for you and you’ve already done a search through all of our channel and you haven’t found the
00:12:56 –> 00:13:01 answer yet you can leave a suggestion in the comments section below and maybe we can get
00:13:01 –> 00:13:02 a video made for you.
00:13:02 –> 00:13:05 Alright, so we’ll see you next time and bye for now.
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Resource Links:
- Amazon: Martha Stewart Clay Molds **
- Amazon: Wilton Fondant and Gumpaste Molds **
- Amazon: Polyform Polymer Clay Molds **
- Amazon: Amaco Clay Molds **
- Related Video: Silicone Molding Techniques
- Related Video: Krafty Lady Art Moulds
- Related Video: Molded Polymer Clay French Barrettes
- Related Video: Silicone Molds From Bargain Rollback Company
- Related Video: Tinted Liquid Sculpey Polymer Clay
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Cindy, I am afraid to use 275f, because I was not told if my molds would survive that temp. My molds are bright pink, do you think that they will survive? The resulting items break, while I am applying the background piece.
Hmmm, yeah I can see your point. I wonder if you baked it at the lower temp just enough to set it, and then popped it out of the mold and baked it properly? Then you could put it back in the mold and add the background part and do the whole thing again. It sounds like a bit of a pain, but it might work. I have had a couple people ask about that, so maybe I should get one of those cameo molds and try testing it out for myself? If you do figure out a method that works, do be sure to report back. I am sure others would love to know as well. Good luck!
Cindy, I am having trouble with my molds. I am using cameos molds, I use liquid clay in the highly detailed area, then I bake is for five minutes at 175 degree f. The liquid clay hardens, but I having trouble with the details. I use bake and bond, to join the pieces together. What am I doing wrong?
Hi James, what kind of problems are you having with the details? Also, maybe it wasatypo, but I recommend you bake for pieces at 275F not 175F. Perhaps that is where the problem is?
To some people this my sound like such a simple thing. But when your learning a video like this is so very helpful and time saving. Thank you!!!
Just thought I’d throw this out. I stick mine in the freezer for about 5 minutes and they come out beautifully.
I only just learned the freezer trick a couple of weeks before this video. It works great too, but it does involve a little patience, which I’m often short on ;) I’m excited to try out some of the lacey filigree type molds I got that don’t even work well with liquid clay. Maybe they’ll be useable with this technique.
I’m with you there Katy… waiting in a fridge requires patience… something that I have in limited quantities! :) If I can do it faster… I will!
Tom, Ihave several of their molds … Love them. Still have some on my wish list for the future as well.
Cindy, that tip using a tile or glass surface is great. It makes removing delicate pieces from a mold so much more convenient. Have you ever tried silicon molds from Best Flexible Molds by Penni Jo, a genuine Mom and Pop company based in Maysville, Oklahoma. Penni Jo’s molds and texture mats are quite nice and very easy to work with. I think you would like them and might even do a product demo with them. Thanks again for your tips and demos.
Hi Tom, Cindy has done videos on Penni Jo’s molds. If you search the database you can watch one of them. I purchase some when she did the Faux Jasper tutorial and made lots of leafs from one. Have fun.
Thanks for this tip! I haven’t used any of my molds yet but your wonderful demonstration will certainly help me when I do! Just to show you how you’ve helped me already, I thought you baked the clay in the mold lol! I would most likely have had a crazy looking piece:)
Hi Chris, you actually can bake the clay right in the mold as long as your silcone mold is rated for it. I do it all the time and they just pop out when they are cool. It doesn’t hurt the mold and you can do it over and over. Search for Cindys video on baking with molds.
Thanks for the tip. It works well. I just happened to be in the middle of some mold experimentation when I saw this.
My experiment did not work out well… They do not make many that can be double sided. So I am making the items by hand … Front and back should both be lovely lol.
Wow Cindy! neat trick, I did not think about doing it that way at all. Thanks so much for this.
Silicon – Isn’t this just amazing. I was asked to make a dozen buttons using a Celtic design,(very complex).I made the mold from Silicon, using an old broken lid from a tiny trinket box found in a junk shop. Wish I had seen Cindy,s tips and tricks as the mold wasn’t quite level, so had to sand the back of all 12 before applying the shank. But after correcting my error they turned out really well. Every detail on the front so clear. They will look great on the hand-knitted jacket my friend took three months to finish.Thanks for this one Cindy, what would we do without you…cheers xx….
Do you have any pictures? I’d love to see those buttons!
No, Katy,
I’m not too hot at taking pictures. Old camera and no smart phone. One day soon I must get one. But making buttons is great if you have some spare PC left over from a project. I sew them on cards to sell at the craft fairs I attend and other crafters who make hand-knitted items always buy them. Depending how much PC I have to use I make sets of 3,4 or six. It saves storing all that unused clay. Watch Cindy’s button tutorial…its great.
I’ll definitely check it out, thanks :) I’ve made some buttons in little metal blanks, but I always wonder how long before the shiny silver coating wears off, especially if they end up in the washer dryer :/ I should probably just make solid PC ones to be safe.
Hope you get a camera soon! I am SO spoiled with my smart phone. I was chatting with the lady about it a while back in Michael’s because I could get my coupons on my phone and she was saying she had forgotten hers. I couldn’t really share my coupon from my phone but the cashier was really great and scanned one at the register for her anyway. :)
Thank you for the trick. I tend to hate using molds. This might change my mind!
I hope so Hermine! It is nice to be able to make several pieces that are the exact same for certain projects, like paperclips or charms and stuff like that. Try these tips and let us know how it goes…
I’m with you all the way, Hermine! Great video, Cindy! As always, you rock!