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Hello Magic Folks,
I am looking to find someone who has some knowledge and experience of making moulds from existing objects and then casting clear transparent plastic items from them. I have a small number of very specific objects I would like to be made out of clear plastic. I am aware that there are art and craft type people who do this sort of thing as a hobby and it is possible for me to buy a kit and learn how to do it at home myself. But rather than going through that learning curve and making a huge mess for just a small number of items I'd rather find someone who already has the knowledge and skills required and speak to them about getting the work done.

The items required are not currently available commercially at all, but would be very useful in significantly improving a routine I sometimes perform. Does anyone here have such skills or know someone who may be able to undertake the work?

Hope you can help.

Thank you.

If you can't find anyone and have to resort to a DIY process then check out Hobbycraft - they have all the stuff to make moulds and cast items in resin. You might even find somone at a local store willing to do the work for you - worth asking!

Thanks Mandrake. I have found a number of places that sell all the equipment and chemicals necessary but it looks like the sort of thing that I'll end up making a huge mess out of myself and botching it up a few times before I learn the correct way. If I can find someone who already knows how to do it properly that I can pass the work to then it will cut out a lot of mess and headache I think.

Rather than a larger store, are there any small independant modelling shops near you? Those places, and their clientele are not unlike us. Pop in, explain what you're after - chances are the guy who owns the shop knows plenty of his customers who do exactly what you're after. Hopefully he could take your details to pass on to them.

Schools and Colleges might have arts and crafts classes - maybe the lecturers or the students will be able to help?

Hello again everybody,
A knowledgeable woman advised me that its not resin or epoxy I need to use at all.The best way to get these mouldings made are using polycarbinate sheets moulded into the correct shape using a heater to warm up a 1 mm thick sheet and form it over a mould. Heating polycarbinate sheets make them become malleable.

Please does anyone here have any experience of undertaking such a project?

No direct experience, I've seen this done with vacuum forming where the sheet is heated on a mould and vacuum applied to suck the sheet onto the mould while it cools - quite spectacular!

With polycarbonate sheets I'm willing to bet that the domestic hairdryer won't be hot enough. Depending on the thickness you'll probably need a heat gun which crafters use to melt glazing powders onto ink and glue on greetings cards etc. They look very similar to hairdryers but are much hotter - not dangerously so but you wouldn’t want to dry your hair with them! Alternatively a hot air paint stripper gun would do the same job. Again, a Hobbycrafts type of shop would probably be a good source of practical suggestions.