Creating Silicone Moulds: Material Behaviour and the Discipline of Precision
Laser cutting exposed the limits of digital certainty. Mould-making removed any remaining illusion of control.
This stage of the project focused on creating silicone moulds for the laser-cut join components, with the aim of producing cast elements that could withstand repeated handling and assembly. Unlike cutting, mould-making does not tolerate ambiguity. Every decision made earlier — geometry, thickness, alignment — becomes fixed.
Silicone as an Active Material
Silicone is often treated as neutral, a passive container for form. In practice, it behaves more like a collaborator that resists poorly considered decisions. Flow, cure time, flexibility and tear strength all affect whether a mould succeeds or fails.
Early moulds revealed problems that had not been fully resolved in the designs. Sharp internal corners created weak points. Undercuts that seemed manageable on screen caused tearing during demoulding. Thin walls flexed unpredictably, compromising accuracy across multiple casts.
These were not technical mistakes. They were design consequences.
The Problem of Complexity
Multi-part join designs proved particularly demanding. Each additional plane introduced a new potential failure point. In several cases, moulds failed outright — tearing at stress points or distorting enough to make the cast unusable.
This forced a reassessment of complexity. Some designs were simplified. Others were abandoned. The question shifted from Can this be moulded? to Should this be moulded at all?
Mould-making became a filtering process, stripping the project back to joins that could survive repeated use rather than one-off success.
Learning Through Abandonment
Letting go of designs was a necessary part of this stage. Time invested in drawing and cutting did not guarantee a design’s survival. In several cases, the effort required to force a mould to work outweighed its structural or conceptual value.
This was an important recalibration. The project is not about proving that every idea can be realised, but about identifying which ideas deserve further development.
Precision as Discipline, Not Perfection
What became clear is that precision in mould-making is not about achieving flawless results. It is about consistency, repeatability and respect for material behaviour.
Attention to sealing, release agents and mould thickness made measurable differences. Minor adjustments — rounding internal edges, increasing wall depth, altering split lines — often determined whether a mould succeeded or failed.
These refinements did not make the process easier. They made it more deliberate.
What This Stage Established
This phase clarified several critical parameters for the project:
which join geometries could survive mould-making
how silicone behaves under stress and repetition
where simplification strengthened rather than weakened the work
why mould-making must be integrated into design thinking from the outset
The joins that emerged from this stage were fewer, but stronger. They carried the weight of earlier failures and were better suited to translation into cast materials.
Setting Up Casting
With workable moulds finally established, the project was ready to return to casting — this time with greater control and clearer expectations. The next phase would test these joins under new conditions of weight, surface finish and durability.
Mould-making had narrowed the field. What remained was no longer speculative.