If my dad has taught me anything it’s that any sort of mold is bad! Mold on food, BAD! Mold from a house leak, VERY BAD! Enter silicone mold, GOOD! I saw this picture, and somewhere deep in my soul I knew that I needed a starfish cuff, so I decided to make one myself! I started with Easy mold silicone putty, Fimo, and a dried starfish from a craft store.
Following the instruction on the box, I mixed the silicone and molded it around the original starfish shape. With the perfect resulting mold, I filled it with Fimo and wrapped the Fimo starfish around a small glass. I baked the starfish wrapped glass in the oven for 15 minutes at 275 deg F, let it cool then spray painted it gold!
Use a glass smaller than your arm, as Fimo is a little flexible. You can use any object to make yourself a unique cuff, and you can use all sorts of casting materials like resin, epoxy, wax, plaster, air dry clay, concrete and low melt metals.
UPDATE: Another way to make this DIY at an even cheaper price point would be to press the original starfish into a block of Fimo, follow the same baking instructions, let cool, then use it as a mold! This would cut the price more by than half! EasyMold is washable, food grade and won’t deteriorate, but for this project you don’t really need those attributes.
I hope everyone is having a great week, (so far) mine is super productive, super busy, and ultimately very rewarding!
Cheers!
Alana
{Worn here with my DIY mixed media trench}
Absolutely love it, easy mold putty is amazing stuff !
xx
Thanks soo much!!! And yes silicone mold rocks my socks!
Reblogged this on TheForeverRemember.
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Brilliant!! I have the stuff to make a mold, now to find a starfish!!
awesome! I found my starfish in the candle & house decor section of Michaels
i dont understand the part where you ” I baked the starfish and glass in the oven” :s can you PLEASE explain how? did you put the glass with the starfish in the oven? is that possible and at what temperature? Thank you so much your tutorial was REALLy helpfull
Great question! Fimo bakes at 275 degrees F, and I found that a thick glass will withstand the heat without cracking. I molded the starfish around the glass and put them both in so the starfish held its shape while hardening. Just be sure let the glass cool slowly, any change in temp will crack the glass. You could also find something of similar shape like a wooden rolling pin, or anything oven friendly! Hope that helps!!!
this look great!
Now I have to find the silicone mold….
Try Michaels, amazon, or any industrial plastics store will probably offer similar (and cheaper!) silicone putty.
Genius!!! Must try!
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Wow, great. I wonder is it possible to use other material to make the starfish? I don’t understand what is this Fimo
You can use SO many materials! Fimo is basically an oven hardened sculpting/modelling clay (Sculpey is another.) Epoxy resin is another option, anything you can press/pour into a mold. Good luck!
I have reposted your tute on Russian site about customizing SecondStreet (if you don’t mind). I liked your work!
http://secondstreet.ru/blog/diy_biju/morskie-gady-na-sluzhbe-prekrasnomu-master-klass.html
Awesome!
I absolutely love this! I’m just curious, how much of the silicone putty did you use and how did you mold it around the starfish? As I understand with the putty theres a bit of a time crunch.
Yes there is a time crunch, after about five minutes it has begun to set, and it is completely set in 20. I didn’t have enough at first but I did have time to mix more putty and add it before it set. The combined amount of the mixed putty was approx 1/2 a cup… but it also depends on the size of your starfish, as long as you get a great imprint to work with later. Good luck!!
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how did you get the print on the outside?
The starfish I made the mold from left the imprint in the Easy Mold!
How big is the starfish mold?? It’s beautiful btw!
you are my hero for posting this! i bought a bracelet at lucky (it was metal) but it cost $70!!! If only i knew this, i am going to make so many of these in so many different colors
Yaaay! I’m so excited for you!
Thats totally cute!! Good idea and thanks for sharing
Just wondering what brand and color of spray paint you used? It looks so soft and lovely!
I used Painters Touch by Rust-Oleum #N1910 Gold Mettalic Spay paint. Here is the exact bottle! href=”http://paint-and-supplies.hardwarestore.com/49-266-decorative-spray-paint/painters-touch-gold-metallic-112943.aspx” target=”_blank” rel=”nofollow”
xo Alana
i found the easy mold and a finished seastar cuff and the the finished one was cheaper…
That’s great Jamie, where I live to get the cuff either couldn’t be shipped or was too expensive to ship, so this worked out better for me! The mold can be expensive, but you can also make many different molds from it, which is good in the long run!
Hi, I was just wondering how much all of the supplies were from Micheal’s.. I’ve seen the Fimo run anywhere from $2-5 online, but I was wondering how much it was from Michael’s as well as the easy mold silicone putty.. just trying to get an estimate =) thank you so much and this tutorial is seriously awesome!! Great gift idea!!!
Hi Joslyn! I probably spent about $30 on all the supplies, but I also used the mold for two other projects and I still have some left over. Same goes for the fimo and spray paint. Another idea that would run cheaper would be to make the mold out of fimo, bake it, then use that! The Easymold is washable, food grade and won’t deteriorate, but for this project you don’t really need those attributes. Hope that helped!!!
I tried this cheaper method and it is NOT working. Maybe I am just doing it wrong somehow but it is impossible to get the Fimo out of the mold without wrecking the shape of it or having pieces break off. It’s so frustrating!
Hi Steph, don’t get frustrated! The nice thing about modeling clay is that if a piece breaks off, you can re-attach it with a little kneading, then re-press that part into the mold. If its really sticking try putting a little bit of water into the mold which might help lift it out easier. The Easy mold method is a little better because it’s rubber and can be peeled off the fimo, but don’t get upset, just take a step back and try again later!
Hope that helps
Alana
Wow! Brilliant!
I tried this (multiple times… the silicone mold just didn’t come out right the first few times!) and I’ve got to say, now that I’m almost finished (just have to spray paint the starfish) i’m so pleased with my results! I used fimo soft, so it’s a bit super flexible, but oh well. I have extremely tiny wrists, so the starfish comes off easily, but I glued an elastic to the starfish so it’ll stay better. I would love to link this to my blog after I’ve finished the entire project (:
Hi Christina! I’m sooo happy it’s working out for you, it pains me when people have troubles with the materials, but usually it takes a few attempts, especially when working with Fimo. I’ve found that if you make the cuff smaller than your wrist, the give in the Fimo will allow for the best fit. Let me know how it turns out!! Xox Alana
Hi!
I hope you don’t mind answering another question, but which Fimo would you recommend using? (classic, soft, or effect?) This is amazing by the way!
Hi Kat!! I would suggest the firmest oven drying clay you can get your hands on! Good luck! xo ALana
Baby powder or cornstarch in the mold makes it pop right out. Been doing fimo for 30 years. Fun stuff. Didn’t know about silicone molds until recently, but made many molds from fimo.
Thanks for the tip!! xo alana
The soft fimo is more likely to be brittle. Classic is a bit more flexible.
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Did you use acrylic paint and a sealer on the cuff to keep it from chipping or peeling off?
You know what…..I really should have sealed it but I forgot to! I used spray paint, but sometimes that stays tacky so a sealer would definitely help!
xo Alana