Are you planning on making some small statues, but don’t know how to do concrete statue molds? Or maybe you need something fun to do with your children that you can get them excited about?
If your answer is yes to one of the questions, you don’t have to search any further. Here I will be teaching you how to make a latex mold for concrete and how to use it to make some duck statues. Don’t let the duck fool you, you can use this kind of mold making for most objects that has a simple structure.
Concrete is a good material for making statues and decorations for our gardens and home. It’s cheap, durable, can be painted or colored and it can also be a pretty fun process. It’s also a good way to involve your kids and teach some skills and that’s why I wrote this guide for you.
Here we’ll be making the molds out of rubber duckies just to have an example, you can use some other objects if you like. It’s a two-day project, first day is for making the mold and letting it dry, the next day you can make the concrete object.
Materials
The materials needed for this craft are quite simple and you should be able to get them quite easily. If hardware stores don’t work, order the missing parts online.
What you need for this are:
- A Rubber Duckie that fits your taste
- Ready-mix concrete
- Liquid Latex
- Gauze bandage
- Cooking Spray
- Box of packing peanuts
- Plaster of Paris (optional)
- Paint (optional)
How to make the liquid latex mold
To make these duck molds and duck statues, all you need to do is go through the following steps. I’ve tried to explain them to the best of my ability so they would make sense of why it is done so. If the following steps work for you, just skip my explanations.
Step One: The first thing that must happen in order to make a few concrete rubber duck statues is that you must choose one of your/kids favorite rubber duckies to reproduce in concrete. The easiest rubber duck to make a rubber duck statue from are the airtight ones that float in the bathtub.
Because they are hollow and the surface gives away with pressure, they are easy to take out of the mold. Hard objects should work out as well as even the concrete duck comes out of the mold.
Step Two: We will use Liquid Latex to make a concrete rubber duck mold from an original Rubber Duckie. Put a piece of wax paper, cardboard, or foil under your original rubber duck and then paint the rubber duck and about 2-inches of the wax paper with your mold compound called liquid latex. Let the latex dry for about 45-minutes.
Note: It’s important to notice here that you’re not painting the bottom of the Rubber Duckie, but onto the wax paper or whatever you’re using under it. In the end, you will remove the wax paper and Rubber Duckie and it will be the upside-down mold for our project.
Step Three: Put the second layer of liquid latex onto your rubber duck and going out about 2-inches onto your wax paper and let this dry for about 30-minutes so that it is still a little tacky.
Step Four: Wrap one layer of gauze bandage around the still tacky latex. This is what will be reinforcing your mold to make it strong. The inside of the mold that is up against the Rubber Duckie is the part that will make the design in the cement.
You do not have to be neat about anything that you do beyond the first layer of latex that you put on. Wrap the gauze onto the duck any way that it will go on.
Step Five: Put the third layer of liquid latex onto your rubber duck and going out about 2-inches onto your wax paper and let this dry until tacky, add another layer of gauze. Put a fourth, fifth, and sixth layer of liquid latex onto the duck and let each dry for about 45-minutes.
Step Six: Put the seventh layer of liquid latex onto your duck being careful to cover any gauze bumps still exposed to the air. Let this dry overnight or longer if necessary.
Step Seven: Your original Rubber Duckie should come out of the mold easily when the liquid latex is completely dry. You might have to take a razor blade and carefully trim any liquid latex away from the bottom of the rubber duck if he is getting caught on it.
Step Eight: Your latex mold should be able to turn inside out and go back easily like rubber if it is completely dry and ready to use. Fill this mold with water and look at the sides to see if it is holding its shape. If the mold is not holding its shape, it needs another layer of gauze and two or three more layers of liquid latex put on in the same manner as above to make it thicker.
Step Nine: Now you can put your concrete duck mold into a box of packing peanuts. Make sure that the rim is flat on top and that the peanuts hold the mold suspended so that the head won’t be touching the bottom of the box.
Step Ten: Mix your concrete according to the directions on the bag. Spray the inside of your latex mold with a liberal dose of cooking spray. Spoon your concrete into the mold, pushing down with a spoon to remove air bubbles as you go, until the mold is full and let dry for 24-hours. Your concrete duck statue will pop out of the mold easily after it is dry. Spray your mold again with Pam and make another one. As long as you are careful not to rip the mold it will last to make lots of concrete duck statues.
Conclusion
Your latex duck mold will also work for Plaster of Paris ducks if you would like painted ducks in your garden. After painting your Plaster of Paris duck, use a waterproof sealer if the duck is going to be standing outside.
Plaster of Paris is not as strong as cement, place these ducks someplace where they will not fall and break from. Also, if you like this kind of guide you can check these guides for concrete candle holders and concrete leaves. If that is not enough there are still concrete garden spheres.
What is common for all of the guides is that they are simple and everyone can do them without any fancy pieces of equipment. They are also good for children and adults alike, all you need is two hands and a little patience.
