Photo #1 - shows the mold material that we use in class.  It is "Castaldo" brand, 'Gold Label' and 'No Shrink Pink'.  The 'No Shrink Pink' will give 0% shrinkage, but you must have precise temperature control of your vulcanizer machine.  The pads are sticky on the top and bottom.  They have a blue plastic film on the top and a paper like film on the bottom. Both of the films are removed so that the pads will stick together.

Photo #2 - is a photo of the vulcanizer.  This machine heats the rubber mold to 305-310 degrees and melts it.  It is also under pressure. 

Photo #3 - in my jewelry class we use three pads of pink and four pads of yellow.  We put the pink layers on the inside where the ring/object is located.  Then we put two yellow pads on top and two yellow pads on the bottom.  When doing this, the yellow may cause some shrinkage, ask me how I know :^(   If you don't want any shrinkage, then use all pink and control your temperature.  We combine the pink with yellow to save money because the pink is more expensive.

Photo #4 - is a sprue former and rod.  It is placed inside the mold with the ring/object.  It creates a channel in the mold so that it can be injected with wax.

Photo #5 - the ring and sprue former are laid onto the back of a pink rubber pad (left side of pic).  Then the outline is traced onto the the pad (right side of pic).

Photo #6 - the outline of the ring and sprue cup are also traced onto the other two pink rubber pads, then they are cut out using scissors or an exacto knife. The center circles are saved so that they can be placed inside the ring cavity. Only the middle pad has an opening cut out for the rod to fit into. Nothing is cut out of the yellow pads.

Photo #7 - shows two yellow pads and two pink pad stuck together.  Each time a pad is added, the blue and white film is removed so that the pads will stick together.

Photo #8 - the ring and the sprue former are fitted into the open slots.

Photo #9 - the ring hole has been filled with the three circles.

Photo #10 - the third pink pad has been added.

Photo #11 - shows all seven pads stuck together.  The ring

and sprue former are inside the mold.  The top of the sprue cup is visible.

Photo #12 - the mold "sandwich", as I like to call it, is then placed

into a metal mold frame.

Photo #13 - another view of the mold "sandwich" inside the mold frame.

Photo #14 - the mold frame is placed between two metal mold plates.

Photo #15 - then it is placed inside the vulcanizer.  We set the temperature to 305 degrees and we run it for 49 minutes (7 minutes per pad).

Photo #16 - this is what it looks like when it comes out of the vulcanizer.

Photo #17 - the mold has been removed from the mold frame.

Photo #18 - the next step is to trim off all the extra rubber material. I use scissors to do the trimming.

Photo #19 - the worst part of the whole process is cutting the mold open.  We place a sharp new blade into the exacto knife and we pry the mold open with one hand and cut with the other.  We cut ourselves frequently during this process! :^o  Ouch!

(I'm planning to invest in a special mold cutting glove that has a stainless steel core wrapped in nylon fibers.)

Photo #20 - you can see the ring emerge from the mold.

Photo #21 - this is how the ring looks when it comes out of the mold. It has to be cleaned up and polished again.

Photo #22 - after the mold is cut open, we then cut air vents into the mold.  They are lines that go from the ring to the outside.  They allow air to escape while the wax is being injected into the mold.

Photo #23 - here is a photo of our wax injecting machine.

Photo #24 - this is a close up of the nozzle.  We place the mold

between two brass plates to stabilize it while we are injecting.

Photo #25 - the mold is being injected with wax.

Photo #26 - this is what it looks like after it is injected.