#scale mail

1. I made the master models out of clay, mine is "Craft and Clay", pretty much the cheapest. I baked it in an oven at ~110°C

2. Then, I glued the models to pieces of glass and made cases out of cardboard. The cases are 1 cm bigger then the model at each side, it's quite enough. It's important to make them sealed for silicone not to spill out!

3. I used two-component heat-proof (to 250°C) silicone because it has chemical curing, not mechanical (doesn't need oxygen). It's important because the mold doesn't have any access to oxygen, except the upper part, especially no oxygen where the model is. And well, model is the one thing we need to be molded.

4. I oiled the models and the glass with regular cooking oil. A really THIN layer, the brush works best. I mixed the components in 1:1 proportion and poured onto the models, shaking them and tapping them on the table slightly to get rid of extra air. I poured silicone about 1,5-2 cm higher than the model just to make sure.

5. Then I removed the models and it went wonderfully!!! The models are as good as new, so I made more molds to speed up the process.

6. Then I oiled the molds, again a really thin layer, and started carefully pouring hot glue with a glue gun. As you can see, some air bubbles left, but I'm learning to do it more impeccably.

It takes about 10 minutes for hot glue to harden, and here you go! Thorin's scale mail will be ready soon, as close to original as possible and quite cheap!