Making a Plaster Mold from a Chocolate Mold

Posted by Lori:

When I was asked to make the centerpieces for our school's Junior-Senior banquet, I was excited!  I wanted to make the centerpieces look nicer than some of the plastic ones I had seen on Prom/Banquet websites, so went to work trying to come up with something.  Our centerpieces were going to be shared with another school and since their event was being held a month earlier than ours, they had a lot of input into what they wanted in the decor.

The other school wanted a film reel and an Oscar.  They showed us an example from one of the online sites I had seen.  All I could see was that the centerpieces were all plastic.  I didn't want that!  I searched online for an "Oscar" mold so that I could make my own replica of the gold statue.  I finally found a chocolate mold for an Oscar-looking guy and bought it through eBay from overseas.  It came really quickly and I was excited about trying the project!

Unsure of how to go about making the chocolate mold work with Plaster, I searched online.  I found a site that had GREAT instructions (click HERE) and followed them exactly. 

I made 19 Oscars plus a few more that broke.  I was soooooo tired of that man by the time I was done!!! :)   I used Pottery Plaster from Hobby Lobby.

The site I linked will tell you how to smooth out the edges of the middle where the molds come together.  I used the sand paper and also a knife in some places.

I needed the mold to stand upside down, so tried a few different ways to accomplish this.  The first way was to set it inside a large vase.  That worked for a while, but then seemed to slip.

The final way I used seemed to work the best.  It was just a clear plastic, disposable cup.  The sides could be squeezed to fit the upside down mold perfectly.  The plaster only had to dry an hour or so before being set.  (It was actually ready sooner, but I found waiting an hour worked best and caused less frequent breaking).  After drying for at least 24 hours, the Oscars were painted metallic gold.  Then the centerpieces were ready to be assembled!

The plaster Oscar had a dowel stick in the bottom, which stuck out about an inch and a half.  I placed it in the plaster while it was still wet, leaving the 1 1/2 inch end exposed. The dowel was stuck into REAL movie reels (also bought on eBay and came in a cool Hollywood Film Studio official box!) that I painted black, and also stuck into a wooden square that was actually a base of a gold foil Christmas tree I got at Hobby Lobby on clearance. (I thought I might use the metal pole that stuck out and formed the tree, but it didn't work.  Thankfully the bases worked perfectly!)  

Woven through the reel was real film strip.  I bought wide film from www.hollywoodmegastore.com and thin film strip wrapped with gold star wire garland.  The thin film was sent by the guy who sold me the film reels (He generously gave me the film strip because I was using it for the school event.  He even forgot to send it the first time and sent it later!  Isn't that neat??!)

The centerpieces were finished out by using red and gold pics - some with stars.  The pics were trimmed and stuck into holes in the film reel.  We were pleased with the way the centerpieces turned out and so was the other school.

I really enjoyed learning how to make a chocolate mold into a plaster mold.  That opens up many possibilities of creating new things at a lower cost.  I hope that you enjoy knowing this "tip", as well!  And if you need an Oscar mold.....let me know.  I assure you, I won't be making any more plaster Oscars - at least for a very, very long time!

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