By The ARTnews Recommends Editors

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If a mold is a world-opening tool—you can use one to make all manner of things, from wax candles to plaster casts to the cookie sandwich you dreamed about one night —then a mold- making kit is a universe-opening one. Hyperbolic? Maybe a little. But with a mold-making kit, you can create a template for almost anything. We’ve searched the marketplace for kits that are easy to use and yield great results. Browse our picks below.

This kit creates puttylike molds made of silicone, a material that has a number of advantages. For one, it’s incredibly easy to use; for another, it’s great for kids. Simply mix equal parts of the two supplied materials, mysteriously labeled “Part A” and “Part B,” then press the mixture around the item you want to make a mold of, being sure to get the putty into all the nooks and crannies. Wait two hours, pop the original out, and your mold is ready to use.

Like almost all our picks, this kit requires you to mix two ingredients (again, Part A and Part B); what results here is a translucent silicone liquid that you pour around the object you’re molding. If you are sensitive to odor, note that this has one of the lightest scents among silicone kits. On the other hand, it does have a long curing time, taking an average of 24 hours to get completely dry.

The Smooth-On kit has two brightly colored liquids that turn a pleasing (if bold) lavender color when they are adequately blended. The low-viscosity silicone mixture needs only six hours of cure time. We also like this 2.8-pound kit for minimizing the shrinkage that normally occurs when silicones cure—the shrinkage here has been measured at just 0.25 percent. Note, however, that these molds won’t last on the shelf forever; they can dry out in less than a year. 

While the other kits make multiple reusable molds, this fast and easy kit from Luna Bean creates one large, single-use mold. Though it’s meant to make a large, plasterlike cast of hands or feet, you can use it for just about anything that fits in the deep molding bucket as long as you can pull it out without damaging it. Once the mold cures, in about 3 minutes, you pour the casting mixture in. The mold, which is meant to be torn away once the cast is dry, preserves an impressive level of detail.

Silicone kits don’t last forever, which can be frustrating when you need only a small amount of material but don’t want the rest to go to waste. This kit contains enough but not too much product. The translucent silicone is self-degassing and cures to a middling level of flexibility. The molds made with this kit are not intended for food use. 

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