Clean-up and preparing to pour second half of mold

So, when we left off, this was where we were:

 

Once the mold has had time to dry (anywhere from 24-48 hours, depending on size and materials), you can start cleaning it up and preparing for the next step.

 

Cutting away excess mold materials.

 

Here you can see the holes that were left from the metal posts I suspended in the mold.

 

The height of the silicone is perfectly level with the lens and the side of the box.

 

Remember the chip in the glass?  The silicone has filled it in.  We will leave it for now so the other side of the mold will pour properly, then cut it out so future lenses will not have a chip in them.

The second part of the mold will have a 1 inch base, so we will need to extend the box by that much to create it:

 

I didn't plan it this way, but the pieces of wood I added give a nice place to attach the extension.  This could have been done on the outside too, but having them on the inside also means we will use a little less silicone on the second part of the mold.

 

 

 This time I made an effort to "fill up" as much space as I could for the second mold with other, less expensive materials than silicone.  Like the wood pieces I added before, I did this wherever I thought it wouldn't affect the integrity of the mold:

This is about ready to pour.  The wood in the center does not go all the way to the bottom, and the "X" portion is suspended above the first part of the mold so that there will be a clean mating of the two mold halves all the way around.  All of this wood will remain in the second part of the mold.  I chose to make the metal posts a part of the second half of the mold for durability.  If I didn't, the posts would have been molded out of silicone, and probably wouldn't last long.