Every Fiery Faerie creature starts long before the silicone is poured.

An idea.

Step 1: Everything Starts With an Idea and a Sketch

Every new design begins with a concept.

Whether the idea comes from one of the designers we collaborate with or Us, the first goal is not simply to make something that looks unusual, but something that will actually work.

So the design process is partly artistic and partly practical.

The goal is to work out:

• the main proportions
• the overall pose or curvature
  
• where texture should be concentrated
• what gives the creature its identity

This is the stage where it is cheap to change our mind.

Moving a ridge five millimetres in a drawing is easy.

Discovering that the same ridge is in the wrong place after producing a finished mould is considerably less entertaining. 

Step 2: Digital Sculpting

Instead of thinking only about how the toy looks from one angle, we now need to consider it from every direction.

The sculpt can be rotated, measured, reshaped, and refined until the proportions begin to work all together.

Depending on the design, that can include:

• scales
• ridges
• veins
• folds
• grooves
• bumps
• and many more...

Some details exist mostly for appearance.

Others will directly affect how the finished toy feels.

Step 3: Making the Master

A fresh 3D print is not automatically ready for mould making.

The master needs careful preparation because the silicone mould will reproduce whatever surface it is given. - The cleaner the master, the cleaner the mould.

And the quality of the mould directly affects every toy that comes out of it.

Step 4: Making the Mould

Once the master is ready, the next step is creating the mould that will give the toy shape.

This is one of the most important stages of the entire process.

A good mould has to reproduce the details of the original sculpt while also allowing the finished silicone toy to be removed without damage.

A relatively simple shape may require a straightforward mould.

More complicated designs can require much more planning.

Step 5: Preparing the Silicone

When it is finally time to pour, the silicone itself has to be prepared.

Platinum-cure silicone is supplied as A and B components that need to be mixed in set ratios to cure properly into the finished toy.

At this stage, we also prepare the colour, which is mixed into the silicone and strained to avoid potential clumping.

Step 6: Removing Air From the Silicone

Mixing silicone also mixes air into it.

Trapped air can lead to a porous toy surface or incomplete areas in the finished pour.

The method we use is vacuum degassing. This method allows us to keep our toys bubble-free and safe.

The freshly mixed silicone is placed under vacuum, allowing much of the trapped air to expand and escape before the silicone is poured into the mould.

Step 7: The Pour

Now comes the part most people probably imagine when they think about handmade silicone toys.

The silicone goes into the mould.

For a solid-colour toy, this can be relatively straightforward.

For a complicated custom pour?

Not so much.... 

Creating effects such as:

• marbles
• fades
• splits
• layered colours
• and more....

requires controlling where different silicone colours enter the mould and how they interact before curing.

Step 8: Curing and Demoulding

After pouring, the silicone needs time to cure inside the mould.

During curing, the liquid material becomes the flexible solid silicone that makes up the finished toy.

And this is the part where patience becomes extremely useful.

Opening a mould too early because you are excited about the result is generally not considered advanced materials engineering.

Once the silicone has cured sufficiently, the toy can finally be demoulded.

Step 9: Finishing the Toy and Quality Control

A toy coming out of the mould is not necessarily immediately ready to ship.

It needs to go through base trimming and, most importantly, Quality Control.

Not every tiny variation automatically makes a handmade product defective.

Which brings us to an important distinction.

What Happens When a Toy Does Not Meet Our Quality Control Standards?

Sometimes a pour simply does not come out the way it should.

What happens next depends on the problem.

• The issue is only cosmetic
  We carefully describe the flaw and list the toy for a discounted price as flop.

 

• The issue makes the toy unusable
  We toss the toy straight to the bin to keep you safe.

Anything that does not meet our safety and usability standards should never simply be passed off as a regular product.

Step 10: Cleaning

After finishing and final inspection, the toy goes through its final cleaning process before packaging.

Even though we clean toys before dispatch, we still recommend that customers wash their new toy before first use.

Silicone has a remarkable ability to attract:

• dust
• lint
• hair
• tiny particles from packaging and transport

So a fresh wash after arrival is always a good habit.

For complete instructions, read our Silicone Toy Care Guide.

How Long Does the Entire Process Take?

There is no exact universal answer.

Developing a new model and pouring an existing model are completely different processes.

A finished mould may allow a new toy to be produced relatively efficiently.

Creating a creature from scratch can involve repeated rounds of:

• sculpting
• printing
• finishing
• moulding
• testing
• revising

And because handmade production depends on real materials rather than instant digital duplication, unexpected failures can add time.

We would rather remake something than send something that should not have passed inspection.