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Process:

In the example below I am making two 46g two layered soft plastics. So in this case that will take 92g of material. The bottom layer is deeper and will use about 60% of that and the top layer is only about 7mm thick so it will use only the remaining 40 % of material. For each colour I also add about 30g of extra of material to account for the material that will not pour out of the pyrex heating jugs. So doing the math the total volume I cook for the thicker base is 60% of 92g plus a further 30g which is 86g and for the 5mm top layer its 40% of 92g plus 30g which is only 67g.

The material that remains in the plastic jug along with soft plastics that have been damaged etc can be added to the materials your cooking up for new soft plastics but I recommend that you restrict that to only around 1/3 of the material your cooking up ... the remaining part of the material being cooked up is of course plastersol.

Plastersol liquid soft plastic comes in soft, medium and hard forms and for these soft plastics I use only the hard form.

A	Make sure that there is no residue left over in or on the moulds from previous pours. Wipe the inside of the mould/s out with a clean tissue or some paper towel to ensure that there is no old petroleum jelly left in the mould / moulds from the previous pours. Using a stiff 5mm paint brush apply a thin coat of new petroleum jelly on the inside surfaces of the mould / moulds around both the paddle tail and head area of the mould / moulds.

B	Set the moulds up in your pouring area. My pouring area is the top of the microwave as I like the pouring area to be close by and elevated so I have clear vision as I fill the moulds.

C	Put your empty pyrex jug on the scales and zero the scales.

D	Put any finely chopped up soft plastic your going to use in the mix into the pyrex jug. Don't forget to keep these solids below 1/3 of the total mix your preparing.

E	Add liquid soft plastic plastisol to the jug bringing the total weight of the content up to 86g if its the base mixture you preparing and 67g if its the top mixture your preparing.

F	Prepare the mixture for the top part of the soft plastic using the same process as above. When you have both mixtures prepared its time to cook them up in the microwave. Start with the larger volume and give that 30 seconds in the microwave. Take that out and then cook the top coat material for just 20 seconds. Continue swapping between the two pyrex jugs of soft plastics progressively dropping the cook times down to as little as just 5 seconds just to maintain the heat. It takes a little practice but the plan is to have both volumes of the mixture ready to pour at the same time.

G	Put the the pyrex jug of 67g cooked material in the relatively warm microwave so that it doesn't cool down too much . Take the 86g jug of the bottom half of the soft plastic material and starting at the tail of the mould pour the molten cooked material into the first mould stopping around 7mm from the top of the mould (I have a line drawn 7mm down from the top inside of my moulds to help in this step). Once that is done move onto the second mould doing the same.

H	Give the second pyrex jug 67g of molten soft plastic which is still in the microwave just a 5 -10 second burst in the microwave to ensure it's still molten. Take the 67g jug of the top part of the soft plastic material and starting at the tail of the mould pour the molten cooked material into the first mould filling the mould to the top. Once that is done move onto the second mould doing the same. It's important that the time between pouring the base material and the top material into the mould is only 30 seconds or so as if it's too short the two materials will mix together and if its too long the two materials will not fuse together. Leave the full moulds sitting on the level top surface of the microwave for just a few minutes until the mixtures go off enough not to visibly move in the moulds and transfer the full moulds to another level surface in the freezer.

I	After 10 minutes in the freezer take the moulds out of the freezer starting at the front of the soft plastic progressively worry each soft plastic out of their respective mould.

J	Tidy up any loose edges on the soft plastics with sharp straight edge scissors.

K	Lay the soft plastics on a disposable flat timber surface. Using a kitchen burner use the flame to just melt the skin of each soft plastics to restore the gloss finish.

M	Cook up a small batch of clear soft plastic and when that is mounted dip the heads of the soft plastics in the molten plastersol so that the soft plastic covers the head of the soft plastic back to just behind the eyes.

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