Home-crafting nonrealistic dildos

[Michiro]

I've been looking into what I would need to get started in rubber-casting custom penetrating toys, and while the setup is somewhat expensive most of the elements last a long time. The real problem is what kind of material to actually cast the toys from - I've only found one company that is willing to sell medical-grade silicone in small batches to the general public, and it's ferociously expensive.

Dow Corning has several products that would be appropriate but they don't even quote you a price unless you enter an agreement to order thousands of dollars of material.

Food-grade is easier to get in modest batches, and I suppose that food-grade might be safe enough for this sort of thing, but I doubt that the existing companies, even the smallest ones, in the silicone-molded toy business are using anything short of medical-grade material for liability reasons. I'd ask them about their suppliers, but on a certain level this project makes me competition, so I don't expect they'd give me any answers.

Does anyone have any information on this?

The basic idea is I'd carve a master, probably from modeling clay, build a permanent silicone rubber mold around it, build a frame for the mold so it doesn't deform when you pour the liquid rubber into it, and then you can use it potentially hundreds of times before it wears out.

 

[popcorn2721]

try this vid out... being into the arts I have thought about doing this as gifts for people I know. Never actually done it though.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9aLsuK1aVo8

 

[Michiro]

Thank you for the thought, but my problem is not so much the process as the materials. I have a very good idea about how to actually do the crafting, it's getting internally-safe silicone that's difficult.

I have had some limited success in using readily available food-grade silicone meant for candy molds in a Clone-a-Willy kit, but that toy is always used with condoms, mostly because the surface texture turned out to be very strange and partially because the silicone isn't really rated for use internally.

 

[popcorn2721]

Thank you for the thought, but my problem is not so much the process as the materials. I have a very good idea about how to actually do the crafting, it's getting internally-safe silicone that's difficult.

I have had some limited success in using readily available food-grade silicone meant for candy molds in a Clone-a-Willy kit, but that toy is always used with condoms, mostly because the surface texture turned out to be very strange and partially because the silicone isn't really rated for use internally.

The web site associated with the videos has the materials available for sale and some educational vids on youtube. They may have more information about the safety of such materials. Check out the types of silicone used on the Real Dolls web site too.

BITY Mold Supply

 

[sunandshadow]

You could contact Bad Dragon, they make custom silicone dildos, and ask them who they buy their material from.

 

[Michiro]

I thought about asking them, but I doubt they'd be happy to help someone in the market for custom toys actively avoid becoming a customer. I suppose it can't hurt, though I wouldn't want to accidentally insult them.

 

[DrHappy]

If you haven't already, look up vendors for "lifecasting." I think that artmolds.com sells kits for hands, faces, torso, penis, etc... Their site seems to be down at the moment. I seem to remember them selling multiple materials. One was either silicone or latex that was supposedly usable as a functional penis.

 

[CWatson]

I forget what the company's called, but the people who put out the "Clone A Willy" and "Clone A Pussy" kits sell refills of the two consumable materials involved. One of them is the plaster you use to get the cast, but the other of which is the flesh-colored whatever you then pour in to make the replica. Again, I don't know what material it actually is (we never got that far--the plaster sets super fast, and the refill had not arrived before the relationship ended), but since you can buy it separately, it might suit your needs.

 

[BertrandRussell]

Instead of asking your competitors, ask the people who distribute your competitor's products. The probably know a lot just from casual shop talk. And they should be willing to tell you what they know, because they have no loss if another producer comes into the market - indeed they may prefer to have more producers.

 

[Experiencedguy]

No matter what materials you decide upon, I would strongly recommend getting the chemical compound and checking with a medical expert about adverse reactions to the compounds. Whether you are going into this to make money, or to give gifts to friends, you have opened yourself up to tremendous potential personal liability. Might want to consider setting up an LLC to legally protect yourself.

 

[Michiro]

Adverse reactions are exactly what I'm concerned about, which is why I was hoping for brief-implantation grade material, I just can't seem to figure out where the other relatively small operations are getting such material.

The only price quote I've managed to get for certified medical-grade silicone was $700/gallon, but there may have been a miscommunication and they may have been referring to permanent-implant grade material instead of brief-implantation grade.

 

[SweetErika]

Have you checked with these guys yet? It seems they sell substitutes for all Dow Corning silicones, and since it's not a MegaCompany like Dow, they might have more customer service and be willing to sell smaller quantities.

Many "silicone" toys are actually NOT "medical-grade," which is why you can't use silicone lube with them (supposedly silicone lube doesn't affect the really good stuff, but obviously you'd want to check with the silicone manufacturer and do a small test before using that as a selling point for your own products). Some "silicone" toys aren't even mostly silicone; just as "juice" doesn't have to contain much real juice to be called that, the labeling laws say something that's called a "silicone" toy only has to contain like only 10% silicone - the rest can be rubber, or whatever else the manufacturer feels like throwing in.

Regarding the liability issue, that's why the vast majority of toys are sold as "novelties," rather than "things you should put in your body." You'd have to consult a lawyer, but I think labeling toys as novelties absolves companies of many potential liability issues. But also on that note, if you're making and selling stuff, you'll probably want to become a legit business to protect yourself from potential liability claims. The good news is that you can do this fairly cheaply and easily (even through sites like LegalZoom) AND suppliers will probably be more willing to deal with you since you'll be another business, rather than a member of the general public.

Anyway, I think you *could* easily ask some knowledgeable retailers and manufacturers what type of silicone they actually use in certain toys as an interested consumer (who's potentially concerned about chemicals and sensitivities, perhaps). Companies that only make silicone toys (Tantus products come to mind) might be a good place to start.

Once you get started and adept at making stuff, look into what you can make for the kinky crowd. I'm not sure what you might be able to do in the realm of impact toys or whatever, but that'd be pretty cool to have more gear that can be sanitized effectively, and it's a market segment that could really boost your business.

Best of luck to you, and I hope you'll keep us updated on your journey!

 

[Michiro]

You could conceivably make a latex (or any other rubber) core with a silicone outer layer on top of it, which would explain why some of the toys are only partially made from silicone but are still skin-compatible like silicone. I wouldn't completely trust such a thing myself because one of the selling points of silicone is you can sanitize it at high temperatures, but the inner core rubber might not tolerate that as well as the silicone would. Some of the toys are advertised as dishwasher safe or boiling-safe so if those are made from a silicone-clad core then there probably is a high-temperature, less expensive rubber available.

As it is, I'm not sure if I'll actually do any of this because the logistics are looking so difficult.
The original reason I started to look into making my own pieces is not that there aren't exotically shaped dildos available - there are several established workshops that do that sort of thing, but most of the interesting ones are only made in sizes from extra large to immense. A woman I'm seeing likes the thought of those bumps and ridges but wouldn't be able to use any of them except as close-quarter weapons.

As for medical-grade silicone, there are different degrees of medical grade, which seems to be part of the confusion I seem to be in. I'd ask the polymer engineer at the local university except I think he's rather old fashioned and he might figure out what I'm trying to do. After all, why else would you be casting 200cc items from medical-grade rubber?

The silicone lube attacking silicone toys is because the lube is basically a solvent with respect to the rubber. The same thing happens to latex, which is made from chemicals similar to oil, and oil-based lubes. I'm not a polymer engineer so I'm not totally sure about this, but I suspect that a 100% crosslinked silicone might be impervious to silicone lube at typical temperatures. There are several reasons that I suspect that no silicone that would be suitable for making toys from would ever be crosslinked to that degree though - I think.

In short, I don't think even the best silicone material is immune to partially dissolving in the presence of silicone liquid.

 

[DrHappy]

The artmolds.com website is back online. Their "Intimate kit" is their penis molding kit. I saw it listed as an item in their catalog. This page lists their silicones. They have a product called "BakeSil," which FDA Approved Food Safe Silicone Rubber.

 

[Michiro]

There's no description for the Intimate Kit on the artmolds.com site, but if you look hard enough you can order refills for it. I'll ask them what kind of rubber it comes with and what sort of health and safety certifications it comes with.

If the medical-grade material is very expensive, I was thinking of using a less expensive food-grade silcione core surrounded by a permanently bonded outer layer of medical-grade.
A side benefit of this is that you can make the core out of a fairly stiff rubber and the outer shell out of a much softer rubber, giving a perhaps somewhat more lifelike feel.

NuSil appears to have medical-grade certified silicone pigments, so different colors may be possible as well.