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Molds of real places

Cast a real mountain in chocolate, an island on a bar of soap, a canyon in concrete. Pick what you are making and the place, then print a master and a mold box for food-safe silicone, or print the mold itself.

What are you making?

How you'll make the mold

Print a master (the positive) and a mold box round it, then pour silicone over it. The silicone becomes a soft, reusable mold you can cast in again and again.

Print the negative mold and cast straight into it, with a release agent. Slight draft and a rim are built in, and it prints without supports.

Cast in

Material

Colour in the preview

Place

Peaks

Tap a peak, then search or click the map to put another place there.

Click the map or drag the dot to move the place. The box shows what goes into the mold.

Ground across the mold Top of the mold faces

Or start from an example

Alps chocolate bar Seven Summits pralines Bora Bora soap Grand Canyon coaster Volcano ice tray Mount Fuji candle

Shape and detail

Width Depth

Across Down

Mountain height Solid under the terrain Edge

Detail

Silicone and mold box

Silicone round the sides Silicone over the highest point

Silicone density (g/ml) Silicone price per kg

Use a platinum-cure silicone sold as food-grade or food-safe, Shore 20A to 30A. Your kit's data sheet gives its density (usually 1.1 to 1.2 g/ml).

Printed mold

Draft on the sides

More draft lets rigid casts like concrete and plaster slide out more easily. Print in PETG for warm pours (soap, wax): PLA softens at about 55 °C. TPU gives a flexible mold.

Your mold

Engrave terraprinter.com on the box or mold

Free to sell what you make. Credit terraprinter.com and keep the data credits. License

How these molds work

The silicone kit: a food-safe mold

You print two things: the master, an exact copy of what you will cast, and a box to pour silicone into. The master stands on pins in the box's base, so it can't float up. Two identical wall halves slide together on dovetails round a raised plug, with a groove inside that marks the fill line. Pour silicone to the line, let it cure, slide the walls apart and peel it off: the soft silicone is your mold. The master never touches food, only the silicone does.

Food safety, plainly

For chocolate and ice, use a platinum-cure silicone sold as food-grade or food-safe. Tin-cure silicone is not food-safe. Wash the new mold in warm soapy water before you use it. A printed mold is not for food: plastic has gaps between its layers that hold bacteria. Use printed molds for soap, wax, concrete, plaster and resin, with a release agent.

Made to come out of the mold

The terrain is a height map, so it never hangs over and there are no undercuts. Its sides lean in a little (draft), and no slope is steeper than the material can release. A ball the size of the material's finest detail is rolled under the surface: needle-thin peaks and knife-edge ridges are rounded to it, so nothing snaps off in the mold. Chocolate and ice are kept coarser, plaster and resin finer.

Quantities and the master's finish

We work out how much silicone the box takes (the box's inside up to the fill line, less the master) in millilitres and grams, and how much chocolate, soap or concrete each cast takes. The master's top becomes the cast's surface, so print it with fine layers, then sand it or give it a thin coat of clear acrylic or epoxy, fully cured, for a smooth, glossy cast. Every file is a closed solid in millimetres.

Elevation © Mapzen / AWS Terrain Tiles (SRTM, GMTED2010, ETOPO1 and others). Map © OpenStreetMap contributors, © CARTO. Want the whole mountain instead? Open the TerraPrinter app or see more 3D map gift ideas.