We're excited to kick off 2024 with a bang. We're switching to a higher quality silicone that has a ton of benefits.
The Roadmap
We knew that ideally, we wanted to switch to a platinum cure silicone which is well known for its high quality and performance. It is, unfortunately, also known for being sensitive to certain chemicals. Making this switch meant that we would need to change the processes we use for making our master moulds. This took planning, testing and restructuring. We have four different processes for making master moulds, each unique to a different type of mould. We needed to ensure that when we switch, all these types of moulds can still be made. After extensive research, planning and testing, we're finally ready to start implementing this change.
The Benefits
Higher Quality Moulds
Platinum silicone is considerably more durable which means that moulds will last longer. While no mould lasts forever, platinum cure moulds will hold their shine for more castings on average. Platinum cure silicone moulds are also softer making for easier demoulding.
Better Suited For UV Resin
Platinum cure silicone is semi-translucent which means UV light can better penetrate the resin than with a mould that is a solid colour.
More Casting Moulds
Part of our planning and tests included ensuring that we could design and make 3D moulds without any issues. We're looking forward to launching a lot more larger moulds in 2024 with the new silicone.
The Action Plan
We've worked out a plan for this change to be as smooth a process as possible. We don't want to disrupt our current stock levels and at the same time, we don't want a long delay before new mould designs are launched. There are bound to be some hickups along the way but we're aiming for as much balance as possible.
Existing Mould Designs
Our existing moulds will remain as is for now. As they sell out, we will make new stock with the new silicone. You'll be able to identify which silicone the mould you're buying is made of on the product photo. Once a design is moved to the new silicone, the product photo will be updated with a photo of the new semi-translucent mould.
During this process we will also be evaluating mould popularity and pricing. Many of our mould designs are from when we first launched Keipach and haven't been updated since. We might tweek some designs, remove some designs all together to make room for new designs, or adjust the pricing of some designs.
New Mould Designs
We'll be launching new designs with the new silicone from the get go and already have some new and interesting moulds in the works.