Hypnos, the Greek god of sleep, as a head 100 mm tall and 111 mm across the wing, on the turned foot of the original cast. One feathered wing springs from his temple; the other is lost on the ancient bronze too, which is part of why the piece is so recognisable. His calm, sleeping face makes it a quiet shelf or bedside piece.
The master is a 3D scan of the plaster cast of the Hypnos head in the Royal Cast Collection of SMK, the National Gallery of Denmark, published by SMK as public domain. The mold is made with the hugging-shell mode of our silicone mold maker. The wing and the curls lock any rigid mold, so it has to be silicone, and the shell takes about 328 ml of it where a box around that wing would take four times as much.
It is made for plaster, Jesmonite or a fine concrete. The wing is a few millimetres thick, which casts well in plaster and is stronger still in Jesmonite, but is too thin to burn well as a candle.
The zip carries every printed part, the head as its own STL, the tool's own print-settings sheet and a recipe file for the generator.
Shown as a 3D render of the printed mold parts pulled apart around the master, not a photo.
What you need
- About 359 ml of silicone (mix it in one batch)
- About 194 g of casting plaster per cast: each cast is 162 ml
- Steel binder clips, tape or a hot glue gun
- A craft knife and a soft brush
How to cast it
- Print the base, which has the master already fused onto it, and the two shell halves. No supports.
- Stand the shell halves on the base around the master and hold the seams shut with steel binder clips. The seats for them are built into the shell.
- Tape the outside seams or run a bead of hot glue along them, because silicone finds every gap.
- Mix 359 ml of silicone in one batch, pour it into the open top in a thin stream, and fill level with the rim.
- Once it has cured, unclip the shell and slide each half off SIDEWAYS, not upward: the master is wider above its foot, so the base rib is left open for that. Then peel the silicone off the master. That silicone is your mold.
- Before the first cast, cut a thin vent in the silicone: the tool finds one small pocket, about 1.3 ml, low on the front of the neck just above the turned foot, about 35 mm up from the bottom, where air cannot rise to the opening. A 2 mm slit from there toward the opening lets it out.
- Set the silicone back in the shell, opening up. Brush a thin coat of plaster into the wing and the curls first, then fill to the rim and tap the shell for a minute to raise the bubbles.
- Demold once the plaster is hard, usually after an hour, and let it dry for a day or two before you paint or seal it.
| Cast material | Plaster |
|---|---|
| Total print time | 21 h 44 min |
| Printed parts | 3 |
| Size (W x D x H) | 121 x 91 x 125 mm |
| Filament | ~261 g |
| Layer height | 0.2 mm |
| Infill | 15% |
| Supports | Not needed |
| Printer | Sliced with PrusaSlicer 2.7.2: 0.4 mm nozzle, 0.2 mm layers, 3 walls, 15% infill, MK3-class speeds. These parts only hold liquid silicone while it cures, so PLA is fine. No supports. |
| Download | ZIP: 3 printed parts (STL) + head master (STL) + print sheet + recipe |
| Added | 2026-09-24 |
Pro early access until October 24, 2026, then free with any account.
Free for personal use. Selling the pieces you cast needs a commercial licence (Pro or Founder); passing on the file itself is not permitted on any plan. Full terms.
Made with the free silicone mold maker generator. Upload your own model and get the same kind of mold built around it, in your browser.
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