Indulge your sadistic Lego minifig-burning impulses by making your own minifig candles. Make: magazine contributor Jude Pullen has a great writeup on how to cast your own candles with a wick, wax, and a simple, reusable Sugru mold. And since I imagine that candles this small won’t burn long, you’ll probably want to make a whole Lego army to immolate.
Personally, I was never one of those kids who set their action figures on fire. Though, I always thought that maybe I missed out, so I may take on this project as a sort of therapeutic payback.
We’ve seen Sugru’s moldable putty used in a number of different projects, ranging from prototype surfacing to custom sand stampers. What I like best about this particular project is both how simple it is and how it reveals a use for a material (Sugru) that I hadn’t thought of before. Because Sugru is really a variety of RTV Silicone, it behaves much like a standard silicone mold and can hold up well to heat after it cures.
As much as I love Lego minifigs, this project idea is also very adaptable. There’s no reason I see that this couldn’t scale up to Playmobile or even my beloved Star Wars action figures. It really just comes down to how much Sugru you want to invest in.
After you get your feet wet with this project, you can take your casting skills up a notch with our moldmaking primers by Adam Savage, including a nice long one on using hard shell molds for prop-building.
If you like the idea of casting action figures in particular, Bob Clagett from “I like to Make Stuff” has a fun video on using resin to replicate his favorite Tron figurine.
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