What Is a Pouring Style?

A pouring style is the way coloured liquid silicone is placed into the mould. Before pouring, we mix silicone colourants, mica or powder pigments into the silicone. The technique used during mixing and pouring determines whether the finished toy becomes a single colour, a marble, a shade, a ribbon effect, or whether it contains a split, highlight or drip effect.

Silicone is liquid while we work with it, but it is also viscous and time-sensitive. We can guide the result through technique and experience, but the material still moves, folds, blends and cures in its own way. That is why handmade pours are controlled, but never mechanically identical.

Handmade Colour Variations: What to Expect

Colour variation is normal. A custom pour should be understood as a handmade interpretation of your chosen colours and style, not as a factory-printed pattern.

• Firmness matters: softer and firmer silicones flow differently, changing how much the colours blend or stay separated. Generally, softer silicones are more fluid and mix more, but experience has taught us how to keep the ribbon styles as clear as possible.
• Temperature matters: warmer or cooler workshop conditions affect pot time, meaning how long the silicone stays workable before curing begins. By controlling the environment, we reduce major seasonal variations in the silicone.
• Mould shape matters: tentacles, penetrable toys, base types and sculpted textures all affect how colours travel. The broader the toy, the more the silicone must expand horizontally, causing the colours to mix. The longer the toy, the more gravity can mix the colours vertically.
• Lighting matters: cameras, sunlight, indoor light, blacklight and screen displays can all change how colours appear in photos. We do our best to display them as realistically as possible, but photos cannot reproduce colours perfectly.

We can often recreate the general feeling of an inspiration photo, but we cannot guarantee an exact copy of colour placement, marbling, ribbon direction, shade transition or split sharpness.

Main Pouring Styles

These are the principal custom colour styles available for Love Smiths toys. Availability depends on the toy model, mould shape and selected options.

Single Colour

A single-colour pour uses one colour across the entire toy. This is the cleanest and most direct option: simple, striking and focused on the sculpt itself.

Single Colour is a good choice when you want a specific shade without complexity. Pastels and matte colours show sculpted details clearly, while metallic colours can provide visual complexity, such as waves or circular patterns, using a single colour.

2 or 3 Colour Marble

Two or three colours are poured together to create a free-flowing marble effect. The colours remain visibly distinct, with natural swirls and irregular movement.

This style works best with colours that contrast clearly. Very similar hues can make the distinction disappear.

2 Colour Ribbon-Marble

A tighter, more ribbon-like version of a marble. Instead of broad cloudy movement, the colours form thinner streaks, folds and bands through the toy.

This is a strong option when you want marbling with a more detailed, energetic visual texture.

3 Colour Ribbon-Marble

Three colours are folded into a ribbon-marble effect. This creates a more complex, layered result with extra depth and more colour interaction.

It works best when the three colours are different enough to stay readable. Very similar colours can blend visually and reduce the ribbon effect.

2 Colour Shade

A smooth transition from one colour to another. Some makers call this a fade; at Love Smiths, this gradient-style effect is called a shade.

Shades usually work best with colours that feel related or harmonious.

3 Colour Shade

A three-step gradient where one colour transitions into a second, then into a third. It can create a strong creature-inspired or magical colour progression.

Avoid light-dark-light or dark-light-dark sequences if you want the shade to feel natural and smooth.

2 Colour Ribbon-Shade

A shade-style transition combined with visible ribbon movement. The result has both direction and texture: one colour shifts into another while keeping streaks or folds visible.

Ribbon-shade works well with similar colours for a smooth fantasy look, or contrasting colours for a stronger, more dramatic result.

3 Colour Ribbon-Shade

Three colours arranged in a shade transition with ribboned movement. This is a richer, more dramatic version of the ribbon-shade style.

For the clearest result, we usually recommend moving from lighter colours near the tip or entrance toward darker colours at the base.

Special Pouring Options

These options are more specific than the main pouring styles. They can create sharp divisions, surface detail, liquid-like effects or model-specific accents.

Split

A split is a sharper division between two or three coloured sections of the toy. Depending on the model, this may separate the shaft and base, tentacles and body, penis and body, or details such as nipples and torso.

Examples include a shaft/base split on the Common Werewolf on the left, and a tentacles/body/base split on the Wyrm on the right.

Highlight

A highlight is a thin layer of colour applied over all or part of the toy before the main pour. The colours poured afterwards can still show through, while raised or sculpted details gain extra visual depth. It is especially striking with glow-in-the-dark colours.

Examples include a black highlight on the Epic Diablo (top left and right), Legendary Lovathur (centre), and a glow-in-the-dark Pure Love on the jewellery detail of the Epic Lilith (bottom).

Drip Effect

One colour is poured into the mould before the others and allowed to trail, leaving a liquid-like layer on one side of the toy, as if colour was dripping from the tip or upper area.

Examples include a Sangria drip on the Halloween Tail on the left, and a Love drip on the Halloween Goblin on the right.

Layered

A layered pour is a toy made of horizontal layers with a soft division between the colours. The layers don't follow any particular design or detail of the toy.

Examples include the Pride Layered dildos and masturbators.

Standard Colours

Standard colours are fixed Love Smiths colourations designed for each toy model. Most models have two or three standard options, called Epic, Legendary or Heroic. They do not follow a universal style and don't necessarily share characteristics across models. A standard colourway can use any of the pouring styles above, except a Single-Colour pour.

There is one final standard option: Surprise!. This option is not limited by the number of colours or by pouring style. It may use any of the previous pouring styles or something completely different. We may use the opportunity to try new pouring methods. Who knows?

Colour-Picking Tips by Pouring Style

Some colour combinations are easier to read than others. The best choice depends on the pouring style, the sculpt of the toy, and whether you want a soft gradient, bold contrast, visible detail or a more unpredictable handmade result.

• Single Colour: best if you want one favourite colour and a clean, focused result. It is especially good when you want the sculpt, texture and shape of the toy to be the main visual focus. Pastels and matte colours often show sculpted details clearly, while metallic colours provide complexity with a single colour.
• Marble and Ribbon-Marble: best if you want movement, contrast and a one-of-a-kind pattern. These styles work better with colours that are clearly different, either by hue or by finish, such as pastel with metallic, light with dark, or warm with cool. Avoid very similar colours, because the marble or ribbon-marble effect can become hard to see.
• Shade: best if you want a smooth transition from one colour to another, usually from the tip of a dildo or the entrance of a masturbator toward the base. Shades usually work better with similar or related colours, and often look most natural when they move from lighter to darker. Avoid light-dark-light or dark-light-dark sequences, as they can make the gradient feel less smooth.
• Ribbon-Shade: best if you want a gradient with extra texture and visible movement. It works well with similar colours for a soft fantasy transition, or with contrasting colours for a stronger, more dramatic result. Expect more movement than a smooth shade, because the ribbons make the transition more textured.
• Split: best when the toy has distinct sculpted sections, such as shaft and base, tentacles and body, penis and body, or nipples and torso. Splits work well with clear contrast between parts of the toy. The exact split line can vary slightly depending on the model and mould shape.
• Highlight: best if you want sculpted details, jewellery, ridges or surface texture to stand out. Lighter highlight colours, glow-in-the-dark colours, UV pigments and high-contrast combinations usually show more clearly. Similar tones create a softer and more subtle result.
• Drip Effect: best if you want a liquid, spooky, dramatic or magical effect. Strong contrast, glow-in-the-dark pigments and Halloween-inspired combinations work especially well here. The exact drip placement will always be organic and can move differently in each mould.
• Glow-in-the-dark colours: best in placements where the glow can stay visually readable, such as the tip of a dildo, the entrance of a masturbator, a split, a highlight or a drip effect. Glow-in-the-dark colours are not ideal for most marbles because they tend to be heavier and can break the marble or ribbon-marble colour placement.
• UV-reactive colours: they look different in daylight than they do under blacklight. Choose them when you specifically want a colour that has an extra effect under UV light.
• Metallic, pearlescent and shimmer colours: they can change depending on lighting and camera angle. Some colours, such as our Fairy colours, intentionally shift hue depending on the angle of the light.
• Matte and pastel colours: best if you want the sculpted details to stay clear and readable. Because they are less reflective, they often make textures, ridges and shapes easier to see.
• Standard colourways: best if you want one of the signature looks designed for a specific model. These are usually more predictable than fully custom colour requests because we pour them regularly, but they are still handmade and may vary slightly from one toy to another.
• Surprise!: Do you feel lucky or undecided? Let us choose for you!

When in doubt, choose the style that matches the toy’s sculpt. Detailed models often love highlights. Strong body separations often work well with splits. Long shapes often suit shades. Highly textured fantasy designs can look amazing with ribbon pours.

For the full palette, use our Available Silicone Colours guide together with this page.