We did a lot of the molding and casting project in class, so I didn’t have to put much time into it out of class. My final products for this project were two, almost identical, golden finger hooks.

Process

We began in class by mixing the alginate with water in a 1:1 ratio. We put our fingers in the position we wanted it to mold to and waited ~10 minutes. From here, we mixed the plaster of paris with water in a 1.75:1 and added it to the finger holds. We also added the screws, and after letting it sit for a couple days, removed the dried fingers from the alginate (Image 1-2).

  

                        Images 1-2: finger hooks before spray painting

From here, I spray painted my fingers with a gold coat and a clear sealant (Images 3-4).

 

                                                           Images 3-4: final finger hooks

Successes & Failures

For my successes, I liked the color of the fingers and the way the gold accentuated some of the small details of the hand. One challenge of the fingers is that one of them broke when I was taking it out of the alginate, however, with superglue and spray paint the break isn’t really visible anymore. There are also some minor deformations from air bubbles on the fingers, but that is to be expected.

Cost

• Alginate: 1/4 x $16.99 = $4.25 (Amazon)
• Plaster of paris: 1/4 x $8.23 = $2.05 (Amazon)
• Gold/clear coats: 1/10 x $6.98 = $0.70 (Amazon)
• 1 hour of labor x $10/hour = $10
• Total = $17