In this project, I learned how to mold and cast my fingers to use as a wall hook. This process was fairly simple and straightforward.

The first step was to gather a few marked cups and the alginate, water, and plaster of paris necessary to mold the fingers. I first mixed the water and alginate in a 1:1 ratio by volume according to the instructions. Using a popsicle stick, I stirred together the mixture. There was some difficulty trying to make the solution more homogenous because the clumps would be hard to break up. After about 4 minutes, I stuck my fingers into the mixture so that it would mold around my fingers. I decided to do two fingers simultaneously to speed up the process and made sure not to touch any of the cup surfaces or have the fingers touch each other.

I left my fingers inside for about 5 minutes before pulling them out carefully. Next, I mixed together some plaster of paris and water in a 2:1 ratio. After about two minutes of mixing, I poured the mixture into the holes left by my fingers. I then fabricated a jig to hold the screws inside the mold so that they would have something to attach to.

After 24 hours I came back the following day to pull out the fingers from the mold, and they turned out well! Because I had overpoured the plaster/water mixture a bit, I had to use the bandsaw and remove some of the excess material. I then took the fingers outside and spray painted them a  gray color and was complete.

Cost analysis:

Alginate: $8/bag

Plaster of Paris: $7 per pack

Screws: %0.12

Spray paint: $4

 

Total: $19.12

There was not really a singular workspace but I cleaned up the powder and my cup after completion: