Definitely the creepiest thing I’ve ever made-my fingers. FYI, they are not for poking nose, they are hangers.

The feeling when you hold a finger in your hand, especially the texture of the nail part just causes goosebumps.

This project is a fast one, the more patient you are, the fewer trials you have to make and the less time you have to spend working. I’ve made two molds and three sets of fingers but eventually, I decide my first set is actually of the best quality. I did learn many things in the latter trials though.

Starting from mixing powder and water for the mold, I realized things don’t always go as intended. The process is far less controllable than laser cutting, plasma cutting, etc. I tried to pour a little powder and mix it with a little water at a time, but the mixture was still not uniform enough as I expected. There were still clumps of powder in the mixture, and I tried to set the mixture on the table for 10-20 seconds to let the clumps fall to the bottom. It kinda worked. It really took a while for the mold to become completely firm. I was afraid that I put in my hand late, and as a result, I had to hold my hand at the same position for a long time, so when the mixture was solidifying, I couldn’t help moving my fingers a little bit, which then resulted in a slightly unsatisfactory mold.

Making the casting material was not difficult, it was just a huge was of cups. So I labeled two small “shot” cups A and B respectively, so we can use them repeatedly. At first, I was just lazy and took a cup we used for making the plaster eggs to mix the two liquids. I did not clean it thoroughly, and we witnessed a very interesting exothermic reaction : )

This is what it looks like after it solidifies.

The first set came out ok. One of the fingers has some blister-like structures, caused by bubbles in the mixture. It was not a pleasant thing to look at and touch. Josh suggested and volunteered to use the vacuum machine, but it didn’t turn out so well. (left Josh’s attempt, right my attempt)

Applying the vacuum machine wasn’t so helpful after the casting material started to solidify already, as the air pressure change might slightly move the finger around and cause problems.  Applying the vacuum machine before casting was not helpful at all either. It just gathered all the bubbles together and when I open the valve, the air pressure just suddenly press an even larger amount of bubbles into the mixture.

Initially, we all hold the nails in mid-air and wait for the liquid to solidify. That was so stupid, and a slight movement of hand disturbed the formation of a flat surface. So in the latter trials, I screwed the screws in cardboard, and just set the cardboard at the position I wanted.

Life was so much easier.

For prepossessing, I tried to sand down the extra part around the end of the finger which was caused by finger movement when making the mold. I also tried to sand the surface that will contact the wall flat.

Can’ t wait to see a creepy wall full of fingers : )

(P.S. I really want to sand down my fingerprints, as they might cause security issues LoL)