In this project, I molded a finger hook out of concrete.

First, I mixed alginate with water (3 parts to 1 part), until it had a thick consistency. Then, I stuck my hand in the bucket and waited for the alginate to become solid. I also noticed that the alginate had a color change from pink to white to indicate when it has fully solidified (pretty helpful).

After making the negative mold, I mixed some concrete powder with water to fill the mold and create the finger hook, and added a screw near the surface.

On my first try, the concrete I used was too weak and watery that when I went to cut open the alginate a few days later, the concrete just crumbled.

So I used the new kind of concrete (Quickrete) that seemed to be working really well for everyone else and tried again. Something interesting that happened was that I think due to the exothermic reaction of the concrete, it turned the surrounding alginate a bright pink (fuchsia) color:

This also turned the concrete finger a little pink on the outside, which faded as it dried (thankfully)

Then, once the finger hooks were completely dried, I sanded the edges a little and tried to pick out as much of the alginate that was hiding in the crevices.

I spray painted all sides of the hook white (needed quite a few coats), and did a final spray coat of clear polyurethane.

Overall, I definitely learned a lot in this project, and it’s great to know that I can make a sculpture anytime I want! (:
The price of one of these hooks would be super cheap (approximately $3) if it weren’t for the time I spent. The materials overall did not cost much, but I spent close to 4 hours on this project ($10 per hour).