These are the steps that I took to complete my sixth ENGI 210 Project: Molding and Casting a Finger.
Step 1: Creating the Mold
To cast a replica of my finger, I started by creating a mold with alginate. Alginate and water was mixed in a 1:1 ratio and set to cure around my pointer finger for 8 minutes.
Creating alginate mold of my finger
Step 2: Casting with Plaster
Plaster of Paris was used to cast the finger. Plaster and water was mixed in a 2:1 ratio and poured into the alginate mold. Next, the tip of a screw was attached to masking tape so the head of the screw could be submerged into the top of the plaster. Finally, the plaster was set to dry for 30 minutes.
Tip of screw attached to masking tape to hang above drying plaster
Dried plaster in alginate mold
The first iteration of the plaster finger broke it half as I was removing it from the mold, indicating that there was too much moisture in the plaster. For the next iterations, I decreased the amount of water when creating the plaster mixture. The new mixture dried much stronger and I was able to cast 2 intact plaster fingers.
Plaster finger that broke in half when removing from mold
Step 3: Post Processing
For post processing, I first coated my plaster fingers with crystal clear enamel. I did a second coat with grey enamel spray paint. I propped my finish product on a foam block.
Crystal clear enamel used to coat the plaster fingers
Plaster fingers coated with grey enamel spray paint
Cost Analysis:
- Alginate (100g) = $1.25
- Plaster of Paris (50g) = $0.50
- Screws (2x) = $0.60
- Crystal clear enamel spray paint = $6.98
- Grey enamel spray paint = $6.98
- Labor: 2 hours * $15/hour = $30.00
Total: $46.31
