INTRO

For this casting assignment, I wanted to create strong and long lasting wall hooks as previous students had told me that they still use their hooks to this day.

Strategy

Plaster isn’t a super strong material and can chip and possibly snap. I wanted my finger cast to not snap so I chose to cast a short length of my thickest finger that wasn’t my thumb. I also planned to coat it with a thicker coat of spray-paint afterwards to avoid it form chipping/crumbling.

finger length

Making

Using alginate and plaster in class helped as our groups were able to discuss what the best ratio of power to water to use. After successfully creating a mold and casting my finger in class, I was able to reuse the alginate mold to cast another finger. I was doing some other concrete casting over the weekend and had some leftover mix so I casted the last finger in concrete. This would also allow it be stronger.

concrete cast

After the concrete dried (took about 24hrs), I was able to spray them with a protective silver finish spray-paint. This protects the finger and also extenuates the grooves of the finger.

sprayed finger

reflection

Although I’ve done casting in the past, it hasn’t really been for functional purposes. I think the most use I’ve gotten out of a cast object is as a weight so it was fun trying to make something that can be used for more than that. It also inspired me and a couple friend to cast some concrete trays over the weekend.

Casted tray side project

Cost Breakdown

Plaster is relatively cheap, with a 4lb bag usually costing around $8. With large bags such as the ones at the OEDK, it would be even cheaper. My finger weighs 6g but I’ll estimate that the plaster finger costs $0.05. Concrete is even cheaper, the 50lb bag we bought was only $6. So in total, I would guess the fingers costed less than $1.00.