Background

Before working on this project, I had experience working with molding, alginate, and plaster in my sculpture class last semester. In fact, in my sculpture class, we had to mold our entire hand. I was excited to be working with these materials again.

However, after following the process during class and taking my fingers out of the mold a few days later, the screws I had originally inserted into my fingers were not secure and fell out. So, I decided to redo the process again.

Screws weren’t secure in my original finger molds

Molding Fingers

First, I prepared the alginate mixture. I followed the instructions on the sheet and measured out 200g of water and 50g of alginate into two silicon cups. I mixed the two together, making sure to reach the excess powder on the bottom that I may have missed while stirring. I then inserted my middle and index finger into the mold.

   

Left: measured water and alginate; middle: after mixing; right: inserting fingers into the mixture for molding

After holding my fingers in that position for about 5-10 minutes, I could feel that the mixture had hardened and so I slowly pulled out my fingers.

After removing my fingers from the hardened alginate

Plaster

Next, I prepared the plaster mixture. I did this by doing a 2-1 ratio of plaster to water. I then poured it into the molds.

I then cut out a small circle of cardboard and inserted the screws into the cardboard piece. I made sure that the screws roughly lined up with each of the fingers I had molded. I then pressed it firmly into the plaster to ensure that the screws would harden with the plaster correctly this time. I let this harden overnight.

  

Left: estimating placement of the screws; right: letting it harden overnight

Post-processing

The next morning, the plaster had hardened. I started removing the fingers by first carefully removing the cardboard from the top. The screws successfully stayed inside each finger this time. I then pushed the mold out of the silicon cup; that way, I could peel back and scrape the mold to reveal the plaster fingers inside. Eventually, I was able to retrieve the fingers inside.

Next, I chose a blue spray paint color to coat my fingers. I cut out a small piece of styrofoam so that I could stick the fingers in it while I spraypainted them. When spray painting the fingers, I made sure to try and apply thin, even coats.

   

Left: inserting the fingers into styrofoam; right: fingers after a single layer of spray paint

I ended up applying 2 coats of blue spray paint, and then I finished it off with a clear coat. The final result is shown below:

Reflections

Overall, I’m proud of the way I was able to quickly redo my finger molds on my own. After taking my plastered fingers out of the mold, however, I could see some texture on the fingers. I think this was from the bubbles still in the alginate mixture. If I were to do this again, I would try to find a way to reduce this extra texture on the outside of my fingers.

Cost

• Alginate powder: $7 (Blick Art Materials)
• Plaster powder: $6.39 (Blick Art Materials)
• Blue spray paint: $6.98 (Amazon)
• 1 hour of labor x $12 per hour = $12
• TOTAL: $32.37