My first approach with molding and casting was when we completed this homework in class. I thought this project was one of the funnest because I felt like it resembled following a cooking recipe at some points and I used to enjoy cooking when I was in high school.
I decided to re-make the fingers I initially made in class because I did not pour the plaster correctly into the mold and accidentally created holes in my fingers.
Making the mold
I started by measuring the correct amount of alginate and water by following the measurements that were discussed in class and the ones described in our homework document. I then proceeded to mix carefully, and made sure all the alginate was mixed with the water.
this is what my mixture looked like after I was done stirring
I then placed two of my fingers in the mold and waited a few minutes for my mold to become more solid (a bit more than 15 minutes).
Pouring the plaster into the mold
Once again, I followed the instructions to correctly measure the amount of plaster of paris needed with water. Once I poured this solution into the mold, I had to add the screws. During my first attempt at this assignment, I failed to push the screws deep enough into the plaster which made one of them detach itself from the finger once I removed the mold. I made sure not to repeat this mistake again.
now all I had to do was wait
Final touches
Around two days later, I came back to the OEDK to remove the mold from my fingers. I tried to carefully rip the mold apart.
when taking the mold out of its container, I was not careful enough and accidentally poured mold juice all over my bag 🙁
what my fingers looked like when I took the mold off
I think i placed the screws too close to the edges of my fingers since we can slightly see the edge of the screws through my fingers. I wanted to choose a dark colour to spray paint it for this to be less noticeable.
right after I spray painted a first coat onto my fingers
I then came back the next day to spray paint the bottom of my fingers, that were still white.
final fingers
Cost Analysis
- Alginate: 1/10 x $54.97 (Amazon Alginate) = $5.50
- Plaster of Paris: 1/10 x $22.78 (25 lbs Plaster of Paris Home Depot) = $2.28
- Labor: 1 x $7.25 (minimum wage in Texas) = $7.25
TOTAL= $15.03
