For this project, I created copies of my fingers. To do this, I casted and molded my fingers using alginate and Plaster of Paris. I started by mixing water and alginate in a 4:1 ratio by mass. This is what I would use to create my mold. Then I held my fingers in the alginate mixture, making sure to stay still, until the alginate hardened. Once it hardened, I could remove my fingers carefully and I then had the mold for my fingers. Then, I mixed Plaster of Paris and water in a 2:1 ratio by volume. This is what I would use to cast my fingers. I poured the plaster into the molds, making sure to try to fill the bottom first and tapping the mold to ensure that all the air bubbles would leave the mold. Once the mold was filled with plaster, I put two screws into a piece of cardboard and then I placed the head of the screws into the plaster to create the wall hooks. Once this was done, I just had to wait 30 minutes for the plaster to harden and I could break the alginate mold to remove the fingers. To post-process the fingers, I spray painted them blue and applied a clear coat was the spray paint was dry. This molding and casting process was relatively easy and produced products that were very detailed. I only had a few issues, like having fingers that had a lot of bubbles due to mixing with inaccurate ratios. However, once I completed the process correctly, the result came out much better.

Cost Estimate:

• Alginate – $16.99 for 500 g – $1.70 for 50 g used (Amazon)
• Plaster of Paris – $7.58 for 64 oz. – $0.24 for 2 oz. used (Amazon)
• Spray paint – $6.19 for 12 oz. – $o.26 for 1/2 oz. used (Amazon)
• Clear coat – $6.19 for 12 oz. – $o.26 for 1/2 oz. used (Amazon)
• Labor – $15 for 1 hour of labor

Total Cost: $17.46