by Natalie Pellette
The outcome of my mold and cast homework was not perfect, but I was grateful for the opportunity to work with alginate and plaster again after learning in Beginning Sculpture.
Mixing & Molding Process
Luna and I worked together to mix our alginate, following the instructions provided in the assignment. Unfortunately, even though we used the balance, the ratio did not call for enough water and we ended up overflowing the container we were using to mix the mold to get enough water. We moved the alginate to a larger container to mix it and poured it back into the small containers for the molding process. We repeated this process to create enough alginate for both of our molds.
Casting Process
After completing our molds, we mixed the plaster for the first batch of cast fingers. Again, we followed the provided instructions, but relied more on our own judgment of the consistency to add water or plaster as needed. My first cast went smoothly, except for an imperfection in my mold at the end of my finger, which made my first cast look a little strange:
Imperfection on my first cast
My second cast did not go as well as my first. I was not able to do both castings at the same time and had to come back almost four days later to do the second casting. At this point, my alginate mold had dried out significantly, but was still intact. I successfully mixed the plaster and filled the mold. When I attempted to remove the cast from the mold, the screw broke out of the plaster and the finger broke apart.
Screw Breaking out of the Plaster Cast
Conclusion
Unfortunately, I did not have enough time to repeat the mold and cast process to correct the imperfections of my first attempts. I do however have extensive past experience with alginate and plaster and I am confident that I could use the molding and casting method successfully in the future, especially having had this assignment as a refresher. I think next time I will google different recommendations for the alginate water ratio or just use my own judgment instead of a recipe. I would also spend more time mixing clumps out of the mold to avoid imperfections like the one in my first cast.
Final Product
Cost Analysis
Time = 1.5 hours
Labor Cost = wage * time = $15/hr * 1.5 hours = $22.5
Mixing Materials = N/A [Common Household items/Already available at OEDK]
ex: Silicon cup, measuring cup, stir stick
Plaster = ~$10 / 4lb bag ( Lowe’s) = <$1 [used much less than 0.4 lbs]
Alginate = ~$40 / 3lb bag (Amazon) = $1.2/oz = ~$4 [used a few ounces of alginate]
Screw = N/A [Already available at OEDK]
Total Cost = $27.5
