For this project, I molded then casted two of my fingers to make wall hooks.
The first time I tried this in class, the plaster sat in my mold outside for too long and I believe that moisture seeped in and caused the plaster to crack. I took out my finger and it was in two pieces and a little soggy 🙁 So I tried again!
me, happy
now I am sad.
To start, I mixed alginate and water to make the mold. This took a little trial and error. I realized a little too late that the 1:1 ratio in the instructions was likely by volume and not by weight, so I started with way too much alginate and not enough water. I proceeded to overcompensate and add way too much water. Eventually I did find the right ratio and was able to get my fingers in the mold, but not before making a mess! For efficiency’s sake, I molded two fingers at once. It was a little crowded in the cup, but I made it work.
my hand (messy)
After a couple minutes, the mold had sufficiently cured and I pulled my fingers out. I mixed the plaster, which again took some trial and error to find the right consistency.
mold post finger removal
Next, I had to do some interesting taping to get the screws in position. The top of the mold was pretty far down into the cup, so I had a hard time getting the screws situated properly, especially since there were two screws in one cup. With a lot of masking tape I managed to get things in place.
mold with plaster (tape tetris)
I let the plaster cure (inside this time) for around half an hour. I pulled the plaster fingers out of the mold. I was particularly glad I did both fingers at once since I didn’t have to worry about preserving the mold and I could just tear it apart to get the fingers out. I had to perform a little surgery with superglue and my fingernails came out sort of sad looking, but my fingers are a little janky in real life so I figured it was an accurate recreation.
spot my mold
fingers out of mold!
Once I had my fingers out of the mold, I gave them a clear coat with spray paint. I had them in a foam block, and the clear coat did start to dissolve the block which was a bit scary.
after clear coat (ft. dissolving foam)
FINISHED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Once the clear coat had dried, I had a finished product! I had a great time doing this assignment. I found it took less time than others and was more forgiving of mistakes.
cost analysis
- alginate- $3
- $9/lb x 150 g
- plaster of paris- $.040
- $0.20/oz x 2 oz
- screws- $0.20
- $10/100 screws x 2 screws
- clear coat- $1
- $6/can
- labor- $30
- $15/hr x 2 hr
- total- $34.60
