Finger Molding Process

For this assignment, I was tasked with molding and casting two fingers and then post processing them. To do this I had to become familiar with alginate and plaster of paris as well as their mixing ratios in order to achieve the best results possible.

In order to cast a mold of my finger I first had to make the actual mold. To do this I mixed alginate in a container with a ratio of 200g of water to 50g of alginate. I made sure to be as precise as possible in order to produce the best molding material possible. I stirred this mixture for roughly 4 minutes and then placed the fingers I wanted to mold into the mixture. After keeping my hand steady for about 10 minutes I took my fingers out and began to make the plaster of paris which would be used to recreate my fingers using the mold. To make the plaster of paris mixture I used a ratio of 2:1 by volume of water to plaster respectively. After pouring the plaster of paris mixture into the mold I put one screw in each of the finger molds. I did this because my finger when molded could be used to create a key holder that could be screwed into a wall. I let the plaster sit and settle for about an hour and thirty minutes before taking the mold and cast out of its container and then taking the casted finger out of its mold.

   

This image shows the mold created using the alginate and my two fingers.

When everything final settled and dried I took my casted fingers out. Since everything was looking good there was no need to remold or recast and so now all that was left was to post-process.

This picture shows my casted fingers as soon as they were taken out of the mold.

To post process I spray painted my casted fingers black. Once I let this dry I used a clear coating on top of this as an added layer of protection and make the color pop a bit more.

This shows my casted fingers painted black and the type of spray paint used.

Above is the clear coat used on my casted fingers.

Now that my pieces were post processed my casted fingers were complete. Overall I enjoyed this experience, at times it was messy and some parts were time consuming but I think the end result proved worth it.

Final Product

STRENGTHS

I think my biggest strengths on this project was using the right mixing ratios for molding and casting. I only had to go through this process on my own once. My fingers molded great the first time and allowed me to knock out molding for two fingers at once. The plaster of paris was mixed very well to because it was very detailed and had little bubbles or deformation in my finger casts.

POINTS OF IMPROVEMENT

For this project I believe points of improvement could be my post processing. I didn’t wait long enough when trying to move my spray painted fingers and if you look at the screw attached to my fingers you can see some of the paint was removed. Also since it wasn’t fully dry when I rotated my fingers to spray the other side the bottom which wasn’t dried completely collected some of the color from the cardboard it was resting on. Overall my spray painting process could have been a lot nicer.

WHAT I LIKED ABOUT THIS PROJECT

I liked the experience and learning about molding and casting. This entire process was new to me and definitely has a lot of potential uses. Learning how easy it is to do and how repeatable the process can be was something I really enjoyed during this assignment.

WHAT I WOULD DO DIFFERENTLY

Things I would do differently is probably try molding and casting each finger individually. If I did this I could’ve focused on my finger placement better and molded/casted more of my finger. Something I would want to try given the opportunity to mold and cast again is make a mold of my entire hand with my fingers spread slightly apart to create a ring holder. I also would have waited longer before trying to touch or move my casted fingers while it was drying during post processing.

COST ANALYSIS/BREAKDOWN

Materials

Alginate: cost per oz ($1.15) * 1.7637 oz = $2.03

Plaster of Paris: cost per oz ($0.14) * 1.7637oz  = $0.25

Paint:

Cost of Black paint–  $6.19

Cost of Clear coat – $6.19

Personal Labor: molding/casting/spray painting – $20.04 x 1.5 hrs – $30.06

Total: $44.72