In this project, I learned about molding and casting by creating finger wall hooks.

I started out by mixing the alginate and water together together into a plastic cup. This was done in a 1:1 ratio. After it was fully mixed, I inserted my finger into it while the alginate set. Once I felt that it had set, I removed my finger, resulting in a negative alginate mold for me to pour the plaster into. Next, I mixed the plaster of paris together with water according to the instructions on the container. After this was mixed, I poured the mixture into the negative mold. I then took a screw and the ‘bridges’ that helped keep the screw in one place while the plaster set.

I came in the next morning to remove my finger from the alginate mold and it broke! This was pretty upsetting because in order to get the leftover plaster piece out I had to break my alginate mold as well. After this, I started all over. This time I did two fingers at a time to save time. I did everything the same as the first time, but this time I made sure I did the correct ratio of plaster to water. I think my plaster may have failed at first because I may have added too much water because I measured by volume.

 

 

 

This time, I waited over 24 hours because I was nervous it would break again, but the fingers came out fine!

 

 

After this, I moved onto spray painting the fingers. There weren’t a lot of available colors, so I used grey. After spray painting with grey as a base, I used a clear gloss spray paint to finish it!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cost Model

Cost Type	Cost	Price	Source	Quantity	Total
Materials	Plaster of Paris	$6.64/4 lbs	Home Depot	0.2 lbs	$0.33
	Alginate – Perfect Cast	$10/4 lbs	Target	0.2 lbs	$0.50
	Screws	$4/25	Lowe’s	2	$0.32
Spray Paint	Grey spray primer	$6	Home Depot	1	$6
	Clear coat spray paint	$6	Home Depot	1	$6
Total					$13.15