For this homework, we learned how to cast and mold by creating models of our fingers.
First, I created the mold of my fingers. I mostly just followed the given instructions for this part. I gathered some materials first, including the different powder containers, scale, popsicle stick, containers, and screws. I started by weighing out and mixing alginate and water in a container until there were no clumps.
Image 1: Gathered Materials and Finger Molding
Once it got harder to stir, I put my fingers in and waited. This was a really odd experience. I would like to say it was very cold in the container. It was also really squishy. It felt like I was being forced to keep my fingers in someone’s uneaten oatmeal. I have included an image of my suffering to the left. I stood there very awkwardly for about five minutes. I felt like my fingers were able to wiggle around slightly, so I felt the top of the alginate and it seemed pretty solid. I finally pulled my fingers out and all was okay again. After that, I checked that the molds looked similar enough to continue. I used two different fingers, so I was hoping they would be similar enough that I could pour Rockite into both and get two identical models. I put aside my mold and started mixing the Rockite in a separate container. I weighed water and powder and made enough to fit in both molds. I carefully filled each mold. Then, I tried to put my screws on the 3d printed piece, but it didn’t really fit on the cup. I fiddled with it for a while and kind of didn’t get very far. I tried taping it with masking tape and it just fell off. I also tried flipping it upside down and that didn’t really work. Eventually I found some stronger tape that held my screws in place. They were slightly more submerged than I would have liked, but I didn’t really anticipate that I would be needing the screws anyways (real quick – who keeps a model of their own finger on their wall?????). Once the Rockite was in place and the screws were in place, I wrote my name on my cup and set it on the table inside overnight. I cleaned up all of my materials and put them back where I found them. The paper I was following said to come back in 24 hours, so I gave it a day before I came back to check on it.
When I took my fingers out of the mold, they looked pretty similar and like fingers. The only thing that was different were the nails, which was interesting because I had broken one of my nails earlier that day and you could very clearly see some marks around the nail on one finger.
Image 2: Fingers straight out of the mold
One finger was also slightly longer than the other, but in terms of detail and mold quality, the fingers were pretty similar. I thought it was pretty cool how detailed the mold was. In the picture below you can kind of see how one of my nails is shorter and has some marks on the edges.
For post processing, I wiped off the fingers to make sure there was no alginate left on them and that they were clean. I slightly sanded the bottom of the finger to make it smooth where it connected to the screw. They weren’t very rough otherwise so I didn’t do any further sanding since I didn’t want to mess up toI decided I wanted to paint my fingers purple. I found some foam blocks and put the fingers in them standing up. I then painted them with two coats of spray paint. I let it dry and added a clear coat on top. My fingers were complete!
Image 3: Post processing fingers
Cost analysis:
6.75 oz alginate @ $1.25/oz (Amazon) – $8.44
35g rockite @ $0.47/oz (Amazon) – $0.58
Containers (Amazon) – $14.88
Wood Screw x2 @ $7.97/100 screws (Home Depot) – $0.16
Purple spray paint (Amazon) – $6.78
Clear coat paint (Amazon) – $6.19
Labor 3hr @ minimum wage – $21.75
Total: $58.78
