Do not use hot water. The compound is exothermic and releases heat as it cures. Further, the compound cures faster with warmer water. In her 1896 speech about Clasped Hands, Hosmer noted that she was hesitant to produce bronze casts until compelled to do so by a friend: “I have more often than once been asked to have these Hands cast in more durable substance than plaster and I have invariably refused—but I could not say nay to a certain dear friend of mine to whom I owe so much.” 41 Hosmer did not specify the rationale behind her refusal in this speech, but in an 1858 letter, she described bronze as “at best but a cold and harsh material”, which may account for her reluctance to use it to render human hands. 42 Robert Browning seems to have agreed with her: mulling over other sculptures he saw in Italy, he wrote to Hosmer in 1854, the year after she cast his hand in plaster, that “bronze is such inadequate stuff for the expression of flesh”. 43 DOI Box knifeUsed to cut the molding container top off, and later cut the container away from the mold when you want to break the mold. Hand casting is supposed to be a fun-filled activity. You are trying to preserve happy memories, not create sad ones. Unfortunately, that is how it will go down when the kit is frustratingly difficult to use.

Charles Knight, “On Plaster Figures and Casts”, Penny Magazine of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge 7, no. 419 (13 October 1838), 394; William Ordway Partridge, Techniques of Sculpture (Boston, MA: Ginn and Company, 1895), 79. 17Mold containersI used 1/2 gallon jugs, 1/2 gallon juice bottles, and 2 liter pop bottles. The only difference was that when I needed to cut away the mold, the plastic juice bottle and 2 liter bottles were a little harder to cut. Generally speaking, you should call in a professional plasterer to apply a skim coat. Getting the application smooth and even requires a certain level of skill that can only be achieved through repeated practice. Filler Once you are satisfied that the filler has dried completely, you can get some sandpaper or an electric sander. Run this over the area you have used the filler on until the filler is flush with the plaster surface. Gaps between the architrave and plaster Triquetral Fractures: A triquetral fracture occurs in one of the three bones of that triangular shape at the base of the thumb and is often caused by falls or direct trauma to the area.

As there is no significant time factor here, you can take your time mixing the water and casting compound together. Note that the resulting volume is more than the water volume but less than the casting compound. For this reason I also mixed the water into the powder. If you let it sit for more than a minute after mixing, consider mixing it again before pouring as it will settle and result in a thinner mixture being poured. Have the children form sign language words and letters, then mount them in series to a longer board.Lime plaster is also flexible so can cope well with movement in buildings —plus, it has a beautiful soft appearance that does justice to the character of older properties. As I expected, and as the poem alludes to, my mother-in-law was much more impressed by the gift than my wife. When you can hold the hands each day you tend not to need reminders. Over time the gifts will become more precious.

The Discovery DIY Hand Casting kit is our suggestion for hesitant crafters curious about this medium but not up for the occasional splurge. A good quality paint brush - this is essential for keeping your edges clean and applying water to your plaster. A small number of people are allergic to the adhesive strips – ask them if this is the case before applying a plaster. Further information

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Air bubbles in the casting show up as voids and holes in the casting. This could be reduced using methods similar to those mentioned above for the molding compound. Also, as the compound is fairly liquid and takes some time to cure, a vibration table may also work well. These could be filled in with a variety of materials after the casting has cured.

Despite such emphasis on the plaster surface, the cast could have been marked or refined after removal from the multiple-piece mold and before the plaster set completely. Hosmer may have chosen to obscure traces of the piece-mold process by smoothing the places where the pieces intersected, as discussed above. At this stage, too, the text on each of the wrists was probably added. Although now difficult to read, these inscriptions seem to have featured the sitters’ names on their corresponding wrists. In 1891, a visitor to Hosmer’s studio remarked, “One of the interesting things in Miss Hosmer’s studio is a plaster cast of the clasped hands of Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning. Upon the wrists at either end are the autographs of the poets, with the date”. 38 The use of the term “autograph”—reiterated in subsequent publications of the 1890s—raises the enticing possibility that the Brownings’ names were manually inscribed by the poets themselves, their hands reflexively marking their own representation and attesting to the authenticity of the likeness. 39 Whether the inscriptions were added by Hosmer or the Brownings, and whether or not they displayed signatures indicative of unique handwriting, the wrists interrupted the accurate and precisely rendered surface, and offered an opportunity to enhance and describe the sculpture. DOI From his appointment in 2007 as a consultant hand surgeon, Mr Logan has established a specialist surgical practise that is supported by a team of specialist hand therapists. ScaleThese materials settle and compress so they should be mixed by weight. However, the working range of the mixture is pretty good, and in a crunch I believe suitable result can be obtained from volume measurements which will be detailed below. I'm using a postal scale that can measure in tenths of ounces up to 10 pounds, which is the range needed for small hand molds and casts. your fingers or toes on the affected limb feel swollen, tingly, painful (even after taking painkillers) or numb

Bibliography

Do not worry too much about making the finish perfect at this point. The filler will shrink a little as it dries, so do not over-scrape the excess away. The smallest amount of alginate I used was 10oz, which made just over 3 cups of molding compound. In total the six molds took about 4.5 pounds of alginate.