Making molds

I am needing to make a mold of my arm from just below the elbow to the fingers. What should I use?

Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.

 

Dental alginate, which you can find at www.monstermakers.com

 

You can also use Plaster of Paris (available at any craft store or even Wal-Mart) You mix it with water. You can use strips of muslin. Then you cover your arm with plastic wrap and/or vaseline. Dip the strips in the wet plaster, remove excess and apply to area (better if you have a helper) It will get hot as it dries, but can be removed pretty quickly, and will dry all together pretty fast. You can trim it, sand it and paint it. Or just use is as a mold to work with another medium. Easy enough!

 

While the plaster does work, keep in mind that it is not advised to put plaster directly on the skin (even with saran wrap and/or vaseline) as when plaster sets it heats up and runs the possibility of burns. While it may seem like a petty precaution, any professional will tell you the same thing.

 

HA HA! Yes, beware of the burning plaster. I recently did a mold of a very pregnant belly, and we were a little frightened of the precaution on the box, but we covered her with plastic and she was fine. I have done molds like this for headpieces and facial masks in my home and in professional costume shops and haven't had any serious injuries ("there were only a few flipper babies!!! LOL!
Ferd

 

I too have made molds using plaster.I put my arm into a garbage bag and my wife covered my arm with plaster.i made a thin negative cast then filled it with plaster and it turned out good.The only thing is you will get wrinkles in the plastic and that will be transferred to the neg. cast then transferred to the positive.You will then need to put a thin coat of clay onto it and smoothen it out.you can work from that or take another neg. and make another positive.

Depending on what your making you may be able to use scuply to make a mold of your arm.its like clay but you can bake it in the oven and it hardens.it could be of some use depending on what your making.

once you start messing with all this youll soon realize why people will pay high prices for any decent item.

skip

 

I am needing to make the mold and cast of my arm for working on a glove-like piece for my costume. I need it so that I can have both hands free to work on it and so that it is fleshed out to my exact arm/hand size.

Is plaster going to hold up, or will it crack and chip too easily?

Are any of the ideas posted for making a cast going to be able to be used more than once for making additional casts, or would I need to remold my arm each time?

Thanks.

 

Up

 

What exactly are you trying to make? That may help in answering your question. If you need an armature of your arm to sculpt on, that wouldn't need a mold made of your arm each time, but just one mold for each of your arms.

 

bodycast.org sells some small bodycast parts kits. the kits come with everything, except plaster bandages, which can be bought at a local art/crafts store like Michaels or HobbyLobby. I think an arm kit will run you about $45.00.

The kits use Alginate so you have little fear of burning your skin.

-sc

 

Well I've never had any problems with plaster burning my skin. It gets warm but only to the point where it's plesant.

I am working on making a fatsuit for one of my costumes and I was going to make a cast of my face and shoulders so that I can sculpt onto that. I only have one problem. I have tons of hair, and I don't want to make a big lump of where I have it pulled back, but I also don't want it hanging down in a braid or pony tail and obscuring the back of the neck. How do I get rid of this problem? Other than cutting it all off that is

 

You can sand away the lump from the positive. A lot of work, but better than cutting off your hair.

 

To answer the question as to what I am doing this for: I am trying to build a metal glove for my character, the character lost his arm in an explosion and is allergic to Bacta. So, I am not going to be making recasts of the arm for latex or anything like that, more of making a manikin arm so that I can have it be the right size and still have both hands to work with on the glove.

Does that change any of your suggestions?

 

No, it wouldn't change my answers. If you make an alginate mold, you would have to back it with plaster bandages to help it keep it's shape. Then, when you take it off, pour plaster into the alginate until it sets. When you remove the alginate you should have a plaster duplicate of your arm. You can sculpt on that to make your glove. That arm should last you a long time and you wouldn't have to keep remolding your arm everytime you want to make something new.
If you want more detailed instructions on how to do it, let me know...this was a simplified explination.