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Post by adamantinedragon on Nov 26, 2013 6:46:03 GMT
I am one of those Hirst Arts mold guys, so I use a lot of plaster. But even if I didn't do the Hirst Arts stuff, there are still a lot of things I do with plaster that might be useful to folks here. Here is an example of a couple of coin piles: They way I made these is pretty simple. I used some modeling clay and a couple of wooden dowels. All I did was get a lump of clay, create a shallow hollow in the top, then take the wooden dowels and push them into the clay repeatedly, with lots of overlapping pokes. Then I mixed and poured the plaster and let it cure. Then I painted it with gold and silver paint and tossed some glitter on it. I used the same technique for this pile of skulls: The photo doesn't do it justice, it looks more sinister and less comical in real life. To do this I made a couple of skulls out of Apoxie sculpt, glued them to the end of some short wooden sticks, and then did the same thing I did with the dowels for the pile of coins. I've used the same technique to create piles of rubble, stone fences, gravestones, stone pathways, etc... Super cheap, super effective, super fast and very organic, because you can reshape the clay into a new mold in less than a minute and have two similar but clearly different items very easily.
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Post by DMScotty on Nov 26, 2013 6:50:55 GMT
Nice.
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Post by grym247 on Nov 26, 2013 8:31:06 GMT
pretty sweet
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mrbulow
Paint Manipulator
Posts: 124
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Post by mrbulow on Nov 26, 2013 16:36:52 GMT
Cool stuff... But i did NOT get how to make it at all Can you take som pictures or make a video ?
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Post by onethatwas on Nov 26, 2013 17:32:29 GMT
It you be best if we got a picture tutorial, but in order to attempt helping understand...
Plaster and Clay have different properties that make them act differently in the drying process. The science aside, what this means is that they won't stick together as they dry. Very important.
So knowing that, you can make a mold with clay (easy example: press a coin into the clay, remove it, and you now have a "mold." You can also press any other object into the clay, remove carefully, and the imprint is your mold of that object), fill the mold with plaster, and once the plaster dries ("cures"), pop out the plaster, and you know have a copy of whatever was imprinted into the clay.
So here, what he is doing, is pressing his thumb into the clay to make a bowl shape with it, then taking the tip of a small dowel (shaped like a flat, round coin at the tip) and making indentations with it all along the imprint he made with his thumb. It should look like a hashed up mess before the plaster is poured.
Pour the plaster, and wait for it to dry. After its dried, pop it out *carefully* and let it sit to dry some more. After about a day, you can paint the now solid as a rock, totally blank pile of circular patterns. Add some gold color and they become gold coins.
Hope that helps
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mrbulow
Paint Manipulator
Posts: 124
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Post by mrbulow on Nov 26, 2013 22:50:44 GMT
Ahhh Thanks onethatwas I did not catch the Mold thing, the first time… now it make sense, Thanks
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Post by adamantinedragon on Nov 27, 2013 1:03:45 GMT
Heh, sorry for not being more clear, but onethatwas pretty much nailed it. It's amazingly quick, easy and cheap to make stuff this way. For example, let's say you want a shield with the face of a lion. Press a shield shaped item into your clay, then press a lion miniature face into the center of the shield shape, then fill it with plaster. Let it cure and you've got your lion-faced shield. Of you want a crypt with a prone warrior "carved" into the lid. Press a rectangle into the clay, then take a soldier mini and push it partway into the clay, remove it, fill with plaster, there you go.
There's almost no limit to what you can do with this technique. I frequently keep a ball of clay handy when I'm casting Hirst Arts blocks and use the excess plaster to make random stuff. I use "hydrostone" which is much stronger than regular plaster of paris, but any plaster will work.
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Post by onethatwas on Nov 27, 2013 2:20:22 GMT
I do have a question about this technique. While I am familiar with the concept (enough to explain it anyway), I've never done myself, so I want to know: wouldnt the modeling clay dry before and/or while the plaster dries? If so, doesnt it mean you have to crack the clay to get the plaster out??
My only curiousity on the issue. Otherwise its a great crafting method to include for gaming
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Post by adamantinedragon on Nov 27, 2013 3:10:13 GMT
One, I'm not really an expert on clay, I just bought some modeling clay from Hobby Lobby or Michaels or something. It's clay that doesn't dry out quickly, in fact it hasn't dried out in months. But it's just modeling clay. I suppose if I made a huge mold out of it the plaster might heat up enough to change the clay's properties, but for the small molds I make it doesn't do anything to the clay. The plaster cures in fifteen minutes or so and I pop it out. I've used the same clay mold for two or three castings on occasion, but demolding does tend to distort the mold, which frankly is sometimes exactly what I want.
My first effort was the pile of skulls. That turned out well, so I did the coin piles. Then I did some stone walls made by pressing little stone pebbles into the clay and folding it to make a deep well. Now I just keep the clay handy for whatever I think up.
I will try to do some photos of the process and post them.
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Post by onethatwas on Nov 27, 2013 3:49:19 GMT
Ooh! Good point on the heat of plaster. Plaster is exothermic (or is it ectothermic?), which means it releases heat (a substantial amount) as it undergoes chemical change from solid powder to liquid slush to solid peice again.
So for those unfamiliar with plaster but want to use it: don't use your actual body as a mold for plaster, especially by immersing your hand into plaster to create a negative.
...usually this shouldn't come up in the crafting we do here, but be aware of safety. Plaster burns have been reported to be pretty bad.
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Post by adamantinedragon on Nov 27, 2013 5:25:59 GMT
Regarding plaster and body parts. There are multiple reports in the news if you look of people losing fingers or even their hands trying to do casts of their hands. So yes, if you mess with plaster, do not stick your body parts in the plaster to mold them. There are mold materials that are used for that if you want to do so. Plaster will get hot enough to cook your hands if you try to mold them.
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Post by skunkape on Dec 1, 2013 4:20:21 GMT
Looks good!
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LandWhale
Cardboard Collector
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Post by LandWhale on Dec 24, 2013 6:23:30 GMT
those look awesome. It would be hilarious if you made a big one with a mangled Peter Griffin sculpture on top of it.
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slurpy
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Post by slurpy on Dec 26, 2013 21:15:28 GMT
In regards to the skull pile, if you don't feel up to molding your own skull, you could sacrifice a skeleton mini or two and use those to imprint the mold. If you are really cheap, afterwards make a burnt corpse marker with them.
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Post by drathirbarrastudios on Dec 30, 2013 14:37:37 GMT
So for those unfamiliar with plaster but want to use it: don't use your actual body as a mold for plaster, especially by immersing your hand into plaster to create a negative. ...usually this shouldn't come up in the crafting we do here, but be aware of safety. Plaster burns have been reported to be pretty bad. Wait, I thought people used plaster quite often to make impressions of babies hands and feet? Not the kind where you are just making a hand or foot print, but an actual casting of the foot or hand (sometimes with wrist and part of the arm). I am only familiar with plaster of paris and have not used it since I was a kid (me and a friend used to make molds of the hoof tracks from the mounted police in the park, it was hard to be a horse crazy city kid *laughs*), as we got a little older we also used it to cast deer, raccoon, and bird tracks when camping. But I don't remember it heating up or anything like that.
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Post by adamantinedragon on Dec 30, 2013 16:53:54 GMT
Here's one link to a story of a girl in the UK who lost fingers and part of her hand due to attempting to cast her hand in plaster. Most places I know that make molds of human body parts use a product called " alginate" which is specially made for that purpose. There are some kits available in places like Hobby Lobby or Michaels that allow you to create simple moldings by pressing your hand or foot into a silicon mold material that has a low cure temperature. While it may be possible to make a plaster casting of a body part using a very thin layer of plaster, I wouldn't try it. Too many stories I've seen of people burned badly by the process.
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Post by onethatwas on Dec 30, 2013 18:22:35 GMT
As adamantine suggests, most "plasters" used for that purpose, of casting hands and feet, aren't the same thing as actual Plaster and have a less significant exothermic effect.
However, the danger of plaster burns is less significant if there is someplace for the heat to go other than directed towards your skin. If you immerse your hand into plaster then the heat can't escape except to your skin. If you do a shallow imprint the danger is less significant because the heat can escape into the air.
But I'd still advise against it with actual Plaster.
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Post by adamantinedragon on Dec 30, 2013 19:14:22 GMT
Yep, when making plaster casts to set limbs, for example, they insulate the limb from the plaster and only do a thin section at a time, building up the cast in layers to keep the heat from burning the limb.
Plaster actually can get very hot if cast in thick sections.
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Post by onethatwas on Jan 1, 2014 17:41:37 GMT
Yep, when making plaster casts to set limbs, for example, they insulate the limb from the plaster and only do a thin section at a time, building up the cast in layers to keep the heat from burning the limb. Plaster actually can get very hot if cast in thick sections. Also why they use strips of Gauze soaked in plaster. The gauze is breathable, so the heat from the plaster disapates more quickly and with less danger to your skin, as the heat can escape in other directions. Plus, the thin layer of the plaster on the gauze is much safer in general.
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dmj
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Post by dmj on Jan 6, 2014 11:57:33 GMT
As a makeup artist is use alginate and plaster all the time. And under no circumstance ever use plaster directly on the body for extended period of time.
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