What Do I Have To Do? |
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Mostly, you just have to sit, stand, or lie quietly. As far as possible, most of the poses are taken with you either sitting or lying down. For poses that need you standing, you'll usually be leaning on a ladder to help take some of your weight. Once the mold starts to set up, you need to hold the same position for about fifteen to thirty minutes, depending on the size of the piece. The casting material is mixed with water at about 70 degrees (F), and is lukewarm when it goes on you. It starts with a consistency somewhere between mayonnaise and peanut butter. When it's done setting up, it's about as stiff as a stale gummi bear. |
How does it work? |
| First, we'll explain everything in here again, to make sure you know what to do. When the mold material has been mixed, we have to move fast, and you have to hold still. |
If you're doing a face pose, you'll put on a swim cap, and get some
hair conditioner applied to any hair still exposed, and to your
eyebrows. Most other poses don't need any release at all. The
conditioner is just there to let your hair pull easily away from the
mold, rather than pulling the mold apart when you come out.
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 Next,
When you're prepped, the alginate gets applied to the body part in
question. For faces, this means breathing through straws.
For parts other than faces, you'll get one first, thin coat applied pretty firmly. This pushes loose any little trapped air bubbles that might have wanted to stay next to you. After the first coat, the second layer is immediately applied, and left to thicken. It takes about 4-7 minutes to apply the mold material and for it to set up properly. At the end of this, some cotton or polyester batting is set into the alginate to give the next layer something to stick to. This isn't done for faces to minimize the amount of time you spend in the mold. |
After the mold material finishes setting, it's on to applying strips of plaster bandage. This takes another 3 or 4 minutes to do, and 2 or 3 more minutes for the plaster to set. The plaster forms a stiff container for the comparatively soft mold material. For larger pieces, a very thin layer of molding plaster is placed on the fiber. This helps to fill in any irregularities in the alginate so that the plaster bandage has a smooth surface to bond to, and really locks the fiber (in the alginate) and the plaster layer together. |
After everything has hardened, removal is pretty straightfowrard.
With hand molds you just slooowly work your hand loose within the
mold, and then pull it out. For faces, you sit up, lean forward, and
the mold usually just drops away with only a little prodding.
Larger molds are even simpler; they generally just lift off or tilt
away from you.
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 Finally,
you get to wash off any remaining mold release. Hands and feet are
simple, faces may take a bit of help getting the mold material out of the
hair at the nape of your neck. You can see some of that in the previous
picture.
pieces out. |
How Long Does It Take? |
The whole process for a face takes about 45 minutes for setup,
molding, and cleanup. If a second impression is needed, it can
be a bit longer.
Hand molds take about the same amount of time, mostly due to choosing and practicing a pose. It's surprisingly hard to make your hand do exactly what you want it to when you don't get any visual feedback. Larger molds take about a bit over an hour, which includes set up, getting you covered with a drape, selecting a pose, taking the impression, and cleaning up afterwards. Very very rarely, a second impression will be needed to get a good copy, so generally, budgeting two hours is recommended. If you're a customer, or a model taking a casting as part payment, you can usually see the results the same day, after the plaster has set. Making the piece and waiting for the set takes an hour to an hour and a half. The plaster pieces take a few days to dry enough to have finish work and cleanup done, though. If you're not happy with the quality of your casting, we can try again. Hands and feet are one-cast-only, because the mold is destroyed when removing the plaster casting. I've found that the fewest flaws happen with hand casts if I wait about a day to cast, rather than pouring plaster immediately. |
What Should I Bring and Wear? |
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Bring a friend. Friends, parents, or other mature people are very
much welcome. (Also, casting two or more people at a time is more
efficient...) Please don't bring anyone who can't sit
quietly for an hour or so. The stuff involved is messy, and the work
requires fairly constant attention by both the model and the caster.
If you're getting your face cast, and you think that might be scary,
especially bring someone to hold your hand (Think of it as a spa
facial).
Wear comfortable clothes; ideally, scruffy clothes. Sweats are perfect. There are drapes to keep stuff off of areas not being molded, and to keep the mess to a minimum, but accidents can happen. The alginate will usually peel off of close-woven cloth if it spills, but better to wear stuff you don't care so much about. If you're getting a cast of a part of your body that's usually clothed, don't wear tight clothing to the session, or be prepared to wait up to half an hour for marks to fade. This is particularly applicable to elastic stuff like bras, underwear and socks. If you're getting your face done, don't bother doing anything fancy to your hair; the swim cap will clobber nearly every style. Also, please don't wear makeup, as it tends to come off in the mold, and then gets onto the plaster final copy. |
Is It Safe? |
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Yes. The casting alginate is prosthetic grade from a supplier who is
also a full-time lifecasting artist. It is non-toxic (although eating
it for breakfast is probably not a good idea), and there has never
been a problem with allergies in well over 100 subjects. If you know
(or think) you're allergic to seaweed/algae, we can do a test first.
This is the same stuff your dentist uses to take molds of your teeth, but formulated to set more slowly, and allows the use of warmer water, so you'll be a bit more comfortable. It does not taste like mint or much of anything else, for that matter. Yes, for faces you close your eyes. The alginate uses a salt to help it set, and it will sting a bit if you open your eyes. Once, a fellow opened his eyes, and while it didn't do any damage, it did sting, and the cast looked too odd with unevenly opened eyes to be useful. The plaster bandages used to support and hold the alginate are exactly the same as the ones used to make casts for broken arms and legs. The slippery stuff used to help the alginate pull cleanly off of you is mostly the same stuff you can get in the drug store: skin lotion, hair conditioner, baby oil and the like. |