I decided to start work on another gauntlet project as I want to try out a few new techniques and try out some ways to pattern the plates. Renaissance guantlets tend to be made up of a lot of small overlapping plates, which should be really useful for working on some skills I need to improve.
It suddenly occurred to me that it’d be a lot easier to work on gauntlets - both at the pattern stage and the actual metal parts - if I had a copy of my hands to work off. There are loads of videos/web pages of people having done this and it looks really achieveable. Most people cast their hands in plaster of paris, which would work fine but I’d guess I’d end up smashing a finger off sooner or later as I moved the casts about.
So!
1: Has anyone ever cast their hands or something similar?
2:Does anyone know of a more flexible or forviging material to cast in than plaster of paris?
I have done hand castings a couple of times in the past.
It all comes down to 2 things:
Repeatability
Budget.
If you need one-off cast, the mould can be done with alginate; cheap and cheerful, but single use only as it will require ripping the mould away from the casting.
If you want multiple copies of the same mould, then you need to look into other materials, like silicone; great moulding materials, but way more expensive.
Once you have your mould, you can fill it with pretty much anything (cold).
Plaster of Paris is fragile, but it is probably the cheapest option.
There is a wide range of 2 parts plastics that are a lot more resilient but the cost tends to go up A LOT.
Alginate should be fine - I only need a pair and even then could probably do with one provided that I don’t need to replace them, hence the issue with plaster. I was thinking about whether multiple casts would be necessary but I think just one in a neutral position should be enough.
This rubber compound looks ideal to me - I guess expoxy would also be an option but my instinct is to go slightly soft rather than hard. Have you used it yourself?
That would probably be overkill for what I want it for for now but I’ve picked up some old warhammer minis I’d love to edit without actually damaging the original models which I wondered about 3d scanning. Does anyone/the space have that kit?
On the other hand (unavoidable joke) it’d be very cool to just be able to print a spare hand when I need one… In fact, if I ever get to the point of making armour I want to display, it’d be awesome to put it on a 3d print of me!
No, I only used plaster of Paris, and once a 2-part foam, but it comes out like a puppet hand. very soft.
Epoxy is not recommended, it creates heat when curing, and if it cures fast, it will damage the mould, and if it cures slowly, the alginate will shrink before the epoxy has a chance to cure.
In the thickest part of the hand, we are looking at approximately 2 inches of materials, so you’d have to use deep pour epoxy, which cures very slowly, giving time to the alginate to shrink and ruin the cast..
I recommend an hard rubber or some kind of phenolic 2-part plastic.
fantastic, will do! - I think that makes the use case for scanning and 3d printing clear as well - it may be a simpler route to a high resolution copy of my hand than moulding and casting in a harder material.
Hi,
Yes, I did some over 30 years ago with Mod Roc or similar plaster bandage roles for the body and Alginate for the face head and hands. I then made casts from these for a portfolio submission, so two complete bodies and heads.
There are links for others peoples processes for both systems on blogspots on the web, and I sourced the materials in that shop on Tottenham court road, but Flints will most likely have it.
Rest for the hand position - Tennis or squash ball
Best to do a hand turned sideways - wresting on wrist bone - so you can cast both sides, as hard to re-align top and bottom if laying flat.
For both, you really need something to protect the skin (and hair follicles) , especially as you remove the cast, but not too oily or greasy as you loose detail in skin - Vaseline is normal - but think there may be better if you need skin pore detail.
Better detail with the Alginate, more robust when set and easy to cast into again using plaster, but it cures almost instantly, so you have to be prepared to work quickly.
Allow the hand rest on something to avoid movement and maybe two casting sessions for top of hand / palm of hand. I used a squash ball or tennis ball for the subject to have support and give the hand some shape.
I worked on a casting sessions with the musician and sculptor, Nick Reynolds, for the head of the writer Will Self, and we also used Alginate.
He had better process and got better results using wax for the final cast . He went on to do death masks for his father Bruce, Malcolm McClaren and Peter O’Toole etc. His cast for some of these were for headstones in can be seen in Highgate Cemetery . https://www.instagram.com/thefinalportraitdoc/p/Bhgyf9aHOa6/?hl=en
He uses wax to take the positive / or negative cast from the cast - if that is your plan.
His process and discussions on this are here -
Happy to help if free when you’re doing this.
Best - A
That’s what I’ve picked up! In the end, calculating the volumes I’d need and the size of vessel I’d need to work in and then finding things was just too much work. And this has the advantage that if I need to do it again in the future I just order the same ammounts of alginate and plaster!
A heads up on the Alginate, it degrades rapidly and falls apart I think within an hour if not less, but no 100%.
So you have to be prepped.
Some support to rest the mask on, when you cast into it.
It helps to have someone mix up the plaster / Wax / or whatever you are casting in, so you can pour and push into the mould ASAP as soon as it sets + something to make sure you eliminate air pockets.
Take care to remove in one piece as when rubberised it tears easily.
If doing a face - large straws in the nose or mouth or a funnel, help the subject breath, Baby oil _ vaseline for hair and hairline or better still a shower curtain / skull cover.
Wax gives a better result, but plaster is also good.
I think as others have mentioned, there are resins and various other ways to cast into, but Flints should be able to Help with that (they have an excellent Almanac for processes ) and not too far away if you fancy a trip into the warehouse.
It worked! I got some surprisingly nice casts of my hands and they’ve been really useful for patterning. They’ve been so useful that I’m thinking about doing my arms in plaster bandages next. I got a lot of detail in some places, in others I got a lot of bubbles. It didn’t matter for what I was doing - in fact, scraping those off with a scalpel was one of the more satisfying things I’ve done in a while. If I were to do it again, I’d probably do some mechanical mixing for the alginate.
I’ve included a few potos of a gauntlet I last worked on in december I think. The shape is good but it’s too big as it stands. I could (and might) trim it down but the patterns I’ve worked up from the casts have given me something a lot closer to final size. It’s very tempting when you’re patterning something like this to add a bit of extra at every stage since you can’t add if you’ve cut it too small. That ends up adding up and so this one’s quite big.
