Life Casting

It’s been a while since I have done life casting (over ten years to be precise) - and that was with technician and casting expert Michael Riddle at QUT. I do remember the basic process, but it takes a few goes to remember the important part: PREPARATION.

The first go casting Bill’s hand was a little hit and miss. This is partly because I have never cast hands before and usually you would create an Alginate cast in plaster and then do a silicon mould and re-cast the work in resin. This two-part process seemed like a bit of a waste, so we decided to do a single silicon mould.

I had a fairly good recollection of the basic process, but followed up with Barnes (casting suppliers) to confirm set materials: Pinkysil Oddbod (skin-safe silicone), plaster bandage and Easycast (fast set resin). Investing in nitrile gloves ensures that contact with latex won’t impact on curing - measuring containers are also a must-do to ensure you have measured equal volumes consistently. Skimping on these items can result in a project failure and increased costs.

Barnes recommended about 200ml of Oddbod to cast each hand and each face. Although smaller jobs (e.g. ears) only need 100 - 150ml.

For Bill’s hands we used 200ml Oddbod. The process was difficult with only one person adding the silicone and trying to ensure it stayed in place. I also used a paint brush to spread it - this approach is not recommended. Here is the evidence to support the statement:

A very messy application of Oddbod for our first hand cast.

The bandage coating was better, but it did not set properly. We suspect we purchased old stock. This made it hard to cut the hand out and we must have nicked the silicone, resulting in leaking resin and a requirement to hack the hand out of the mould. Regardless, after a bit of clean up, our first life cast was a success!

Easycast resin cast of Bill’s hand with fine line details.

We can move on with other limbs and faces.