And So It Begins
A couple of days ago I attempted my prototype for my senior project, my Life cast. We ran into a few issues along the way with our final prototype.
Last weekend I brought home some materials to life cast at home. My Sister assisted me through the whole process. I explained the steps and how to prep the materials, showed her my sketches, we started prepping, and cut straight to the chase casting the lower half of my body. However, for you to understand what went wrong, I have to provide you with a basic understanding of the steps of the process.
STEPS:
Finding a pose for the casting subject ( Me :) )
Prepping your space and materials (Unraveled cotton balls, empty containers, mixing sticks, plastic tarp, etc.)
Applying Vaseline to the more sensitive parts of your posed subject and anywhere with hair that might touch your cast
Making your skin safe cast (Accu-cast or Accu-cast equivalent)
Quickly and thickly apply the mixed Accu cast (Try to take no more than 1 minute 25 seconds for this part. I have an 8-minute drying time for my materials)
While the cast is still a “gooey” texture apply unraveled cotton balls to the edge of the Accu cast and outward poking parts of the body. As the cast starts to dry, pick off the access cotton (Try to take >2 minutes)
Taking your precut plaster bandages soak and squeeze and create your shell over the Accu cast that will support your cast (2.5 minutes)
Wait till dry and remove
Check the stability and check for holes in the Accu cast
Issues We Encountered:
My pose was painful and hard to cast both issues because of my bent arms and legs
Difficult to cover my whole body and find the window to apply the cotton in only 8 minutes with so much surface area (the front of my body)
Our prep was rushed and messy. Materials were in the way and we only had so much space
My helping hand was anxious about time since it was just her and with only eight minutes to work
Getting our plaster bandages to stick/ Finding the right time window to start applying the plaster bandages
The Accu cast wasn't applied evenly enough or thick enough coats/ I could still see skin in the final product had holes
Possible Solutions To These Issues:
Choosing a less painful pose where my legs aren't bent
Considering only casting half of my body (the upper half)
Working in sections and making sure the top half of the section that's going to meet the next section after that is uncovered by plaster bandage so it's just straight Accu cast that will stick to the Accucast of that next section (Tough to understand, I know)
Tap a plastic bag onto the plaster bandages of the completed section so that way the cast doesn't drip down on the bandages
Making sure our plaster bandages are dipped in water evenly and kept from wrinkling when getting rid of the excess water
Getting more hands
Hopefully, with our next attempt this week, we have a complete prototype and pose for the piece and can soon move on from the casting and onto the other aspects of this piece.
TILL NEXT TIME!! :)
