The Process Of Lifecasting Babies Hands and Feet

There are a few life casting techniques but I will try and outline the basics here. Above there is a 5 minute video showing the technique using a casting bag but you can also use a casting cloth or container.

Preparation. Alginate does not stick to skin or short body hair so you do not need to prepare the skin in any way.

The Pose. When casting small babies who do not understand what you are asking of them there is no way to affect the way the finished casting will look. I feel though that this is the best bit as when you unpeel the mould from the finished casting you have no idea what cast will look like. Most baby’s clench their hand into a fist but occasionally their fingers are open and can often create quite funny shapes with their fingers.

Creating the mould. There are three main ways to create the mould of a baby’s hand or foot. All you are doing is trying to cover the baby’s hand or foot in alginate until it sets. You can put the alginate in a casting bag, a container or make it into a paste and use a casting cloth. Each casting technique has its pros and cons.

Casting the mould. When set the alginate is quite firm, like a rubber material, so keeps it shape and form after the hand/foot has been taken out. This makes it easy to pour in your liquid casting material which is traditionally a high grade plaster of paris.

Demold. Once the plaster you have poured into the mould has set then you are ready to unpeel the alginate away from the set plaster. Unpeel it slowly bit by bit to ensure you do not break off any fingers or toes! You can leave it 24 hours before unpeeling the mould but the plaster does set within about an hour if you are in a rush.

Finishing. Leave your plaster to dry completely before painting and finishing your cast. You can use a fine sandpaper to get rid of any imperfections and then use an acrylic paint to protect and colour your casting. Normally people paint their castings in a metallic colour but you can infact paint the finished castings in any colour

Framing/mounting. You can either leave your castings loose or can frame your castings to protect them behind glass. To do this you need a box frame or shadow frame – ie there is a depth between the back of the frame and front glass which is where you mount your castings.