How to Make a Mold of a Body Part
People make body part molds for various reasons, including science projects, Halloween and for keepsakes. Regardless, if you don't do this correctly, it can be a big mess. The easiest body part to mold is the hand, so the following instructions will teach you how to make a mold of your own hand.
Things You'll Need
- Plaster of Paris
- Cooking spray
- Duct tape or electrical tape
- Cardboard box
Instructions
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Prepare your box by cutting a notch for your arm to rest about 4 inches up from the bottom. Then tape the sides and bottom of the box with the duct tape. The sides only need to be taped from the bottom up to the midway point.
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Now, mix up the plaster of Paris following the instructions on the container. Spray your hand and arm with cooking spray. Make sure any part that will be in the plaster is well coated.
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Pour the mixed plaster of Paris in the bottom of the box until it is about 3 inches deep. Lay your hand in the plaster palm down using the notch you have cut out of the box as a rest. Gently push your fingers into the plaster so it molds around them. Don't push all the way down.
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Now, you will need to stay still for about 20 minutes. Once 20 minutes pass, you should be able to remove your hand from the mold. Before you can make the top side of your hand mold, you need to allow the bottom side to dry.
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Once the bottom side of your mold has dried, you can mix up more plaster of Paris and spray your arm and hand again with cooking spray. You will also need to spray the dry mold with spray as well.
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Put your hand back in the mold you already made and pour the newly mixed plaster on top of your hand. Before you can remove your hand, you will need the top half of the mold to dry. Once it is dry, you can separate the two halves carefully and lay the top and bottom halves to dry separately. Give them at least an hour of drying time.
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Now, to make a mold that you can use to create lifelike hands, you will need to rejoin the top and bottom sides of the hand. You can tape them together, glue them together or even caulk them together.
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Tips & Warnings
If you use your hand mold as a mold, remember to spray it with cooking spray so nothing sticks to it.
