|
Body Casting
Manual
Process overview.
This section
describes the body casting process in broad lines.
There are two major steps in the
process.
• The first step consists of making a mold of the live
model.
• The second, casting plaster into that mold.
This is not unlike photography where you first record an image and then print it
on paper.
The mold is made of two
separate layers. A first layer, which I call the “alginate skin”,
captures the skin texture but is too flexible to remember the pose
and too fragile to receive liquid plaster. A second layer of plaster
bandages must be applied over the alginate to set its position and
give the mold enough strength to receive the liquid plaster. This
second layer is called the “plaster shell” or “mother mold”.
You will apply a layer
of alginate directly on your model’s skin. You will then cover this
alginate skin with several layers of plaster bandages to encase the
alginate skin in a plaster shell. These are the same kind of
bandages that a doctor would use to cast a broken arm. When the
plaster bandages have set, the entire mold is removed from the model
and set on the floor, open side up. The whole operation takes no
more than half an hour.
A batch of liquid
plaster is then mixed and painted or poured inside the alginate mold.
After a few hours, the plaster has set and the alginate and bandage
mold can be removed to reveal a solid plaster replicate of your
model’s body. The rest of this manual describes in more detail this
simple procedure.
Page 9
|
