Creating a hand mold

[voodoo]

I'm trying to figure how how to design a hand mold that holds to appropriate pose for a mankin that I am building. Everything on the market doesn't fit the pose I want. I've tried constructing plaster molds of my hand, but it is proving difficult. Any ideas of how to do this, or companies out there that specialize in this?

Jeff

[Stephan Wahl]

If there is a local art school in your neighborhood, they could do a good hand mold for you, and give you some tips on mounting it.

[Erich B.]

Are the fingers going to be open or closed?
Erich

[Brian C.]

If the hands are going to be gloved this will work.

http://www.geocities.com/xbadcardx/manneq.html

[voodoo]

I hoping to mold a hand that is in a more natural closed position. The straight finger look just doesn't do it for me. Using this position creates problems when using a mold. You almost need to half the mold.

I did purchase some 3D gel this weekend. You add a little water to it and it turns to a stiff gel. Works pretty good, but expensive. Bad part is you can use it only once. The plaster hand cast I created was ok, but needs improvement. I had problems with the gel mold holding the original form of my cast hand. I thought about buying some inexpensive molding clay and giving that a shot.

Arrrgh. I gunna perfect this

Jeff

[Jos L C]

Can you make a picture of your hand ,for example ,to show the pose(s) you want ?

There're mannequin hands for sale now and then in different poses ,maybe some of the members have something in stock ?
I've seen quite some hands over the years ,you might have some luck ,but we need to know the pose..

Creating them is rather tough IMO..

Jos.

[Lloyd I.]

Man, sounds like you really need a hand with this... I couldnt friggin resist!

You can make a mold from dental alginate in a large tin can. It will capture the details like you would not believe. I used it for my life cast and it capture pores and facial scars. You have to work quickly even using cold water and I can provide you a PM with all the details for setting times and mixing instructions. This is the same material used to create life casts for special effects in the movie industry.

Hobby stores carry Ultracal which is a fine powder that replicates mold details much better than plaster of paris. If you have a Hobby Lobby nearby they stock it or a good hobby store with model railroad supplies.

So, you will need dental Alginate, Ultracal, Plaster bandages, cold water to keep the alginate from setting up too fast and a large tin to put your hand in.