Plaster Cloth
$6.50 for a 10’ roll, available at art supply stores
Once you’ve discovered Plaster Cloth, your creative life may never be the same. Virtually identical to the material used by doctors to encase broken limbs, the art store variety is a fine cotton mesh saturated with dry plaster. It’s sold rolled, up to four feet wide, and can be cut and trimmed easily with a pair of plain scissors. Generally, the cloth is dipped in water and then formed over an armature, although my preferred method is to position the material first, and then run a sopping wet paintbrush over its surface. When cut into narrow strips, triangles, or diamond shapes, rounded forms and biomorphic contours are a cinch. The plaster begins to harden in minutes, and once it’s dried, additional layers can be applied. Several layers thick, the hardened shell can be sanded, sawed, or drilled — I’ve even secured pieces together with bolts. The strength to the dried form is almost bulletproof.
— Matt Maranian
Mix-a-Mold $35 for 2.5 lbs., available at art supply stores
What do root canals and taxidermy have in common? In a word: alginates. Whether pressed into unwilling mouths for the replication of a rotted-out tooth or smeared over the tongue of the black bear you bagged last hunt-ing season, alginate — a powdered derivative of algae and kelp — is a
body caster’s best friend.
Mix-a-Mold, available in virtually any well-stocked art supply and craft store, is the easiest-to-obtain and simplest-to-use kit on the market. Casting is a just-add-water proposition and certainly need not be limited to body parts; if an item can be submerged into the gelatin-like mixture for a couple of minutes, you can replicate and cast virtually anything. Maybe you’ve had a life-long dream of building your own automaton or you’d simply like to duplicate the
face of a treasured tiki mug. In any case, Mix-a-Mold is your first step.
Although the molds will keep for repeated use, after 24 hours, they begin to shrink and change form, which, depending on the project, might be a plus.
Alginate is a nontoxic casting material and it’s harmless to the skin, so if it was good enough for Jimmy Hendrix (the most notable subject of the celebrated groupie/ artist team, The Plaster Casters of Chicago), it’s good enough for you.
— Matt Maranian
Have you used something worth keeping in your toolbox? Let us know at toolbox@makezine.com.
David Albertson is creative director
of MAKE.
Gareth Branwyn writes about the
intersection of technology and
culture for Wired and other
publications, and is a member of
MAKE’s Advisory Board. He is also
“Cyborg-in-Chief” of Streettech.com.
Kevin Conod is on the Board of
Directors of the Middle Atlantic
Planetarium Society and writes a
weekly astronomy column for The
Star-Ledger, the largest newspaper in
New Jersey.
Joe Fung is the managing director of
software product development for
Burgiss Group.
Jason Griffey is an aspiring
academic librarian, gamer, and
computer geek who currently earns
his living as a web specialist for
Middle Tennessee State University.
Mister Jalopy breaks the unbroken,
repairs the irreparable, and explores
the mechanical world at his website,
hooptyrides.com.
Steve Koschmann is president of
Fluid Forms, Inc., in Boulder, Colo.
Matt Maranian is a writer and
designer who spends way too much
time with toxic compounds.
Merlin Mann helps people make
interesting things for the Global
Interweb.
Arwen O’Reilly is MAKE’s editorial
assistant.
Mike Riley (mike@mikeriley.com) is
an advanced computing professional
specializing in emerging technologies
and new development trends.
Bob Scott is a statistical construct
of various consumer electronics
marketing departments.
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