Week 2 – Activity – Plaster Casting

This past week I’ve gained an extra foot and hand. It’s just as weird saying it as it is seeing my extra limbs lying on my bedroom floor. At first I wasn’t so excited about this activity because I thought it would just be a waste of gas going to the beach since I am not a huge fan of the beach. I was unable to go to with the class to Seal Beach due to having a class before and after Art 110. I definitely did not want to deal with finding parking again. However, I did end up going to Seal Beach on Friday with my friend who is not in this class. The weather was really nice and I found free 2 hour parking very quickly 🙂 Once we found a good spot we immediately got to work. I dug a good enough hole and stuck my hand in. As I started to take it out I instantly knew the mold was going to fall. I realized I needed to pat a lot of sand on top, so I did. I was still scared I did something wrong so for cautionary measures I made another mold for my foot. I quickly began to mix the plaster and water. I will say it was a little awkward making a plaster mix on the beach when people are just  staring but I paid them no mind and continued to mix vigorously. I poured my lovely plaster mix in my molds and waited patiently for 30 minutes. As my friend and I waited we talked about what we would eat for lunch (because what’s plaster casting without a good lunch afterward). We also took this time to create moat because the tide started coming in further. 30 minutes and a near 10 bird attacks later our beautiful molds were ready. It was very hard taking them out of the sand at first but once I got a good grip on majority of the hand and foot it popped right out.

My experience with this project would receive a solid 8 out of 10. My reasoning behind this rating is I went into this project with not so good expectations and once I started working it wasn’t as bad as I expected especially since I was with my friend. However, I am not a big fan of sand so that also put a damper on my experience. I would definitely teach my niece and nephews how to do this project because it seems like something they would really enjoy doing and it also teaches them something about plaster which they may use in their houses in the future. My friend also shared with me that she definitely wants to take Art 110 now when she transfers from Cypress College next year. I made a short video of the whole process. Check it out! https://youtu.be/wwpESS4x7X8