6.5 Make a copy of 2 adult hands and 2 child hands in 1 casting.

1) Think of a nice position / attitude of the hands, where it is important that when you have the mold there are no dead-end "tunnels" upwards where the air can be trapped. See picture below. If the fingers touch another hand or the palm, the air can usually escape again.

2) Find a bucket that is big enough but certainly not too big, because that takes far too much material. Practice the position of the hands in it.

3) Keep your hands in and fill the bucket with water to the height you want the mold to be. Remove your hands and weigh or read how much water you have used.

Divide the water by 4 to get the WEIGHT of alginate. For example, if you used 4 liters of water (which is exactly 4 kg of water) then you need 1 kg of alginate. This is also included in the kit.

If you needed more than 4 liters of water, you will either need to buy extra alginate (0.5 kg alginate for every 2 liters of water) or use a smaller bucket.

4) This is not a certainty, but we use the table below as a guideline for how much plaster you need per hand:

Baby hand 0-1 year	550 ml mixing cup	96 gr. Alginate + 384 gr. water	150 gr. plaster + 35 gr. water
Children's hand 2-10 years	1100 ml mixing cup	168 gr. Alginate + 672 gr. water	300 gr. plaster + 75 gr. water
Woman's hand/child >10	1100 ml mixing cup	204 g alginate + 816 gr. water	600 gr. plaster + 150 gr. water
Male hand	1900 ml mixing cup	288 g alginate + 1152 gr. water	800 gr. plaster + 200 gr. water

For 2 children, 1 woman and 1 man we would guess 2X300+600+800 = 2 kg. That is exactly what is in the set, but depending on how big the hands really are it can be tight or loose.

Usually it is sufficient if the cast only extends to the beginning of the wrist.

5) Please follow the instructions in the manual carefully. Use good cold tap water otherwise it will go too fast. Mix with a mixer or a drill mixer. Check carefully whether the drill or the mixer can reach the bottom well before you start. If this is not the case, mix in a mixing bowl and pour immediately after mixing into the desired bucket. Do NOT mix longer than 40 seconds, if there are lumps left that is not a disaster.

6) Immediately put your hands in and rub them together well to release all air bubbles from your hands.

7) After the alginate is creamy white again, carefully remove it by wiggling with your hands to release the vacuum.

8) Mix the right amount of plaster immediately and pour it into the mold. Do not wait longer than half an hour. If you think that some fingers are crooked. First fill the mold half full and turn and tilt so that all the air can escape and then fill the mold further with plaster.

9) Wait with demoulding until the plaster is well hard (about 1 hour) demould carefully because the plaster is still and details are easily lost. Then let dry further for 1 day before you grab it too much.

10) If you want to paint or seal the statue, wait a week so that the plaster is really completely dry. We recommend sealing the statue if it is touched a lot because otherwise it will quickly become dirty.