Casting and Creating Modeling Work With EnvironMolds, LLC

A life cast is an exact portrait of a live human being. The three dimensional representation could be of the face, hands, feet, torso or even full body - but the sense of realism is always quite breathtaking! In fact, every wrinkle, dimple, fold, mole, pore and even fingerprint is clearly defined in the life cast, making it an exceptionally unique sculpture.

If you are still wondering why you should be getting a life cast made, consider the following possibilities:

• Life casting is all about celebrating yourself – be it a chiseled body, recent weight loss or just as you always are. The life cast will capture your unique shape, form and expression and transform it into a work of art!

• You can choose to immortalize your radiant love for each other in the form of intertwined hands. This is especially favored for celebrating an engagement, marriage or anniversary.

• Life casting is often used to document a baby’s birth with a cast of their tiny hands or feet. You can even record the newborn’s growth with castings at regular intervals.

• Expectant mothers love to preserve the memory of their pregnancy with a belly cast.

• Similarly, a life cast can be used to commemorate any special occasion such as holding an award, cup or glove in the hand, a dancing pose or even a circle of hands with friends.

• Life casting is possible with animals too. What can be sweeter than having a cast of your pet’s paw?

There’s no need to worry either, as skin safe alginates – available at Artmolds.com - make the body molding process harmless and fun!

EnvironMolds presents a veritable confluence of materials that can be used to reproduce literally anything! And the website Artmolds.com is chock-a-block with mold making materials to support this claim. You will find everything from clay, wax, porcelain powder and plaster bandages to alginates, moulage, resins, rubbers and more.

Let’s take a look at some of these popular mold-making materials:

• Clay: The non-drying plasticine clay varieties can be used for sculpting, mask making, mold making, special effects and clay animation. Sulfur-free versions and ballistic clay is also available.

• Wax: The wide range of highly refined paraffin and bees wax are suitable for modeling, carving, candle making and sculpture engraving.

• Porcelain powder: The ceramic powders lend themselves well for pottery applications as well as cold casting. Some of the varieties tend to hold detail well without chipping, cracking or becoming chalky.

• Plaster bandages: These prove quite handy for making rigid shell molds to reinforce soft molds. The bandages can also be used for form molds such as in belly casting.

• Silicone rubber: This is another versatile product that is commonly used for general mold making. There are options for making baking and cooking molds, body molds, etc.

• Latex rubber: Liquid latex rubber proves to be an important material as it can be used to make molds of concrete and other abrasive items. The molds turn out tough, relatively inexpensive and can cast various materials. It works as an adhesive and can be used for special effects as well. 

• Alginate: EnvironMolds offers a range of traditional alginate formulas as well as silica free and fibergel alginates for capturing molds from live human bodies. The properties vary to serve different purposes – some yield a softer set suitable for babies while another is more tear resistant and delays shrinkage.

• Moulage: This age-old mold making material can also be safely applied on the skin. It is reusable and captures fine details very well.

All EnvironMolds’ products are of top quality, user-safe and many are biodegradable as well.

Alginates are the mold making material of choice for life casting. This dental impression material is derived from seaweed and is completely safe for the skin.

The only drawback is that even after curing it stays soft and flexible. Therefore, it has to be reinforced with a mother mold that will enable it to hold its shape. Plaster bandages are commonly used for this purpose. Thin strips of plaster are rolled out, wetted and applied over the alginate. The plaster in the bandage dries quickly to form a firm and supportive shell mold.

However, the plaster itself may tend to peel back or curl away at times, especially on large surfaces. This will disengage the alginate and can distort the shape of the body mold.

We can overcome this problem by making locking keys before applying the plaster bandages. Place small acorns or clay molds with undercuts around the alginate mold while it is still mushy. Ensure that you completely cover these protrusions with plaster bandages as you work your way over the alginate. These ‘keys’ will lock the alginate and plaster molds together to form a hard body mold.

The plaster sets quickly and is demolded from the model before beginning the life casting process.
Keep in mind that at no point do you have to ‘unlock’ the two molds. They are used together during the casting.