Make Beautiful Memories with Plaster Casting!

My granddaughter was born in April and we were able to spend two full months with my daughter and her family.  Living in our RV makes things like that a bit easier!  The hard part is leaving.  This week, I put together a beautiful LOVE sign with plaster casts that I had made from molds of my granddaughter’s feet.

Plaster Casting is easier than it looks and I would love to show you how to create your own beautiful memories with this simple project!

These are the little feet that I started this project with.  Made with a plaster casting kit, they show every little fold and wrinkle in her tiny little feet.  She will never be that tiny again.  What a wonderful way to keep a bit of the memory!

And here is the rest of her.  She is now about a thousand miles away as we had to go onto our next job in Cape Cod.

We will be back in October.  But in the meantime, I put together this pretty LOVE Sign for her bedroom.

Want to know how to make it?

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For this project you will need:

Precious Impressions Memory Mold Infant Kit
3″ Wooden Letters- L, O, E
6″ x 18″ Wooden Plaque
E6000 Glue
Fabric
Mod Podge
Polymer Sculpey Glaze
Sandpaper
Craft Knife
Silk Daisy
White Acrylic Paint

Step 1- Plaster Casting

I purchased the Precious Impressions Memory Mold Infant Kit which makes two different molds.  One kit would make both feet.  Since I wanted to practice a bit beforehand, I went ahead and purchased a second kit to make a practice hand.

The kit contains two bags of molding powder, one large bag of plaster mix, and several plastic bags.

You have to work quickly with this part of the project.  Wet baby’s hand or foot with cold water.

Place one of the plastic bags into a tall cup and anchor with a rubber band.  Following instructions on the package, add water to one bag of the molding powder.  (Use a disposable dish to mix it in).  Mix quickly and the mixture will turn a dark pink.  Pour it into the bag and then immediately get to the baby with it.  (You have about 3 minutes before the mixture hardens).

Believe, me.  Practice makes perfect!

Be sure to have a little help with this step.  My son in law is holding the baby and the hubby is taking the photos.  Teamwork at its best!

Push the baby’s hand or foot deep into the mixture in the plastic bag, working the mixture around it.  Then hold in place until the mixture turns white.

Baby Esme was not sure that she liked this process.  It was cold!

The mixture will turn white quickly and whatever position her little hand was in when it hardened is what you will get!  After the mold hardens, slip the hand out of it.

Sitcom 2 step option

Here is the completed mold.  The mold itself is a bit flexible- like rubber.  You can pull it out of the plastic bag at this point.

Mix up the plaster according to directions on the package.  It will be a thinner consistency- like thin yogurt.  Pour a little in the mold and tap the mold to get any air bubbles out.  Then add more plaster and repeat the process until the mold is full.

Now for the hard part.  You have to wait at least 12 hours before you unmold it!

Once the 12 hours is up, you can start to pull apart the mold to get to the sculpture inside.

And there it is!  The cutest tiny little hand you ever saw!

Since I had some practice now, I pulled out the second kit and did some casts of her feet.

And this is the cute result!  Tiny little curled toes.  Craziness.

For a more detailed tutorial on the full process of how to do plaster casting, check out the video below!

Now let’s do something with our sculptures!

Click here for the LOVE Sign Instructions!