Baby Casting Tips: Minimising Air Bubbles, Missing Fingers and Perfecting Hand & Foot Castings

I'm just doing this quick video, because I'm getting quite a few questions from some of our new Guild Members, who are having problems with air bubbles and missing finger tips in their 3D Baby Hand & Foot Castings.

For those of you who have been life casting for some time, you will realise that this can be a common problem, when you are first starting out on your Baby Hand and Foot Casting Business venture. But as we demonstrate on our Baby Casting Course and our more advance Life Casting Training Courses, there are certain tips and tricks that you need to observe and follow to ensure high quality results. 

First of all, let me just give you a couple of Baby Casting Tips, if you are experiencing any of the followng problems:

How do you get Air Bubbles out of Plaster?

The first thing is, to make sure that you are using a good, high quality, Fine Casting Plaster and you mix it to the right consistency with the correct ratio of plaster to water.  My favourite Plaster to use for Baby Hand and Foot Casting and most other Life Casting Projects is Herculite No.2.  For best results, you will need to work to a 2:1 ratio of plaster to water.  This means that you will need to use twice as much plaster to water.  This is really important, not only for minimising air-bubbles in Plaster, but also in avoiding 'runnels' which are deep channels of water, running through your plaster baby hand and foot castings. The correct ratio of plaster to water is also vital in ensuring that you create high quality Baby Casts, which are solid and durable. If you use too much water and not enough plaster, you are more likely to create soft, crumbly plaster casts, with air-bubbles, runnels and missing finger tips. 

When mixing your Plaster, make sure that you mix it to a nice creamy consistency to minimise the chances of air bubbles in your plaster.  If your plaster mix looks watery or is the consistency of milk, you have either not used the correct ratio of plaster to water, or you have not mixed long enough to gain the correct consistency. Equally, you don't want your Plaster mix to be too thick either, because if it is too thick, it will not easily slip down into those troublesome little fingertips. When properly mixed your Plaster should be similar in appearance to a Pancake or Yorkshire Pudding batter.

How do you Minimise Missing Finger Tips and Air Bubbles in Baby Hand and Foot Casts?

First of all, make sure that you are using the correct ratio of plaster to water and that you mix the plaster to a creamy pancake batter consistency, as described above.  

If you are experiencing problems with missing fingertips or air-bubbles in fingers or toes, don't panic, this is a common problem for begginers to Baby Hand and Foot Casting, so I hope that you find these Baby Casting tips helpful.  

The reason for missing fingertips and air-bubbles in fingers and toes, is because, with tiny or newborn babies, their hands are usually tightly clenched in a fist position, with the finger tips curled underneath, towards the palm of their hands. Naturally, when you then come to cast your alginate mould, it is then extremely difficult for the plaster to reach down to the tips of the fingers, because gravity is not on your side. This is the most common reason for air-bubbles in the fingers and missing fingertips. The solution to this, is to backfill your casts.

Back-filling involves, pouring plaster into your Baby Hand Casts, so that it reaches just above the finger line (where you see the top of the fingers, inside the alginate mould, then pour the plaster straight out again, back into your plaster mixing bowl. However, when pouring it back out,  tip the alginate mould upside down and rotate it around, in a circular motion, as you pour the plaster out.  Repeat this back-filling process a few times, ideally 3-4 times, before finally filling your baby hand cast mould with Plaster.

This Back-filling process helps to minimise air-bubbles and missing finger tips for a number of reasons:

1. Back-filling get's gravity on your side and increases the chances of the Plaster running down into those hard to reach areas of the baby hand mould.  
2. Back-filling also helps to strengthen the baby hand cast, because, each time you repeat the process of back-filling (pouring the plaster in and out of your mould) you are building up a thin layer of plaster around the entire interior surface of the mould, which becomes thicker, with each and every back-fill.  This not only increasing the chances of the plaster reaching those troublesome area's, but helps to build strength, with each and every layer of plaster that reaches those little nooks and crannies.

As I said, I would recommend back-filling a few times (ideally 3 or 4 times) to help minimise air-bubbles and missing fingers and to strengthen those potentially fragile areas of your Baby Hand Casts.  However, you will need to work quickly, to avoid the plaster setting in your bowl.  Once you have done that, cast your Baby Hands as usual by pouring in the plaster and filling to the top of the cavity, whilst tapping the mould, to disperse air-bubbles.  Oncd you have Cast your Baby Hands, leave them to set and cure in the usual way, as demonstrated on our 3D Baby Hand Casting Course, before you begin de-moulding them.

How do I repair broken Hand Castings?

This is another common question that I get asked, from students, early in on their journey of trying to perfect how to do Baby Casting, so I hope you find these additional Baby Casting tips helpful. 

It is sometimes necessary to perform repairs on broken hand and baby foot castings, this can either be, as a result of being too eager or heavy handed, when de-moulding your Baby Hand and Foot Casts, in which case you may find yourself pulling off a finger. Or it may be if you have air-bubbles in the toes or fingers of your cast.  In either case, you can perform these hand casting repairs, either by mixing up a small amount of fresh plaster, and applying it with a syringe or lollipop stick, to bond a broken finger or to fill any air-bubbles or missing finger tips. Alternatively, you can use a white expoxy putty, to carry out these same repairs, of filling air-bubbles and re-sculpting  finger tips. Some Life Casters use white air-dry or ceramic clay to perform these repairs, however epoxy putty, is by far superior, as it drys pure white and bonds securely to the plaster. It is also extremely maleable and easy to sculpt, so is definitely something that I would recommend adding to your professional  Baby Casting Kit.

I hope that you have found these Baby Hand and Foot Casting tips helpful. Don't forget to check out my other articles on How to Frame Baby Hand and Feet Casts, How to Mount Baby Castings, How to make duplicate moulds of Baby Hand and Foot Casts and How to upgrade Plaster Baby Hands and Feet to Cold Cast Metal or Resin. 

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