How to get a great baby cast.

Casting baby hands & feet is the same as any lifecasting - never guaranteed to succeed. You can however do a few things to give you the best possible chance. Over the last couple of years we have cast a lot of babies & will be offering a useful tip to you on a weekly basis to help you benefit from our experience ( & traumas in some cases!)

January's tip - Be prepared!

Always get the basics ready before you start trying to cast baby. I know it's an insult to some but ALWAYS READ THE INSTRUCTIONS FIRST. You cannot get it right if you don't know what to do in the first place! Key things to do before you do any castings are:

• Take pretty/valued clothing off baby & yourselves - the impression powder is not easily removed from fabric & you will make a mess.
• Get some help. You cannot cast single handed. Someone needs to mix & mould while another holds/entertains baby.
• Cover up the chair/floor etc so you don't wreck the new sofa. We would recommend a wipe clean floor & seat.
  
• Do a quick mix of 1 scoop of impression mowder to 1 scoop of water & get an idea of what is going to happen. Look at the texture of the mixture & judge how long it takes to set. Put your finger in it & see how much detail you're going to capture when you get this casting malarky right!
• Only begin if baby is in a decent mood. They dictate if the casting session will succeed & this is one of the key reasons why we think you're better buying a casting kit than going to a pre-booked studio session. If baby isn't happy you can pack the stuff back in the box & leave it 'till tomorrow - no fee!

Now you're ready! Don't say we didn't warn you!

First post of the New Year

Boy have we been busy! Now Christmas is over I can try to get into the habit of posting regularly & giving a wealth of information on baby casting & the like to you.

• New Year = New products + new challenges. Challenge of the week was a lifecast of a lady for her husband as gift. She wanted a bust done from waist to shoulder. There are a few things worth noting when trying this:

• Protect all clothing/chairs/floors - it gets very messy
• Two people to cast are better than one
• Mixing large amounts of alginate is tricky. Use an electric plaster mixer if possible.
• Support the mould with a shell made from plaster bandage/modroc so it doesn't lose it's shape when you peel it away from the model
• Make your plaster mix very thick or it all runs down into the middle & you can't fill the edges of the mold.
• Use a hard plaster such as herculite or the final piece will not be strong enough.

I'll put up some pictures asap showing the process & bust. The cast is now drying out ready for painting.

Other news - we have our baby's first year casting kit available in the online shop. Check it out!

Everybody wants a casting kit for Christmas - aaarrggh!!!

Just a quick one tonight. Very busy here at casting central. Kits are going out like wild fire - the Christmas rush is definitely on & we're working really hard to get the casting kits out for next day delivery.

On top of that we've got tons of normal framing to do as well. Water colours, prints & even a bit of embroidery have come our way this week & I've never cut so many mounts!!

Now off to make up a few more of our mother & baby plinth kits which seem popular this week - pic above for you! It is a lovely gift idea casting Mum & baby together & you even get the paint included - not something most kits like this give you.

Going to give you a link to one of the shops that stock our stuff - A Little Star - new website up this week & it looks great.

Anyway, must go & get some sleep. Big order just arrived in the inbox & need some mental preparation ready for the morning!

Jo

Lifecasting materials are difficult to get..

...or so it seems.

I've had many requests this last week for alginate & casting powder & so have updated that page on the website. You could buy the frames & powders separately before but not since the update - lazy of me I know! Anyway, now it's done so that should keep people happy. Next to be done - the gallery - honest.

We did a Christmas fair today in Guildford & our imprint kits were popular - no mess with these & they're great fun. I did my Mum's dog paw print the other week - that worked surprisingly well & the dog (who is a bit dim I must say) didn't seem to mind!

Next post may be a while as we're expecting to be busy this week along with school Xmas plays & a trip to the dentist. Already got loads of kit orders lined up for Monday! I can tell I will have seen a lot of casting kit boxes before I'm here again so wish me luck.

Jo

Thought it was about time Creative Casting had a blog so here it is!

I'll be keeping it brief - I'm not so good at this kind of thing. I do hope to keep a bit of a diary of what's gong on in the world of baby casting though so do keep an eye on this blog!

I've been busy making up the weeks stock of kits today as well as finding yet more errors on our new website. Got a few more pages to write yet & I'm working on the gallery of framed lifecasts that we or our agents have done over the last 12 months. My current favourite is this set of 3 pairs of brothers feet.

Anyway, off to bed as I've already got a fair bit to do tomorrow!