I'm trying to figure out what to use for making a hand print plaque?

Question

I am wanted to make a handprint plaque for someone.. but i wanted to use like a "clay" that u imprint the hand into then add the writing around it.. any idea.. all is appreicated thanks Dee

Answer 1

Materials


Plaster of paris
Aluminum pie dish
Water
Nails
Food color (optional)
Directions

Prepare plaster of paris according to directions. When ready, pour a small amount into the greased pie dish. Lightly grease your child's hand and then press it gently into the center of the dish. Hold it there until the plaster sets—just a couple of minutes. Remove hand and let plaster set completely. A nail can be inserted while the plaster is still moist so the handprint can be hung on a wall. Also, try adding food color to the plaster mix at the start. Similar plaques can be made from footprints, elbows, and knees. Plaster of paris heats up as it mixes, so this step requires close adult supervision. Once the mold has cooled, try pressing play dough or molding clay into it to produce a replica of your child's hand.
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Preheat oven to:
300 degrees

Items that you will need:

1.5 cups of Salt
1.5 cups of flour
¼ cup of water
Paint (acrylic works best) or food coloring
Ribbon or Yarn
Pen or Pencil
Piece of cardboard or thick paper
A large bowl
A butter knife
Greased cookie sheet (instead of grease you can also use corn meal)

Directions:
Place your measured flour in a large cooking bowl, and add the salt. Add in the water to thicken the salt and flour to the consistency of bread dough.(if you do not have paint add in food coloring for the color of plaque you would like) Knead with your hands for 2 minutes. Flatten the dough onto your counter and mold into a shape that you desire. Place this shape on the greased cookie sheet. This will be the shape of your plaque. Get your child or grandchild to push their hand into the shaped dough making an indented handprint into plaque. Poke a hole in the top middle portion of the plaque with a pen or a pencil. Place the cookie sheet in your preheated oven for 2 hours or in till the plaque is Harden. Once your plaque is harden and cooled you can paint it. After you have painted your plaque tie a ribbon or yarn in the hole that you made.

This is a great ideal for gifts from kids to grandparents or their parents! My children has theirs hanging on their bedroom wall! They are absolutely adorable!

Answer 2

There's a bunch of great answers here. I'd like to offer a little different suggestion. How about making it 3-dimensional?
Follow the plaster casting suggestions below using a shallow dish such as a pie tin. After the plaster has completely hardened cut some deep, wide grooves in the area outside of the hand. Coat the casting thoroughly with petroleum jelly (you can also experiment with liquid soap). Build a dam around the casting. Return the hand to the mold. Pour another thickness of plaster making sure the dam is made so the plaster doesn't spill out around the wrist or arm. The hand must remain in place until the new plaster has hardned (note: the plaster can become uncomfortably warm while it's setting). When the 2nd layer is hard you can "pop" the two pieces apart. A couple layers of cheesecloth laid on the first layer around the hand will make this easier.
You now have a 2-piece plaster mold.
Liberally coat both sides with the jelly release (you can also sandwich a layer of cheescloth between the sides again ... make sure it's cut out where the hand is). Wrap tons of rubberbands around the two pieces to hold them together. You don't want them coming apart until you're ready. Mix another batch of plaster and very slowly and gently pour it into the mould through the "mouth" that was created by the arm. When that plaster has set you should be able to remove the molds and have a perfect casting of the hand which can be mounted on a base. The base could contain the writing or you could make a background for the writing and stand the hand in front.
This is hard to explain so that it's easy to visualize the process. So, here's a website that shows a casting being made of a Captain Kirk action figure's head which is pretty funny by itself. http://www.planetofthegeeks.com/workbench/howto/2partmolds/
BTW, if the two mold pieces won't come apart you can very carefully chip the mold off the casting. If you have to do this it makes it a lot easier if you've used some ink on the inside of the molds. When you're chipping and you get to the ink you know you've chipped deep enough.

Answer 3

plaster of paris. It comes in a big white thick paper bag, you get it from the hardware. Just ask them for plaster of paris and they should know what you are talking about. Mix it up as it says on the packet and pour it into a plastic cereal bowl or a plastic throw away bowl. It starts setting pretty quick so be ready to put your hand or childs hand into it to make the impression. I have done this thousands of times because I use to be a child care worker and they were great mothers day gifts. When dry take out of the bowl and they are ready to paint with poster paint, house paint, any paint!!

Answer 4

In the old days they used plain old clay to do the kid's hand prints in school. Don't forget to make a hole to put a ribbon through and hang it by. Had them fired in a kiln... Spray painted them (glaze would cover more detail in the hand print)... I think there are other materials available now... You could probably find a place to fire it in a kiln for you. Don't thing you could beat the durability... as long as it wasn't dropped...

Answer 5

Usually people use Plaster of Paris to do the hand print plaques.

Answer 6

Put your hand into the clay and let it dry.
Then put plastic over it and pour Plaster of Paris into it.
Let dry and then paint over it with acrylic paints

Answer 7

Any craft store would have a kit, that has plaster of paris or something similar.

Answer 8

I would use Sculpey clay. You can make a nice impression, and you don't have to worry about it being toxic to your skin. Then bake it and paint it.

Answer 9

They sell kits for exactly that at craft stores like Michael's.