The Armour Archive

Hi guys, as I'm preparing to make a new harness I was wondering what your guys experience with leg casting or body part casting has been so far.
I was planning on using a alginate negative to make a positive mold from plaster of paris.
I've never done this before so any tips or tricks that you guys can offer would be greatly appreciated

Wrap your leg in plastic film, god the horror if our leg hair would get stuck in the plaster.
Get someone to help you.
I believe you should be standing in a neutral, normal, relaxed pose.
Have a beer or two available and someting to keep you occupied while it dries.
Have fun.

Should I get my patron (is that the correct term?) to shave his legs? I've seen videos of people using alginate without lubing up first

I have no experience of alginate so I cant help you there. With plaster you need to make sure it does not stick, especially not to body hair and I have some hairy calfes.

Shaving would be a good thing to guarantee that the cast gets as tight and accurate as possible and it would probably be a source of some amusement and I am a firm believer of always, if possible, choosing the fun way of doing things.

"First, I want you to shave, then lubricate yourself properly while I put on these rubber gloves"...

I have a question- you guys are talking about taking a cast of your bare legs- but don't you wear some kind of 'under armor' clothing? How does that change the dimensions for you, for the piece?

I doubt there's much difference at all, since plate limb armor is supposed to fit like a thick coat of paint.

Paladin74 wrote:I have a question- you guys are talking about taking a cast of your bare legs- but don't you wear some kind of 'under armor' clothing? How does that change the dimensions for you, for the piece?

Mostly, no.

A lot of people wear padding where they don't need to. For the legs a teensy bit of something around the knee helps a lot. Other than that, one layer of cloth is thin enough that no one needs to "allow for it". SCA people seem to allow for padding a lot and end up with basketball knees.

Wade

I guess if you're just wearing braies and hosen the difference is negligible. Thanks for the responses, Wade, KtR.

In my experience alginate does not cause any issues with hair, no need to shave.
You do need to be pretty quick about pouring in the plaster after the limb is removed from the alginate.
The alginate can swell and distort.

There are some good videos on youtube.
As usual there also are some not so good as well.
Usually it is pretty easy to tell the difference.

There also are quite a few threads here on the archive.
Again some good info along with junk.
It usually easy to tell the difference just by looking at who the post if by
search.php?keywords=alginate+cast&terms ... mit=Search

Tom. B did you have any slipping your legs out of the alginate? I know its soft but the foot is quite large compared to the leg

Icepocca wrote:Tom. B did you have any slipping your legs out of the alginate? I know its soft but the foot is quite large compared to the leg

I did alginate for hands but only have done plaster bandages for legs.

Chris Gilman is the go to guy for advise on this.
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=109227&hilit=boot

His sketch of his boot mold is now missing as well as the note on its usage.

He made a couple of plywood L shapes, a few inches bigger than a profile view of your lower leg and foot (inside corner of L rounded generously).
He fitted the back and bottom with plywood rectangles the front was covered with a sheet of plastic or sheet metal.
The front needs to be pretty strong but flex enough to match the curve of the L shaped sides.

After the alginate has set-up it may be necessary to at least partially remove the front to get the foot pulled through the ankle area.

This "boot mold" does a couple of things:
1. It allows you to drastically reduce the volume of alginate needed and there by the cost.
2. It also should be easier to pull the foot out.

Hi,

Having made three lower leg molds in plaster I can give you a few tips.

- No amount of grease will prevent hairs being caught in the plaster = quite painfull
- Shaving your legs makes the casts come of nice but they will itch for two-three weeks afterwards = annoying
- Wraping your legs in plastic foil will ensure the plaster come off nice and smooth = easy and my preferred method

Secondly, ussually I make a front half and ones it has dried a bit I make a back half which goes slightly over the front half. This means that ones dry you can open them and close them together again. But it is a lot of work. Last week I made a cast of my upper thighs by simply wrapping complete plaster bandages around my leg in one go and then with a hobby knife cut it open ones dry. Considering the ease of this method I will in the future use that one where possible.

Personally I would use plaster to make a mold and then cast the plaster ones the mold is dry. Alginate is nice and detailed (seeing hairs and pores kind of detailed) but more expensive and the details aren't required for armour fittings.

With kind regards,

Jan

Like Jan, I find alginate moulding a bit too detailed for the basic shape needed for armour. I wear my hose and wrap in cling flim/food wrap. I add a bit more around the knees where i would normally put bandages. I've also found a quick rub with veg oil over the food wrap works really well as a release if using plaster bandages.

I've also made very rough face casts for projects simply pressing ali foil over my face and laying plaster bandages over. Possible to do it on your own but make sure you know where everything is.......